Wow! That was crazy. As an aside, I love the name "The Storyteller."

Great commentary

Yep that was incredible.

RIP invitation only soo sad 😭😭😭

Is it anything to do with 2 red boards looking like red flags at the ends of the last fence.

I wonder what odds you’d get on monbeg finishing second coming into the last straight/fence

Al Boum Photo had done it again in 2020 Gold Cup.

R.I.P invitation only

Watch from 4.06 and keep your eye on the men in high viz to the left of the fence as we see it. Yer man far left points to the fence and then Townsend looks back to see if it's safe to suddenly change direction. Unfortunately, he does not see Finnian Oscar

The more times you watch it the more deliberate it looks

AL BOOM PHOTO Boom the gold cup

I watched this a number of times and still cannot believe my eyes. Did Townsend ever explain what the fuck went through mind!!!

This and the one where Whisky Sour wins. The most nuts races this decade lol

Yeah sure he heard a shout.. "Paul yer on yer own abandon ship lad"

73k was backed at 1.04 on Betfair...I wonder who by

I still can't decide what happened. I'm not a jockey but I think I would've bypassed the fence on the left-hand side (if there was a valid reason). Very suspicious we've never heard a full explanation.

This was the day I knew Al Boum Photo would win the Gold Cup,and again the following season.Infact i'm pretty sure he's going to win in2021 Gold Cup to make the treble.

Gee was this a fix or what? thank the lord I stopped betting years ago as i always felt some jockeys pulled their horses up!

I've watched it over and over and over again I cannot put anything on this other than his done it deliberate and it's a disgrace, 21 day suspension small fine, disgusting, what did Townend have to say about this? Nothing? Left without comment, this needs looking at again!

Why didn't they interview him?

It looked to me like he had some grudge against Al Boum Photo's jockey & this was payback, especially as, apparently, he never spoke about the incident afterwards. It looked utterly deliberate.

he got me a very nice treble today...great jockey..well all make wrong mistakes

Long suspension after this?

What on earth ?? if he heard a shout " don't go over, unsafe " ( that was the excuse i heard on talksport ), why did he not go off to his left, he looked round and could see the following horses to his right, he then went across right taking their ground, he must have known surely that it was a reckless action, it looks intentional, be very interesting to know where the shout came from ?

watch it at a slower speed,he stops riding,he looks back and then turns the horse to the right to avoid jumping the last fence.Thre would be people waving flags telling him to avoid the fence,i dont see any.

Saying there was someone waving him off the fence is crap! I've watched multiple times, all views, there is no one, absolutely no one, not a person in the stands, not a track official, no one at all is waving him off the fence. This was deliberate. No way around it. For what ever reason it was completely deliberate. If I were the horses owner or trainer that POS jockey would be beaten to a bloody pulp and I would be in jail. To risk the horse he was riding as well as the other horses and their riders is without a doubt unconscionable!!!! He should be facing a lifetime ban. 25 days isn't even a slap on the wrist for what he did.

Hard to believe this is the same horse that won two Cheltenham Gold Cups...

Al boum photo 100% layed

Amazing. I've made my share of serious mistakes but I was fortunate not to have them filmed at every angle and replayed endlessly.. I was really impressed by the way Al Boum Photo was able to do a hard right at a full gallop and take off like a bird out of the turn. Talented, talented horse, very athletic. And lucky jockeys, really; if Al Boum Photo hadn't been able to pull off the turn and take off like a bird out of there, he would have interfered with and possibly brought down more horses.

WHY wasnt all the fence used. the fence could easily be made 6 ft wider.

it never ran out it was rode to do so

Looking at it again I think it's quite clear what's happened. He comes to the last and has a thought pop into his head along the lines of "Is this the last fence or was the other one the last fence". He looks round and sees 2 horses to his right hand side, and he must have thought they were going to miss the fence out, and go straight up the hurdle run in, so that's made his mind up (mistakenly), that he didn't have to jump the last. Very stupid mistake, but a genuine mistake in my view.

