02-06-2025
‘Spineless' – Meg Nicholls' verdict on Philip Byrnes' infamous fall as dad Charles breaks silence after horse is sold
BRAVE Meg Nicholls was praised by punters for giving her no-holds-barred verdict on Philip Byrnes' infamous Wexford fall.
The jockey's 'soft' unseat at the last when clear on Redwood Queen has sparked an urgent Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board investigation.
Statement issued as officials launch probe into jockey's final-flight fall on leading horse who drifted in market
The mare, who has since been sold to a new trainer having belonged to Philip's brother Cathal, was a huge drifter in the betting before the off.
New footage has emerged of the flashpoint, which saw Philip, whose dad Charles trained the horse, fall to his knees after the horse successfully jumped the last.
Nicholls was involved in a discussion with Sun Racing's Matt Chapman and former Grand National-winning rider Mick Fitzgerald last weekend.
And Meg, daughter of iconic trainer Paul, didn't hold back when giving her opinion of what happened.
Quizzed by Fitzgerald: "So come on then, what are you saying, that he jumped off?"
Meg without hesitation hit back: "I think it looks like it.
"Watching that it looks as if he is preparing… his knee is out already. He is pushing himself out the left hand side.
"It looks as if he is trying to come off."
Nicholls' analysis was lauded as 'superb' by ITV viewers - but some disagreed with Fitzgerald.
One took exception to his 'spineless' verdict of the incident, while others thought he offered valuable insight into what the jockey was trying to do.
Either way, as Chapman wrote in his column, the outcome of the probe will more than likely depend on what can be traced, if anything, to betting patterns around the race.
Byrnes senior finally broke his silence on the incident and used the opportunity to hit out at those doubting his son.
He said: "It's obvious what happened.
"He was trying to get the mare to go in and pop it, because obviously she had the race won, and she came up out of his hands and blew him out of the saddle.
"There's no one hurting more than Philip about it."
All this came as new footage of the fall was shared online.
The camera, looking down towards the post from the track, focused in on how Byrnes' feet left their irons.
Viewing it on Racing TV on Sunday morning, former jockey Adam McNamara conceded it 'looks really bad'.
He said: "I'm going to be pro-jockey by nature and perhaps it's naive of me, but I want to believe it was an unseat.
"If it was something more sinister why wait until last to do it?
"It looks really bad - I think it's a really bad bit of riding.
"The jockey will say he should never have fallen off that."
Stewards originally decided on the day that no further action would be taken over the incident.
But it was only after a social media outcry that the IHRB confirmed it was being looked into.
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