The Punchestown stewards have released more information on the incident at the last fence in Tuesday's Growise Champion Novice Chase.

Paul Townend was given a 21-day ban for pulling his mount Al Boum Photo across the last fence, running out and also taking Robbie Power's mount Finian's Oscar out of the race as he crashed into the wing.

The initial inquiry report simply stated that evidence was heard from the riders concerned and found Townend was in breach of Rule 214 in that he had ridden dangerously and suspended him for 21 racedays and ordered that he forfeit his riding fee.

On Wednesday morning the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board published this more detailed report.

In his evidence, R.M. Power outlined what occurred. He said that he was coming to win his race

before the last and was carried out. He described the incident as unfortunate and said he had no idea why it happened. He said he was not aware of any reason which would indicate that the fence was being bypassed.

In his evidence, Paul Townend said that he was riding with his head down between the last two fences and heard roaring on his left which caught his attention. He thought he had to bypass the fence but didn’t know which side to bypass on. He panicked and commenced his move to bypass the fence on the right side but then realised there was nothing on the fence to indicate a bypass was needed and tried to correct his actions but it was too late. He accepted in hindsight that there were no bypass procedures in place. He said he made a genuine mistake and apologised for what occurred.

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