CONFUSION reigned at Killarney on Thursday when the Qualified Riders’ Race, won by Stars Over The Sea for Henry de Bromhead and ridden by David Roche in the colours of Roger Brookhouse, was sensationally declared void by the stewards, who felt that correct starting procedures were not followed.

Stars Over The Sea is a horse who has his quirks and needs to be led in at the start, but while starter Joe Banahan was happy to let the field go when the second favourite was led up on the outside of the other runners, the stewards felt that he gained an advantage in arriving at the starting point already close to a canter, handing him a clear lead by the time his rivals had jumped away.

On balance, the decision of the stewards in finding that a fair start had not been effected was the correct one, and there have been plenty of grumbles about similar starts being allowed, especially in the scenario of a reluctant starter gaining an advantage for poor behaviour, and for the field to be forced to stand while one is led up and past them is rarely satisfactory. It was a bold decision by the Killarney stewards, and one which will put starting procedures under greater scrutiny.

It’s easy to be critical of Banahan, but it must be every starter’s nightmare dealing with a horse as talented as Stars Over The Sea, knowing that there is a fine line separating a fair start, a flyer, and on the other hand, a refusal. We’re often used to reluctant starters being rank outsiders, but he antics of Supreme Novice winner Labaik last season shows that the most high-profile horses can also be the trickiest, and the need to be fair to them and their rivals simultaneously is a difficult balance.

It’s also hard not to feel for Henry de Bromhead, who produced his charge in top shape to win a competitive contest, only to lose the reward, and it’s only a couple of runs ago that the same horse was on the other end of a starting fiasco, when again well backed, but allowed to start when standing at least 20 lengths behind his rivals at Wexford. On both occasions, the trainer can consider himself the victim of poor starting procedures, but he can do nothing about correcting that wrong.

De Bromhead, in fact, has plenty to complain about, as he was the victim of the worst farce of a start I’ve ever seen for a big race. Grand Jesture was backed into favouritism for the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the day Tony McCoy retired, and despite the trainer having been given permission for the horse to be led in at the start, the field for the race were sent on their way without his lad being given a signal to take his horse forward. The official report stated that he refused to race, but I recall the look of disbelief on the face of his handler as the tapes went up, and it was clear that he had not been given any chance of taking part. That really ought to have been a scandal which dominated the following day’s racing pages, but the stories had already been scripted, and the episode slipped away unnoticed.

In short, I don’t envy the job that starters have to do in difficult circumstances, but it’s of paramount importance that races are started in a way which is fair to all competitors, and it doesn’t do to brush things under the carpet when something goes wrong. My heart goes out to Henry de Bromhead, who seems to have taken several reverses in good grace, but I fundamentally applaud the actions of the stewards in a thankless scenario where inaction would have been easier, and hope the subsequent Turf Club investigation can throw up improvements to the current system.