Gold cup winner.

tamer biz

If you look at the far right at 1:40, you can see a man pointing them away from the fence. Is he the one who shouted out about missing the fence? Townend clearly heard something and the fact the two horses he looked at appeared to be going around the fence made him make that split-second but ultimately wrong decision. It's easy to make your horse lose a race on purpose, so I doubt he would've chosen to do it in such a bizarre and fairly-dangerous way. This was a well-fancied horse in a good race, not a big drifter in some rubbish race at Wexford! There are many occasions where you have a right to think your jockey has thrown a race but I really don't think this is one of them.

All fix...

I’m still pissed off that Rathinden was given a shit ride stayed on really well at the end after all the carnage but kept at the back! Problem when half the field are Mullins horses!

Davy Russell must have the gods totally on his side and after watching this unbelievable outcome you would have to be a tool to back against him in any race?💎

I had finians Oscar here

well what can you say, just when you think you've seen it all then this happens, what's next, flying unicorns stop race or aliens suddenly abduct a horse that just has to win on the run in, lol I don't know no more

he was winning that race then looks then takes horse outta the race. nothing with ever convince me that wasn't bent.

And now he wins a gold cup 😂

why you dont look around, and boot it home....now imagine if Ruby done it.....

Everyone can see what happened. If he got a shout telling him to bypass the last fence, why was the fence not screened off? Why did he run into a part of the course where people were standing? It's obvious that he had to jump the fence. He knows that course as well as anyone. He threw the race deliberately. There can be no other conclusion.

They let the jockstrap win three races the next day and said he is

He ws fit enough to speak to the stewards thou, they didn't say hey Paul come back tomorrow lol Prob wld have got more respect for doing so & Yes the stewards shld have been on point., The ban should have been straight away, earned enough from his three winners the following day to well & truely afford the holiday dont you think Once again the stewards failed.!! regardless of weather it ws a genuine mistake, or not it was shocking shocking horsemanship, just shocking, just like his ride on Douvan in the champion chase, this horse always lays up with the place & is prone to making mistakes at his fences, yet townsend makes ANOTHER mistake & lets Un De Sceaux same stable have 6 lengths on him with four fences to jump, a horse he HAS ridden & KNOWS is a FANTASTIC jumper & will keep running to the line & stay every yards , Yet he doesn't try to close him down until in between the last two, Really..!! what ws he asleep before the last two fences, or did he hear someone shouting pmsl With all due respect to you for defending his actions Which cannot be explained with any rhythm or reason How many times are these jockeys going to make a mistakes weather it be wrongly judging what he heard or didnt hear or not riding a horse to its merits or horribly miss judging the pace, to many times there punishment for doing so is weak & to ban him yet but let him ride the next day is weaker still, sends out all the wrong messages But hey it will keep on happening Especially if people keep defending them the way they do

if he wanted to miss the fence why didn't he go the easy way to the left

The race was fixed for Storyteller and a Gordon Elliott tricast by the looks of it, he looks up to see Finians Oscar the only danger and took him out, it's quite obviously not a split second decision, he looked back for a good few seconds and could have even gone the other way but he decided to take out Finians Oscar, Irish races are so dodgy, the Irish trainers and jockeys all fix it among themselves to make money....I've seen it far too many times now Irish jockeys throwing away races...it's just fucking obvious and someone should make an investigative documentary on Irish racing.

When you watch it again at 4:08 you can see that when paul townend looks behind, you can see finians oscars head pointing toward bypassing the fence. So paul must have thought he was bypassing it. great win in the gold cup for al boum and paul.

Jockey Townend willfully took out himself and the other horse so that Trainer Elliot horses could win and thereby trainer Elliot gets an even better chance of winning the Trainer Championship. This is his act of revenge to Trainer Mullins for having him riding in the shadows of Ruby Walsh who he(Townsend) thinks he is a better Jockey than. Reply

An embarrassment for Ireland and for Irish Racing right there folks! Just about as obvious as you can get too. Townend was riding to place. That was the fix. He panicked when the leading pair fell and, despite his best efforts, he was left perilously close to actually winning the race!! So he steered his horse off the course. The answers would come from investigating the betting patterns, but will an investigation even take place?

