Champion Horse Trainer On Photo Of Him Sitting On A Dead Horse: I Had To Take A Call, My Bad

The man you see above you is Gordon Elliott. He's a very well-respected Irish horse trainer whose pupils (some horses) have won several big-time races in the British Isles. Elliott is currently in some hot water because a photograph surfaced that showed him sitting atop a horse that had just died of a heart attack, flashing a peace sign and talking on the phone.

On Saturday, Elliott acknowledged the photo without really saying anything, which prompted heavy speculation that the image had in fact been photoshopped. The key piece of evidence: Elliott usually holds phones in his left hand, while the man in the photograph was holding his in his right hand. Airtight as that one seemed, Elliott released another statement on Sunday where he apologized and attempted to explain in a matter that really only made things weirder. "I was standing over the horse waiting to help with the removal of the body, in the course of which, to my memory I received a call and, without thinking," he wrote, "I sat down to take it. Hearing a shout from one of my team, I gestured to wait until I was finished."

Okay man!

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