Horse racing-Olympic champion Mark Todd free to train after ban for striking horse

Double Olympic equestrian champion Mark Todd is free to resume training racehorses after receiving a four-month suspension with two months deferred over a video which showed him striking a horse with a branch.

The 66-year-old New Zealander was seen striking a horse several times while attempting to coax it towards a water jump in a cross-country schooling session.

Todd, who won individual gold medals at the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics, has apologised for the incident.

He was handed an interim suspension by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in February and since his penalty was back-dated to that point, his licence has now been restored.

The BHA said Todd had accepted that his behaviour fell short of the standard expected and “ran contrary to the values of care and respect for the horse that underpin British racing”.

Todd became a racehorse trainer in 2019 after retiring from three-day eventing.