Christophe Soumillon is a notably fluent jockey, and nobody has ever accused him of diffidence. So, even though he’ll be arguing his case in a second language, he’s likely to be persuasive when his appeal against an eight-day suspension for “team tactics” after riding for Aidan O’Brien at Royal Ascot is heard today. All of which makes it important that the British Horseracing Authority panel primarily relies on the evidence of their eyes when deciding his fate.Only Soumillon can know for sure if he meant to help O’Brien’s first-string Gstaad when riding Puerto Rico in last week’s St James’s Palace Stakes. But there sure is a case to answer, as the Ascot stewards concluded.Puerto Rico won a pair of Group One races from the front as a two-year-old. It was little surprise then that he quickly got to the front in the six-runner race where the 2000 Guineas winner Bow Echo started odds-on. Nothing much went right for the favourite who was hampered soon after the start when Gstaad edged left under Ryan Moore. Then it got even more interesting.With Bow Echo on the outer, Gstaad made progress up the inside on the turn into the straight. Soumillon took a quick peep behind and edged left, forcing out David Egan on Power Blue on his outside. The manoeuvre allowed room for Gstaad to get up the inner and Moore took it. At the line, Gstaad failed by just a short head to beat Bow Echo.It was foreseeable stuff. On ITV, Johnny Murtagh had all but predicted it before the gates even opened.Both as a trainer, and a former great jockey, Murtagh’s punditry credentials are impeccable, and particularly in relation to this. After all, he was on board the O’Brien trained Duke Of Marmalade in one of the great ‘team tactics’ furores in 2008, slipping up the inside of a stable companion in the Juddmonte International. Murtagh was subsequently suspended and O’Brien fined.This time only Soumillon carried the can, officially banned for “riding his mount in such a way that intended to give an advantage to another horse from the same stable.”Bow Echo ridden by Billy Loughnane (right) on their way to winning the St James's Palace Stakes on day one of Royal Ascot. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA O’Brien has dismissed suggestions of team tactics, basically saying he didn’t know what happened. He has rejected such claims before. Because he has the most powerful stable in Europe, and often has multiple runners in big races, he is frequently open to such charges. The issue has crystallised around Ballydoyle runners. There will probably been a keen interest around the tactical permutations involving O’Brien’s multiple entry in Sunday’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby. However, it’s not like others don’t try to advantage horses from their own stable too. Examples are plentiful.But the bottom line is that it’s against the rules. The problem is when it comes to so many rules of racing a vast grey area exists where it is the spirit rather than the letter of the law that seems to count. The rules also demand every horse do everything to achieve its best possible position. That’s flouted daily.Much of it boils down to how you do it and Soumillon’s move smacked of taking the mickey.He may have a new argument to present today, a suggestion perhaps that he was trying to find the best of the ground by moving off the rail. He may be sincere about it. O’Brien may be too. But since intent is all but impossible to prove, officials are ultimately entrusted to make a judgment call based on what they’re looking at.It’s why Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board rules specifically use the world “appear” when it comes to jockeys doing their best. Riders are required to meet a standard where they need to at least look like they’re trying. The problem is that even so armed, it is often only blatant breaches that get picked up. Many others are still allowed slide through on an official nod and wink.Both here and in Britain, the written rule is overlooked far too frequently in favour of the unwritten rule about not making it obvious.Officials tend to respond to blatant cases when it comes to non-triers, interference or other regulation breaches. Otherwise, too much evidence exists of racing’s regulators ducking the test that if it walks, talks and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck. It isn’t good enough for providing an effective deterrent that bolsters public confidence in what they’re looking at.It matters that Soumillon’s ride on Puerto Rico looked like he was materially helping Gstaad. The Belgian superstar is likely to put up an impressive show in an appeal he’s entitled to make, but getting a favourable result still looks a long-shot.The broader issue is about rules applying consistently and proactively when breaches aren’t so blatant. Jockeys ride to the culture that is enforced. That needs regulators to back their judgment about what they’re looking at much more than they do and be seen to do so. Otherwise, there will always be the temptation to chance your arm.Something for the Weekend Christmas Day might be the most unheralded Epsom Derby winner of modern times. Even in defeat, his stable companion Benvenuto Cellini (4.35) stole attention due to the circumstances of his starting stall antics and subsequent declaration as a non-runner. Christmas Day has a shot at becoming the 21st colt to complete the Derby double on Sunday but this could be the turn of ‘Benvenuto’ to claim a classic on, presumably, very different ground conditions.The impressive Oaks winner Thundering On would have been an intriguing Derby starter but is kept instead for tomorrow’s Pretty Polly. However, the weekend’s first ‘Derby’, tonight’s apprentice version, can go to a filly. Keepsgettingbetter (6.45) has to reverse Leopardstown form with Darius Dark but didn’t get a clear run on that occasion and stayed on well on her first start at the trip.