05 February 2024 , 15:48
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One of Britain’s longest licensed racehorse trainers who still rides has been fined after he was seen on a horse without the correct protective equipment in a 2019 social media post.
Victor Thompson, 81, has been training from his farm near Alnwick in Northumberland since 1971.
He has a small string of horses under permit and only recently started riding out again after breaking his leg. He trained two winners over jumps last season and has yet to open his account for the current campaign.
The veteran handler was charged with breaching the rules after a member of the public complained about images published by his assistant Gina Coulson on her TikTok account.
Taken in 2019 these showed Coulson riding out while not wearing a safety vest and Thompson riding with neither safety vest nor a helmet.
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Thompson admitted breaching the rules, explaining some of the photos were taken when he had taken a horse to a friend’s yard and not brought his helmet as he had no intention of riding out, only doing so because a staff member didn’t show up for work.
In another, in which he was wearing trainers, he told the BHA he had only jumped on the horse because friends wanted to take a photo.
At a disciplinary hearing, the BHA said that by failing to wear the correct safety equipment himself, Thompson was setting a “bad example for his staff and is not leading by example. The BHA considers this to be an aggravating feature”.
The disciplinary panel accepted Thompson’s account that these were “isolated occurrences only” and imposed a £300 fine.