Equestrianism: Bank Bunn fight

A statement issued by Douglas Bunn has reopened the vexed debate about the Wembley bank on which a Swiss horse broke its leg (and was subsequently put down) at the month's Horse of the Year Show, writes Genevieve Murphy.

Bunn claims that course designers Alan Oliver, Jon Doney and Alan Ball had tried to get an accurate idea of the bank's appearance on 8 July, after they had been given details of its dimensions.

'They told Andrew Finding, secretary general of the British Show Jumping Association. . . that the proposed bank was too high, too steep and too narrow,' Bunn said.

The bank was said to resemble the one used without mishap last year at Millstreet in Ireland, which will again feature tomorrow. After the fatality, Alan Oliver (chief course designer at Wembley) flew to Millstreet.

'We'd been led to believe it was similar to the one at Wembley,' Oliver said. 'It turned out to be totally different. I wanted people to know that the course designers had nothing to do with the bank.'

Finding was not available for comment yesterday. A statement by the BSJA said: 'We contest certain of the hearsay allegations, but believe that this controversy is best handled by the BSJA executive committee. A meeting will be arranged as a matter of urgency.'