Is there an Irish sportsman to compare with Davy Russell?

Widely respected for his talents, admired for speaking his mind, gaining sympathy for how he dealt with the lost of the Gigginstown job. The subject of an excellent insightful ATR interview on life and family, a contented man speaking honestly, giving advice to others. Kids want to dress up in his colours cos Davy’s the man.

Then with the talent of putting his foot right in it.

Alex Higgins was the first to come to mind, though he had different demons. Then the answer was perhaps provided by the man himself – in his recent interview here with Daragh O Conchúir.

“He was a bit like Marmite, you either love him or hate him. I love Roy Keane. I love him. I’m obviously attracted to that type of person. Fully committed to something.”

Not that we could compare the lunge at Kings Dolly with Alf-Inge Haaland's tackle but a similar red rage seems to be close at hand in the two Corkmen.

The twitter generated outcry may have gone beyond the rational debate. I read before I saw that Davy Russell had 'thumped a horse' in the head. That was not exactly what happened but the intent was there.

The image (not the ‘optics’, please!) does him no credit. It looks very bad for racing when it is part of the weekend sports round up on Sky Sports. The examples here are on the milder end of the scale.

The twitter outrage spread and quickly became abusive. It was as predictable, as Russell response that 'I didn't do anything out of the ordinary', was disappointing. He could have diffused the situation with an admission that he did wrong.

Russell deserves to be punished for the incident. He appeared to make minimal contact with Kings Dolly, she didn’t appear to move her ears in reaction. That he might even have hurt himself more than the horse if he'd made contact and felt pain as one suggested, is not the point.

TEMPER

This is the second time in a year that he has lost his temper while on professional ‘duty’. It’s not acceptable. Last September he was banned for 17 days after he was ruled to have struck a rival horse three times with his whip in the closing stages, and he reacted angrily when called to task and banned for his conduct towards the officials.

We all know, those of us who work with animals, that you will lose your temper with them. Many times my dog has been shoved roughly off the sofa or dumped bodily outside the door if he persists in barking at the wrong time. He doesn’t seem to hold it against me. Animals don’t once they are fed, made comfortable and shown affection. Try loading cattle on to a lorry without a few taps of a stick in the right place to direct them.

But no sportsman should lose his temper - and this wasn’t even in the heat of battle - with his animal partner.

To be honest, the whole Russell incident took a back seat, and it should for most racing fans, when the news broke on Monday that the hugely promising Neon Wolf had been fatally injured. Twitter again was a source of news, this time of universal sadness, and told another story of hopes shattered for those who were close to this horse. Those hopes are the reason for the keeping the whole jumping show on the road. Finding the next star, Russell himself has said as much.

Russell should be punished, he should be accountable, take it and move on. Fans of Neon Wolf will have to do the same but it is with a much heavier heart.