24 November 14, 2021The Sunday TimesSport
Walsh said
he was only
at the stud to
get a horse
scanned and
laseredPAT HEALYunlicensed drugs or remedies. I was
there for a couple of hours. After an
hour I asked if I could go. They said
no, so I went back and waited in the
horse box. Lynn Hillyer said she
wanted to blood-test all the horses
and she then took four samples of
blood and a hair sample from my
horse.
“After doing that she said, ‘You can
go home now Ted,’ and I drove off,
three hours after I’d turned up.”
As well as local intelligence, it is
believed that the FBI had tipped off
Irish authorities about a consignment
of veterinary products en route to
Dublin airport and this information
led to Tuesday morning’s raid
in Leinster.
Afterwards the Department of
Agriculture issued a statement in
which it spoke of “an operation led
by DAFM and the gardai with IHRB
officers in attendance, which led to a
seizure of animal remedies”.
The question is, precisely
what kind of animal remedies? One
source has told me that there is a
belief within the investigation that
when the products taken from the
yard are analysed, the story will only
become bigger.
For Irish horse racing, the stakes
are high. If the DAFM investigation
results in charges, Bolger’s belief that
there is a doping culture within the
sport becomes ever more difficult
to ignore.
As for Cahill, and the report that
speaks of the “highest possible
international standards” of drug-
testing — well, they could have picked
a better day to release that.in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I was never in that yard until the
other day. That vet has never treated
any of my horses, at least not in
recent times.
“I got there at 12.20, people had
been there for an hour at that stage.
I just drove in and they held me there.
The Turf Club vet [Dr Lynn Hillyer]
was there and she wouldn’t allow me
to run my horse at Fairyhouse. I was
just being a good Samaritan and that’s
what happened.”
Ted Walsh was the other trainerwho turned up with a horse to be
treated. “I went down to get a horse
scanned and lasered,” he said. “I got
Seabass done ten years ago, [but] I
wouldn’t go to him too often, maybe
once in a blue moon.
“I drove in past the first yard, into
the second yard and everybody was
standing around his car.
“A garda came up to me whom I
knew and he said to me, ‘I have to
ask you your name.’ I said, ‘Grand,
what’s wrong?’
“He said they were investigating if
there was contraband in the place,According to the
source, more than
60 horse boxes had
visited over a few
weeks. They came
from as far away as
Northern Ireland
T
he coincidence was beyond
unexpected. On Tuesday a
report into alleged doping in
Irish horse racing by a joint
committee of the Oireachtas
was released in Dublin. Four
months before, members of
the committee had heard
evidence from leading figures in the
sport and although their report
highlighted new measures that
should be implemented, the overall
conclusion was that the sport’s
regulatory authority, the Irish Horse
Racing Board (IHRB), was doing a
good job.
Jackie Cahill, chairman of the joint
committee, delivered the soundbite
that would become the headline.
“We’re happy that the testing
standards in Irish racing are of the
highest possible international
standards,” he said.
The 34-page report had come
about because the leading trainer
Jim Bolger had said doping was “the
No 1 problem in Irish racing”. Cahill’s
report, said a journalist from the
Racing Post, had “effectively
invalidated” Bolger’s allegations.
At the same time that the report
was released, a team of Department
of Agriculture, Food and Marine
(DAFM) investigators, supported by
local gardai officers, turned up at a
Leinster stud. Acting on intelligence,
the investigators were looking for a
British resident.
The wanted individual, who
cannot be named for legal reasons,
describes himself as an equine
physical consultant and works with
both thoroughbreds and other sportshorses. He also describes himself
as a “vet-physio”, although he is not
qualified in veterinary science.
Department of Agriculture officials
knew that he held a clinic at the stud
every second week, which was
popular with racehorse trainers and
those involved in equestrian sport.
He had a reputation — for the word
was that he was good with horses that
had physical problems.
The investigators arrived at the
stud at about 10am and told the man
that they had come to carry out a
search of the house and yard. They
would end up taking away his
computer and mobile phone,
in addition to a number of
pharmaceutical substances.
Intelligence had been provided to
the authorities by someone who had,
over a number of weeks, monitored
the flow of equine traffic to the clinic.
From the names on the horse boxes
and the amount of traffic in and out
of the stud, it was clear that many
believed in the man’s methods.
According to the source, more
than 60 different horse boxes had
visited over the course of a few
weeks. They came from as far away
as Northern Ireland.
The trainer Liam Burke had come
from Mallow in County Cork on
Tuesday morning. It was, he told me,
just his bad luck to have to call into
the stud at the wrong time.
“I was on my way to Fairyhouse to
run a horse and was dropping off a
horse to the stud for a friend of mine,
who’s a handler,” he said.
“I was only doing a favour for a
friend and I was just unlucky to beDavid
Walsh
On the day when Irish
horse racing boasted of
their high drug-testing
standards, a raid on a
stud by the gardai
makes it even
harder to dispute
leading trainer’s
belief there is a
doping culture
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DAVID WALSH HAS LED THE
WAY IN HIS REPORTING OF
IRISH RACING’S ISSUESappealinByrnes iCharle
against a baHUGH ROUTLEDO
n December 7, 2014, 13horses went to the start ofthe Weatherbys Ireland
GSB Cht Ph tTurf Club and misled [its] officers and stewards as to the true circumstances in which the shoes were removed”.
Wlhh lb f lBoard (IHRB). That was the year trainer Charles Byrnes and his son Cathal took Viking Hoard to Tramore
Th t O t bdthd Trainer Jim Bolger believes doping is aDavid
Walsh
A case involving a doped
horse and suspicious
betting patterns
leaves Irish racing
facing some
difficult
governance
questionsDavid
Walsh
Clearer protocols,
stronger punishments
and greater
transparency are
required if Irish
racing is to rectify
deep-rooted
problems and
maintain a level
playing field
horse RoyalLine failed aGosden’s
drugs test atAscot in 2019DAVID DAVIESA number ofdrugs werefound in
Brennan’s carDavid
Walsh
Irish horses have
enjoyed spectacular
success but questions
must now be asked
about whether the
country’s racing
industry takes
seriously claims
of a doping
culturePAT MOOREDecember 20, 2020December 27, 2020January 24, 2021