I consider myself something of an ambivalent watcher of horse racing. On the one hand, I can’t help but admire the physical prowess of the horses and the skill of the jockeys in controlling an animal weighing-in at half a ton while travelling at up to 40 miles per hour. On the other hand, however, I am unable to shake the feeling that the horses are, on occasion, subject to a degree of cruelty.

A distressing story has emerged over the past week or so that has fuelled my fears that jockeys take things too far in their pursuit of victory. Irish jockey Davy Russell was caught on camera apparently punching his horse, Kings Dolly, on the back of its head before a race at Tramore, in the south east of Ireland. The initial reaction from observers was that Russell was likely to incur a lengthy ban for his actions but it was announced earlier this week that the 38 year-old had been given a mere caution by the disciplinary panel of the Irish Turf Club.

Compare this to the 14-day ban he received last year for being rude to stewards or the five-day ban he received for grabbing a fellow jockey’s whip during a race in 2014. To suggest the punishments meted out are inconsistent is something of an understatement.

Those at the top of horse racing are constantly at pains to reassure the public that the horse’s welfare is paramount and, while every fatal fall at the Grand National is reported extensively in the media, the sport is quick to assure its detractors that these fatalities are few and far between and in no way suggest there is an issue with the treatment of the horses.

However, Russell did not dispute the accusation that he had punched his horse, rather his defence was that he “used his fist to hit the horse on the soft part of her neck, just behind the head to make the horse concentrate.” He accepted that his actions were inappropriate yet he still received minimal punishment.

The sanctions in Britain are more strict, with Kieren Fallon and Sean Levey both receiving five-day bans for hitting their horses on the head in recent years. However, the damage done to horse racing by Russell’s actions is considerable. His punch has been viewed tens of thousands of times on social media and the RSPCA has called Russell’s conduct “totally unacceptable”.

No sport is so indestructible that it can afford to put off casual fans to such an extent that they will turn off forever. There will be many like me who find this kind of cruelty to the horses so inexcusable that it is enough to quell any interest whatsoever in the sport.

What is particularly sad though, is that there is widespread outrage over the level of doping in a sport like athletics while there is far less of an outcry over blatant cruelty to a living animal. While doping indisputably damages sport, the only physical harm done by taking drugs is to the individual taking them. In contrast, punching a horse is so utterly deplorable and damaging to the animal that it is arguable that, if not a life ban, then a lengthy suspension would be the most appropriate course of action.

The chief executive of the Irish Turf Club, Denis Egan, said that he “has absolutely no doubt” that Russell will not behave like this again to his horse – interesting that as well as presiding over his organisation, Egan is so prescient – but the message this sends to other jockeys is that maltreatment of horses will not be taken seriously. Incidents like this are hugely damaging to horse racing and I know that until jockeys are hammered for incidents like Russell’s, I won’t be tuning in again.

AND ANOTHER THING…

A study was released earlier this week which reported that as many as 30 percent of athletes who were competing at the 2011 World Athletics Championships had doped during their career. This revelation was both shocking and disheartening. The research, which was commissioned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), was based on anonymous surveys and painted a bleak picture of the efficacy of anti-doping measures, which currently return positive results from less than four percent of tests taken.

It hardly requires a genius to work out that this disparity is hugely concerning for the sport and only fuels the belief that that the majority of dopers are getting away with it, while stoking the suspicion that “everyone is at it”. What is also severely damaging to the reputation of athletics is that the authors of the study have accused athletics’ governing body, the IAAF, of attempting to block the release of the results hence the six-year delay between the survey being taken and the release of the report.

The question of doping is something that is hanging over athletics like the darkest of rain clouds and, despite the sport’s best efforts, it has been utterly unable to shake the suspicion off in any way. I have no doubt that efforts are now being made to clean up track and field, but the question is, how many more doping revelations can the sport take before it is beyond redemption?