THE Turf Club was not prepared to issue a statement until yesterday morning concerning Thursday evening's upholding of an appeal on a technicality by Willie Carson into his five day suspension incurred at the Curragh Guineas meeting for the wearing of an unapproved helmet.

Following an investigation conducted by the Turf Club, Cahir O'Sullivan, Keeper of the Match Book said the upholding of the appeal was based upon a mistake contained in the notice to all trainers and riders about skull in the Irish Racing Cal of March 7th 1996.

O'Sullivan reported. "The sequence of events that led to the error is as follows. On February 12th, 1996 a draft of the notice was prepared and was absolutely accurate. However, on reading it it was decided that omission of some of the technical references used would make for easier understanding. Unfortunately, in doing this, the wrong reference number for acceptable helmets was used. This was a mistake for which there is no excuse land the error will now be corrected.

"The error was first spotted by Andrew Coonan, the young lawyer engaged by Carson. The notice, or new Rule that appeared in the Calendar stated that from March 18th the only approved pattern is the one constructed to meet specification BS, PAS 015. Coonan discovered that the wording was incomplete in that the relevant Jockey Club instruction states that helmets must meet BS4472 (1988) or a higher standard, PAS 015."

Coonan stated that the Turf Club statement was inaccurate rather than wrong and does not tally with the helmets many of the jockeys appear to be using.

The incident has obviously been most embarrassing to the Turf Club. But spare a thought for the seven Irish amateurs who have already been found guilty of wearing an unapproved helmet and were suspended for 14 days. Five have already served their suspension but two are starting or in the middle of sentence.

. From January 1st, the Irish Racing Authority is to pay each racecourse a sum equal to a half of one per cent on the total betting generated on the track with book makers and the Tote.