Cheltenham Festival 2026: Irish jockey Declan Coeli accuses Englishman Nico de Boinville of “mistreating” him

Irish jockey Declan Coeli has accused his English counterpart Nico de Boinville of “mistreating” him ahead of the opening race of day two at the Cheltenham Festival.

Queally, riding I’ll sort that out, and De Boinville could be seen in Act Of Innocence exchanging words at the start line while the Novice Hurdle was held up.

The Irish rider appeared to have fallen off his horse before the start of the race and had to be examined by a doctor. He has been given the all-clear for the race, along with Ballyvad, who was kicked before the race and was assessed by a vet in a chaotic few minutes.

A number of false starts to planned rolling starts took the horses to a standing start at the strip – leaving riders scrambling for position.

“Being abused by an English rider, Nico de Boinville, was not very nice,” Queli, who finished fifth in the race, told ITV Racing before entering the weight room after the race.

“I’m an amateur. I come here and ride the bike in front of my kids. It’s terrible.”

When told of Queli’s comments about the difficult start to the race, de Boinville replied: “Maybe he should look in the mirror.”

A complaint was filed after the incident and after obtaining initial evidence, supervisors postponed the matter in order to collect more evidence.

However, Kweli was initially suspended for one day for misconduct.

Horse racing legend Ruby Walsh has slammed racing rookies as a “joke”.

He told ITV: “It’s 2026. How has no one invented a ribbon that rolls in front of horses?

“The tape had to be in front of them when they went to the track and it had to be moved in front of the horses.

He added, “We can send missiles to track fighter planes in the Gulf, but no one can design a flying tape.”

“That’s the joke.”

Former Gold Cup-winning jockey Walsh added that trust had been broken between jockeys and novices after similar scenes in the third race of the afternoon, the Handicap Hurdle, which was won by Ginko Blue.

In that race, a number of horses were pinned between the field and the fence when the noise became louder, causing them to lose ground early.

“It’s time (trust was broken),” Walsh said. “The BHA [British Horseracing Authority] Need to give beginners the right mechanics so they can start racing.

“A quarter of that field didn’t have a chance. That’s why [Jingko Blue jockey] James Bowen ended up where he did.

“Lucky Place, Puturhandstogether, Rambo T, Bunting and HMS Seahorse had no chance when the tape came back. And Jingko Blue got a flyer.

“With the wrong mechanism, you can complain to the operator all you want, but if the BHA is serious, it will do something about the mechanisms.”