‘It just doesn’t feel fair any more’ says Suzi Best of restrictions relating to her husband, four years after his disciplinary hearing
Jim and Suzi Best have voiced their frustration that conditions are still being attached to the latter’s training licence, more than three years after the end of a six-month suspension Jim was handed by a disciplinary panel. It is a particular bone of contention that the couple are obliged to attend the races separately when she has a runner because he is not then allowed into restricted areas, such as the paddock or the owners and trainers bar.
“It just doesn’t feel fair any more,” said Suzi Best, who trains 18 horses at the Lewes yard where Jim trained until the troubled disciplinary process that dragged on through 2016. “During the time I’ve held my licence, I’ve been subject to six-monthly yard inspections, as opposed to yearly.