It is boring to some, irrelevant to others and an unfair slur to at least a few. But the issue of team tactics by Ballydoyle runners continues to get under certain skins, as was demonstrated by an extraordinary exchange on The Morning Line on Saturday.

John Francome was rationalising the argument, largely in defence of Ballydoyle, when the youngest and newest member of the Channel 4 team could be contained no longer. “John, you must be on drugs. Honestly,” he snapped. While it might be nice to pretend this was Tom Lee straining to fill the provocative boots of the absent Big Mac, I give him credit for being passionate in his beliefs, if misguided in his outburst.

Lee is among those adamant that rules were broken in the Juddmonte International last Saturday, when Red Rock Canyon moved off the rail to allow his stablemate, Duke Of Marmalade, to begin his winning run. The Newmarket stewards thought otherwise and, so far, the British Horseracing Authority has yet to say whether its monitoring procedures have identified a breach.

Perhaps they will do so. Perhaps the Aidan O'Brien team will be told that they overstepped the mark and that their card is now marked. Direct manoeuvres to help a stablemate are, after all, specifically outlawed. But to listen to some malcontents, you might imagine they had been committing heinous crimes against the spirit of racing all summer long.

It is this that irks me, because it bears the unmistakeable stench of sour grapes, whether embodied by losing punters, rabid patriots or simply the body of folk who cannot bear to see every decent prize in this country mopped up by O'Brien.

Get over it. Pacemakers have been used since racing was invented. More often than not, they are next to useless. The fact that Ballydoyle has employed them to such smooth effect, as an element of their meticulous tactics, should be admired rather than deplored.