I trust Owners are aware of this!

[bowles10]

I knew Semple was giving up the game but didnt know the story. Whilst i feel very sorry for the person concerned Semple was insured whereas the owner was not! 'A crying shame' as Semple steps down Scottish trainer poised to hand in licence as crippling law suit hangs over him, reports Greg Wood Friday December 21, 2007 The Guardian "We had three horses when we started out here," Ian Semple says, "and I could kick my hat faster than any of them could run. It's taken us 10 years years to build it up to where we are now. It's a crying shame that it's all having to go down the Swanee." It is a crying shame for punters, too. In four of the last five seasons, Semple's string of around 40 horses, which he trains at Carluke in South Lanarkshire, has shown a level-stakes profit, a record reminiscent of Henry Cecil in his glory years. Within a few days, though, he will throw a saddle over a horse for the last time at a racecourse, and that will be that. Article continues

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Semple says that the decision to relinquish his licence has been prompted by "a lot of things", but there is little doubt that events at Wolverhampton's evening meeting on April 2, 2005, and their consequences, are significant among them. This was the day when Saameq, trained by Semple, kicked out in the paddock before an otherwise unremarkable 12- furlong handicap, causing severe head injuries to Chris Kinane, the assistant trainer to Ian Williams. It was a shocking accident, one that nearly cost Kinane his life, and he now requires constant care. It is the issue of how that care will be paid for, though, that has helped to drive Semple out of training. Both Semple and David Irvine, the majority shareholder in Saameq, are being sued for negligence by lawyers acting for Kinane's family. Semple was insured, but could be held legally responsible for Kinane's injuries, while Irvine was not insured, and may be forced into bankruptcy as a result of the court action. Semple has been advised by his lawyers not to discuss the ongoing case - which is unlikely to be resolved until next autumn - in any detail. Yet he clearly remains astonished that he might yet be held responsible for Kinane's accident. "It's still ongoing and it's a real pain," he says. "I think what I need now is to take a bit of a step back from training. "To be honest, I don't really like going to the races. I was a head lad for years before I started training and I've still got a head lad's attitude, I like to be in the yard most of the time. I'll be driving two or three hours to Yorkshire just to put a saddle on a horse when I've got plenty of staff who are able to do that, but owners tend to want you to be there." Semple will soon get his wish for more time at the yard, with Linda Perratt due to take over early in the new year, while Semple stays on as her assistant. "People think that I'm going to retire as I'm nearly 60, but I can't afford to," Semple says. "Racing's been part and parcel of my life since I left school at 15, so there's no way I can just roll my sleeves down and switch off. "But I've got four grandchildren now, and I'd hope to spend a wee bit more time with them than I did with my own. I was always out early and back late. Even on Sundays now, if they want to go here or there, they'll still be waiting for me to finish work." Appalachian Trail - "a gutsy little horse, you'd put down the ramp and he'd just run down it, ready to race" - has been the top money-earner, and undoubted star, of Semple's yard for the last four seasons. The trainer also won the first Group race of his career as recently as August last year, when Big Timer landed the Acomb Stakes at York. There will be no chance for him to build on that success, however. "Nobody realised at the time what could happen, it was a real eye-opener," Semple says. "And in all this time, I've not had one phone call from the National Trainers' Federation. They take my money every week, every time I've got a runner or a winner, and not so much as a call." He sounds surprised rather than bitter, but his decision to hand in his licence is final. "I'd never say never about training again," he says, "but maybe if I did do it again, I'd be more selective. I don't think I'd have so many horses, and I'd try to have a bit more fun."