‘Spineless’ – Meg Nicholls’ verdict on Philip Byrnes’ infamous fall as dad Charles breaks silence after horse is sold

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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.

"To jump off a horse at 30mph takes a little bit of doing, and I don't know if Philip Byrnes is that good a stuntman"

Did he jump or was he unseated? That is the question! Talk turns to controversy at Wexford #ITVRacing | #TheOpeningShow pic.twitter.com/b7hu0vGHD8

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 31, 2025

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 – and legendary punter Harry Findlay, who wrote online: “Fair play to Megan Nicholls on ITV, the only one to say it as it is!”

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.

Matt Chapman: Chances are case will be dropped

SUN Racing's star columnist with his view on what happens next...

What angered many about this was that Redwood Queen had drifted in the betting from 7-2 to 13-2.

She clearly had the race in the bag when the jockey disappeared out the ‘side door’.

Byrnes runners, more than most other stables, appear to do best when the money is down.

To an outsider, the County Limerick handler runs what the majority would call a ‘gambling outfit’, for all that racing fans would have no proof of any financial transactions.

So when a Byrnes runner drifts like a barge, is clear at the last and then the jockey falls off, naturally many will cry foul play.

Only time will tell if that was the case – as the IHRB launch their full investigation.

But the chances are the case will eventually be dropped.

Only money trails could really prove guilt, and with so much punting action now on the Black Market, if anyone was trying to do something untoward they would have to be very thick indeed to leave any trace.

I did ask one top class jumps rider what they thought of the fall, and their response was interesting.

“Terrible bit of riding really,” they said.

“The horse came out of his hands and he was unbalanced but who knows whether that was enough to fall off?”

They added: “Personally I don’t think he’s that good a stunt rider. I think if they wanted to throw themselves off it would have looked more obvious.

“It’s really hard to throw yourself off a horse. I just don’t think he’s that good.”

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.