On Saturday 27th February a photo appeared to be circulating on social media showing Horse trainer Gordon Elliott sat on a dead horse, striking a pose and grinning. The incident happened at his facility. He was investigated by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) and was forced to make the admission it was in fact true and not photoshopped. He has shown no remorse and given an awful response of an explanation. He stated in his statement that he was signalling to the people coming to remove the dead body to wait,  by holding up 2 fingers (the peace sign), this gesture he does often and is known to do it when posing for his photos. 

The statement read: "I would like to address the speculation and rumours that have been rife since an old photo of me began circulating on social media yesterday afternoon. 

"Firstly, I apologise profoundly for any offence that this photo has caused and can categorically state that the welfare of each and every horse under my care is paramount and has been central to the success that we have enjoyed here at Cullentra. 

"The photo in question was taken some time ago and occurred after a horse had died of an apparent heart attack on the gallops. I appreciate that an initial viewing of this photo suggests it is a callous and staged photo but nothing could be further from the truth.

"At what was a sad time, which it is when any horse under my care passes away, my initial reaction was to get the body removed from where it was positioned. 

"I was standing over the horse waiting to help with the removal of the body, in the course of which, to my memory I received a call and, without thinking,  I sat down to take it. Hearing a shout from one of my team, I gestured to wait until I was finished.

"Such background information may seem trivial at this time and will not allay the concerns of many people both within and outside the world of horse racing.

"However, I feel it is important to provide people with some context surrounding this photo. To the racing community, to anyone who has worked with and loves horses and to anyone offended by this image I cannot apologise enough.

"Horse welfare and the care and attention to detail involved is absolutely at the core of everything we do here and both myself and all of my team pride ourselves on those standards.

"Again I apologise for any offence caused and ask people to consider this statement as opposed to the various falsehoods and misinformation being circulated on social media.

"At this time I would like to stress that I continue to extend my full cooperation with the ongoing IHRB investigation."

The image, posted from an account unconnected to the trainer of dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll and a host of Cheltenham Festival favourites, was widely circulated on the social media platform, leading the IHRB to tweet that "an investigation was taking place".

Elliott initially responded on Twitter to say: "I'm aware of a photo in circulation on social media. The IHRB have been in contact with me regarding this photo and I will be cooperating fully with their investigation."

He is due to have runners in the upcoming Cheltenham Festival and we strongly feel he should not be allowed to have entries in the festival or indeed be allowed to race on UK courses again.

Please sign this petition and share,  pro racing and anti racing are against what he has done.