Back in November, 20 horses went to post in the Troytown Chase at Navan. Fourteen were trained in Co. Meath by Gordon Elliott, who provided the winner Coko Beach and four of the first five home. He broke no rules. To those who objected to his mass entry, Elliott retorted that he hadn’t stopped any horse running in the race by running the number he did. It had not filled to its capacity and his entrants had a range of owners.
Never before though have the authorities sought to handicap the people who own or train horses
Not long after that event, amid growing concerns about the domination of racing by a small band of ‘super-trainers’ whose yards contain an ever-growing proportion of the best horses, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced that it would be ‘discussing with interested parties’ the idea of limiting trainers to declaring no more than four runners in any Class 1 or 2 handicap.
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