Amateur jockey Declan Queally claims Nico de Boinville 'abused' him before the Turner Novices' Hurdle. A false start delayed the first race of Day Two at the Cheltenham Festival, which appeared to be when the alleged incident took place.

Queally told ITV after finishing fifth on I'll Sort That: "The start was a bit of a mess. Being abused by an English rider, Nico de Boinville, wasn't very nice. I'm an amateur, coming over here, riding in front of my kids, horrific." De Boinville, who came second on Nicky Henderson's Act Of Innocence, responded by saying: "Maybe he should look in the mirror."

Reacting to the comments on ITV, Luke Harvey said: "The other day there was an article about the starts, and the amount of false starts they have here at Cheltenham, and Nico was quoted as saying part of the blame are the Irish jockeys who come over here and don't know the rules and the amateur riders." AP McCoy said in response: "That's xenophobic, you can't say that."

Ruby Walsh reacted: "It's all great fun and games, isn't it? But I think that's the same Nico who won Jonbon last year and put his head on the tape, so maybe he needs to look in the mirror too?

"But I do think that you need a rolling start. I've said it for a long time that if the horses walked out and lined up behind the tape, that then moved in front of the horses then you'd have none of this drama. I think that is the mechanism that is required myself."

A rolling start was due to get the Novices' Chase underway, but it became a standing start at the tape after a false start. It was while the jockeys were jostling for space that De Boinville and Queally had words.

Walsh had plenty to say about the false start. He said before the race began: "It's 2026 lads. The tape should have been in front of them when they came onto the track, and the tape should move in front of the horses. We can send missiles after fighter planes in the Gulf, but nobody can design a rolling fly-away tape. That's the joke."

Walsh then explained the scenes unfolding below him. He said: "The vet's down here, Graham - one of the senior vets - is going to check this horse over. This is Ballyfad - he just got kicked, something was lashing out in the middle.

"When they're all stood here like this together, everybody is trying to get into a position, you're asking for trouble. We've got one actually having a pee here in the middle!"

McCoy agreed, adding: "It's not a great look, but what do you do? They often say you can't win a race at the start but you can lose it."