I don't like Townend. In Australia there are huge penalties for jockeys. Sometimes years, occasionally they take their licenses. Townend would be the perfect candidate for losing his license. Penalties for jockeys in Britain and Ireland are light.

i bet colin tizzard isn't very happy.

I’m the Storyteller, and my stories must be told… I have many stories, tales for both the young and old… 🐴

i blame punchestown race course as much as paul townend for not having a running rail before the final fence, because then the jockey wouldn't have tried to go round it. i backed finians oscar, who i thought would have won but for being carried out as he was just beginning his charge; at worst he'd have been a close second, regardless of monalee's fall. that's not my wallet speaking, as i don't back horses heavily; it was just frustrating that the crowd were denied a terrific finish. it's good to see colin tizzard's horses running well, even if they've been unlucky lately. he has some terrific horses for next season; shame cue card wont be there. if i was a millionaire, i'd buy him and run him in hunter chases next season, but then again, if my auntie had bollocks, she'd be my uncle!

Crooks.

The talk of him throwing the race is nonsense. When he looks behind, the 3 horses immediately behind do look like they are moving right towards the hurdle course. He has less than a second to make a decision. If he jumps the last he can't get onto the hurdles course and he loses / is disqualified, so he decides to bypass and go onto the hurdles course, which was the wrong decision and then turns out to be horribly wrong. He's lost connections either 59k or 19k in prize money as he was not certain to win, but probably would have, (plus he's taken another out of the race and cost connections and jockey on that one their prize and commission), - plus his own commission which was a grand at least and possibly 3k. He was also ordered to forfeit his fee for the ride and got a 21 day suspension. The horse has also gone up 2lb's as a result. Total disaster, but nothing fishy.

What he was attempting to do was to deliberately impede another horse and rider. Hes made the biggest cock up of it ever !!! Should have got 6 months ban.

And some people think this game isn't bent

Al Boum Photo wasn't meant to win, hence the jockey stop riding and steer it off to the right, plain as the nose on your face

remember this one well he got a 21 day ban,should have been jailed for crookery along with mullins for this mullins is without a doubt the most shifty trainer out there

Jockey. Done 3 of g. Elliott F, /c Tricast Odds was tht 100 k He was paid. To do that Stroke Fact.

even more suspicious after that gold cup win

Robbie power probably killed Paul Townend in the weighing room

He should never be allowed on a racecourse again. A lifetime ban wouldn’t be long enough.

And another thing if he's a bent jockey how come he as not done this kind of thing before?

Wow 1:40 deliberate

3:25 is that gordon elliott behind the fence wonder if he gave paul the shout?

I presume you lot who are accusing him of doing that deliberately A, never make mistakes in a moment of panic and B, probably had money on his horse.

Apparently Paul Townsend had £300 on the storyteller

i was on al boum photo here tpically, put me off ever following the horse again haha, to say this is anything short of a disgrace is an injustice.

All these dumb comments the red flag at the last was the decider!

Paul Townend go home and retire

Jockey was just saving the horse for two cheltenham gold cups..💩💩

What a scumbag to do this to the punters he obviously wants his horse to lose mullins and his team are always doing this kind of thing where unfancied horse wins the race and first of all string with main jockey on board bomb

Rigged....as fooooook look at the betting ......says it all.

And Irish racing isn't fixed........

What made Paul Townsend do that?……. He is an Irish tinker cheat

How much did he get for that.... 🤣

its a shame that was finians Oscars last race maybe it was all boum photos fault he's dead

no brits win in eire at ALL COSTS

The only logical explanation is he thought the fence was to be missed out. It is a very very odd incident but there are many easier ways to lose a race than that.

Stop making excuses BENT RACE realised he was going to win and panicked

I can't believe for 1 moment he fixed the race. Yes there are a lot of races that are fixed but this was not one of them.

Fixed

Human error, I think he was trying to get the rail

Oirish racing summed up beautifully. The sooner all Oirish runners are banned from competing in the UK the better. Let them have their own filth fest.

Townend is the worst jockey i have ever seen and thats without seeing this mullins please sack him

Al Boum Photo owned by a former bookmaker. Jo Donnelly . Enough said.