UK trainer has a proper go at the Stipes

Quoted by a newspaper, Bridgwater said: “It was just a mistake. They asked me to go into the stewards’ room with him, and it was the same idiots there that were there when I was riding 20 years ago.

“He’s a 16-year-old kid, for God’s sake. He didn’t take the wrong course [and] he jumped the last fence. Okay, give him a week’s ban or something, but to give him 21 days, I think they must still have been p***** from lunch."

Saw the race and to now see that the jock is only 16 years old,think that he did bloody well to recover from an obvious mistake to still run third.Many a jock would`ve given up.Methinks 21 days too harsh a sentence.Trainer should`ve given the stipes a couple of uppercuts.

One of the first thing the guys in the betting shops told me was

The stewards are all drunken lords On a jolly 30 years later it's the same drunken lords

DAVID BRIDGWATER issued an unreserved apology on Friday night for remarks he made on Wednesday about the Ludlow stewards and the BHA which are expected to result in him being charged with actions prejudicial to the good reputation of racing.

The Giant Bolster's trainer said on Friday he made his comments in the heat of the moment following the stewards' decision to impose a 21-day suspension on 16-year-old amateur Jake Launchbury after he was deemed to have cost his mount Bally Sands a winning chance when momentarily mistaking the final fence for the water jump.

Reported in the Guardian and reproduced in Friday's Racing Post, those comments, in which Bridgwater used colourful language to criticise the stewards, were described by the BHA as being "wholly unacceptable".

In a statement released to the Racing Post on Friday a contrite Bridgwater said: "After the three-mile chase for conditionals and amateurs at Ludlow on Wednesday, I made some remarks which were completely out of order. I regret them very much and apologise to all unreservedly.

"I was most upset about the incident in the race. I was also much concerned for Jake Launchbury, the 16-year-old rider of Bally Sands, but I recognise that is no excuse and I was wrong to say what I did."

Bridgwater's original comments are likely to lead to an appearance before the BHA's disciplinary panel. If found guilty the trainer could expect to receive a four-figure fine, with the broken rule's entry point penalty being £2,000.