Michael O'Leary has vowed to stand by Gordon Elliott after an 'unacceptable' photo surfaced showing the trainer sitting on a dead horse.
O’Leary, who campaigns his horses under the Gigginstown House Stud banner and includes dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll in his team with Elliott, described the incident as a “grievous but momentary lapse of judgement by Gordon” and intends to maintain his association with the County Meath handler.
O'Leary said in a statement: "Eddie and I were deeply disappointed by the unacceptable photo which appeared on social media over the weekend. The care and welfare of all our horses comes first with all our trainers. Sadly, from time to time our horses suffer injuries and/or fatalities and we expect all such cases to be treated with the care and attention they deserve.
"We have always found that animal welfare comes first, second and third at Cullentra. From the facilities, to the brilliant team of people led by Gordon, our horses are trained with no expense spared for their development, welfare and care.
"We accept that the photograph was a grievous but momentary lapse of judgement from Gordon, and not in keeping with our 15-year experience of his concern for and attention to the welfare of our horses.
"We all make mistakes, and what is important is that we learn from them and ensure we do not repeat them. We accept Gordon's profound, sincere and unreserved apology, and we will continue to support him and his team at Cullentra as they work to recover from this deeply regrettable incident."
Elliott also currently trains a number of high-profile horses for Cheveley Park Stud.
The most notable of those is Envoi Allen, who is arguably the most exciting horse in Elliott’s yard, with back-to-back Cheltenham Festival wins in the Champion Bumper and the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle the highlights of his unbeaten career to date.
The seven-year-old is a hot favourite to win at Cheltenham for a third time in the Marsh Novices’ Chase, which takes place on March 18.
Cheveley Park released a statement on Monday morning, in which they said they were “horrified” and “dismayed” by the image.
The statement read: “We are truly horrified and dismayed by the photograph doing the rounds on social media. However, we will await the official outcome of the investigation by the IHRB, which we trust will be swift, before making any further comment/decisions.”
Elliott apologised for the photo in a statement on Sunday night.
He said: "I would like to address the speculation and rumours that have been rife since an old photo of me began circulating on social media yesterday afternoon [Saturday].
"Firstly, I apologise profoundly for any offence that this photo has caused and can categorically state that the welfare of each and every horse under my care is paramount and has been central to the success that we have enjoyed here at Cullentra.
"The photo in question was taken some time ago and occurred after a horse had died of an apparent heart attack on the gallops. I appreciate that an initial viewing of this photo suggests it is a callous and staged photo but nothing could be further from the truth.
"At what was a sad time, which it is when any horse under my care passes away, my initial reaction was to get the body removed from where it was positioned.
"I was standing over the horse waiting to help with the removal of the body, in the course of which, to my memory I received a call and, without thinking, I sat down to take it. Hearing a shout from one of my team, I gestured to wait until I was finished.
"Such background information may seem trivial at this time and will not allay the concerns of many people both within and outside the world of horse racing.
"However, I feel it is important to provide people with some context surrounding this photo. To the racing community, to anyone who has worked with and loves horses and to anyone offended by this image I cannot apologise enough.
"Horse welfare and the care and attention to detail involved is absolutely at the core of everything we do here and both myself and all of my team pride ourselves on those standards.
"Again I apologise for any offence caused and ask people to consider this statement as opposed to the various falsehoods and misinformation being circulated on social media.
"At this time I would like to stress that I continue to extend my full cooperation with the ongoing IHRB investigation."
