6.40 Punchestown .

You would think the jockey or a representative from the Stable would have at least offered some sort of excuse.

For hours mystery surrounded the reason for such an extraordinary climax. Mullins and Townend left the racecourse without offering a comment. But the jockey was first hauled before the stewards, whose damning verdict was he was guilty of dangerous riding, a rare offence.

For that, his punishment starts a fortnight from now with a 21-day suspension but will not end there. “I’d say his head’ll be fried by this,” said one racing insider and there is speculation Townend may find it hard to return for the next four days of the festival meeting after such an experience.

                    The stewards published a skimpy verdict which shed no light on the reason for Townend’s action. However, it is understood the jockey told stewards he thought he had heard a shout directing him to bypass the fence. He accepted that none of the formal bypass procedures were in place.

----------------------------
The Guardian.

Still waiting for some transparency on this .

Yesterdays winners at Punchestown were 16/1, 25/1,12/1 ,9/2 ,5/1,16/1 , 16/1 .

Anyone backing favourites ?

Getabird ran 2 stone below its last win  , beaten God knows how far by a horse it beat easily by 12 lengths the last time they ran .  Form ?

Seems PT heard a shout to avoid the fence and that would be plausible,whoever shouted should be named and barred from attending a racecourse if it is the case,still PT ballsed up as he was worse to listen as fence wasn't dolled off.
I backed it ew,i've calmed down a bit!

Yes,shocking results,Getabird like Cheltenham took too much out of himself early on,great when he runs relaxed.

Hope Tintangle in the last is the new "Fayonagh" very impressed with her last run and stunned if anyone behind her there finishes ahead,she was a fair bit behind Mullins fav on debut but was very raw and unfancied,quirky though with her head to one side at DR and the tail flying last time, still marked jumps in form each time and probably needs just a little more.
The other bumper looks wide open with the Cheltenham form as d most other races on the card.

Weird incident -in fact almost comical-especially given the context of the trainers issue,but no one died or was injured. Townend is an excellent jockey who should be allowed to regroup and continue with his career.
'Errare est humanum' ...as the Romans well knew. We all ****-up but most of us mercifully do so out of the full glare of publicity. No one should be subject to a continuous stream of execration  because they made an error that just happened to have spectacular consequences.

If it was a "shouter" hopefully they will be identified and never allowed to set foot on a racecourse anywhere again . "Shopping" one of your mates if it was a jockey shout might be hard to achieve , its a pretty narrow community the horsey one .

I was debating an each way double yesterday , Un and Al , in a way I am glad I didn't do it as I would be smouldering .

Trickier today on paper than yesterday whose winner prices suggest it might be better to look on than punt today.  5.30 looking very open .

Here is a link from the horse racing form
link to video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGJqcJJ38hI

watch at 6:36, Townend is normal.  At this point hat man leans forward as if he is trying to propel his voice. 
at 6:37 Townend looks round, based presumably on what he has just heard from hat man.

now go back to 4:29 - 4:39 and watch fence man's reaction when hat man comes back over.  that looks like an argument between the 2 of them.  presumably based on what fence man had heard.

I feel sorry for him,certainly didn't do it intentionally and a split second to make up his mind but a grave error of judgement from him all the same,no doubt he is mortified.

Paul Townend has issued a statement: “I thought I heard a shout and that the last fence was being bypassed. It was a split-second reaction. I wish to apologise to connections and to punters. I’d like to leave this behind me and move on with today’s rides.”

'Nobody feels worse than him, just human error' - Classy Robbie Power defends Paul Townend after Punchestown collision http://indo.ie/Udw030jFllg

I was debating an each way double yesterday , Un and Al , in a way I am glad I didn't do it as I would be smouldering .

You never lost it Kelly. Even faced with calamity you avoid the losses.

I look forward to today's winners and losers tomorrow.

In the 4.20 you can put the house on sire du berlais.Hopefully Barry will be at his best.Not the Barry of old this season.

Re the Townend race.I think Cloone River might be on to something there.

Oops ,another one added to the homeless list .

I be ok vubiant.Just back from racing.Had a day of bad luck.One thing I was right about was Barry.Hope he proofs me wrong tomorrow.

Just watched the replay of this.  There is NO reason for Townend to do that.  Even if some mug shouted at him why do what he did.  There was no indication on the track that the fence had to be by-passed.  Nothing but human error by Townend for what ever reason.

overheard conversation @ P'town.

Punter A: Jesus, what happened there?
Punter B: Wow, I can only think it was human error.
A: That's a good reason.
B: I have no idea.