THE never-ending debate on the current interference rules and their application continued this week with an incident at Pontefract on Monday, which came on the back for Aidan O’Brien criticising the Irish stewards for an ICW Leopardstown incident.

Interperation of the rules in Ireland and Britain have generally been different with Irish stewarding often appearing more lenient in terms of punishments.

Shane Foley got five days for allowing No Speak Alexander to hang to the rail in the Matron Stakes, hampering Mother Earth. Ryan Moore was not sanctioned for failing to correct St Mark’s Basilica drifting into the path of Tarnawa in the Irish Champion Stakes, which did look a lesser offence.

On Monday, Kevin Stott received three days for “careless riding as he had allowed his horse to drift right towards the rail without sufficient correction.” John Berry, trainer of the second who was snatched up and beaten almost five lengths, was not happy and to these eyes ‘careless’ was not the correct word when a rider switches the whip to hit a horse left-handed when it is drifting that way to the rail and there is a challenger between you and the rail.

It was very lenient compared to the four days Oisin Murphy got for not correcting Dragon Symbol who lost the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, as Murphy’s offence looks less serious. It is similar to Ryan Moore’s riding of St Mark’s Basilica, though Moore had his whip in the correct hand.

Reversals do seem to be a bit more common in Britain this season but consistency is still a problem. At Goodwood on June 14th last year, riding Bright Eyed Eagle, Oisin Murphy appealed to get a four-day ban for careless riding overturned when he had seemed to let his mount hang to the rails and made little effort to keep it straight as Joe Fanning had to snatch up rapidly.

It followed on from a similar incident at Sandown on June 13th where under a strong left-hand drive from William Buick, Well Of Wisdom lurched to his right and squeezed Surf Dancer against the rail so that he too had to be checked out of the placings. The acceptance seemed to be growing that it was well nigh impossible for a winner to be thrown out, even for serious interference once there was distance to the runner-up. This still seemed to be the case on Monday,

Compare it to the incident in Australia last season where Hugh Bowman was suspended for six weeks for his role in a fall which left his rival jockey hospitalised and a promising horse was killed. He pleaded not guilty to a careless riding charge.

Three days for this incident on Monday, where little effort was made to keep a hanging horse straight was simply not enough and we are still on a slippery slope in getting these interference rules to fit the offences.. At least more public comments from high-profile trainers will highlight the issue.