Racing: Guest in court over 'cruelty' to mare

Richard Guest was conditionally discharged for two years at Durham Magistrates Court yesterday after the trainer admitted animal cruelty following the death of a racehorse which had been incorrectly treated.

Guest, who won the 2001 Grand National as a jockey on Red Marauder, pleaded guilty to a charge of permitting the horse, What's A Filly, to suffer unnecessarily by failing to exercise reasonable care and supervision. The trainer was ordered to pay £4,730 costs .

What's A Filly had to be put down because of a severe infection in her near hind leg while at Guest's stables. The mare would have been infected for up to six weeks, the court heard.

After hearing that Guest had a life-long devotion to horses and that the case had had a "devastating effect" on him, Deputy District Judge Mary Hayes said: "I do not find there was any callous disregard for the welfare of that animal."