Take tough action over sick stunt...

AS sporting communities go, none close ranks quite like horse racing.

Misuse of the whip? Nothing to see here. One of the most powerful owners implicated in an alleged kidnapping? Move along now.

Jockey (one who rides for Gordon Elliott, incidentally) punches his mount in the head? Don’t bother yourself with things you know nothing about.

But there can be no keeping this in-house. When animal rights campaigners rail against fatalities on the course, they are told horses are treated in the same way as or better than humans, treated like part of the family, apparently.

Which is probably true, in general.

But no one takes a pew on one of the family if he or she drops dead of a heart attack.

No one poses astride his or her body like some big-game trophy hunter and grins and makes jokey signs for the camera.

I love National Hunt racing and when those involved in a great sport are queuing up to say Elliott’s abhorrent stunt is so out-of-keeping with the way trainers treat their animals, they are entirely believable.

But that is why the sanction of Elliott has to be severe.

The British Horseracing Authority has now banned Elliott from racing in the UK until an investigation by Irish authorities is complete. Good.

But that should just be the start.

Elliott should be allowed to resume his professional career after serving his punishment ... but that punishment should mean he is not seen near a racecourse for a very long time.

A BANKSY-STYLE artwork showing a lag escaping with a typewriter has appeared on the wall of a former jail. Locals believe Bansky may have been to support the bid to save the Reading building. Some think the image refers to Oscar Wilde, held at Reading Gaol in 1895.