THE days of amateur riders, in the mould of 1980s hero John Thorne, being lauded for their ‘enthusiastic’ commitment and efforts in the saddle are long gone. Now, it seems even an inexperienced amateur riding his own horse is usually subject to the same scrutiny and criticism as the top riders.

It’s worth noting too that some trainers can make use of an amateur’s abilities, or lack of same, and give a horse a quiet run, or a run to sweeten the horse up. Thus it was and thus it will be.

We noted this after Aubrey McMahon’s ride on Batcio at Tramore on New Year’s Day had been picked up by the stewards under Rule 212, and horse and rider incurring bans.

The “reasonable and informed member of the racing public” might have thought it wasn’t the best of efforts but probably wouldn’t have favoured sanctioning the rider, given his inexperience, on a tricky track. An amateur is not professional and cannot be expected to held to the same standards.

But then you could tip the scales, play the game the other way and offer the stewards a different dilemma.

Take the amateur rider off and put the best jockey around on a horse. But leave a good bit of ambiguity in the ride. Let’s see this time if anyone in authority would point the finger? Consistency, lads, consistency.

“Waited with ... still in rear ... some headway..., ran on ... never threatening ... never troubled leaders” were the in-running comments for Kildorrery (9/2) from the same stable as Batcio at Fairyhouse last Sunday, a ride which led to many a raised eyebrow or Twittery finger.

When the new racing presenters for the two racing channels were being announced, one of the interesting suggestions was the addition of a former stipendiary steward who could look at a race in depth and pass judgement on whether a horse might “to a reasonable and informed member” of the punting public had run to its merits, so punters could feel they had a case, even if the stewards saw nothing.

It might be interesting!

When the new Rule 212 was introduced in early 2017, we were told “the introduction to the new rule stresses the importance of each horse competing in each race being seen to have been given a full opportunity of obtaining the best possible place.”

Don’t look too close now.