WITHDRAWING someone’s licence to train is a weighty responsibility. Effectively denying them a livelihood can have serious personal consequences, and therefore it must never be taken lightly.

One only had to look at the three members of the Appeals Body who sat in the case of Charles Byrnes to realise how serious all involved were taking this matter. The case has rumbled on for more than two years, while the members of the Appeals Body took over a week to release their decision. Byrnes will soon commence a six-month suspension of his licence.

The grounds for the appeal was that the sanction was unduly severe and disproportionate. That is a matter of opinion, and one that is hard to argue given the risk Viking Hoard presented to his rider on the day. While no concrete proof may be available as to who ‘nobbled’ the horse, the fact remains that it occurred.

In such cases, and when no evidence of a crime can be apportioned to the actual culprit(s) responsible for the administration of the sedative, the buck stops with the trainer. In this case, Byrnes admitted to leaving the runner unattended at the races.

This dereliction of duty may have facilitated wrongdoing. Hence the decision to withdraw his licence.

While this week’s decision draws a line in the sand in one sense, it still leaves a sour taste, and has done damage to those involved and to the wider racing community. That is regrettable.

Live racing

On a positive note, congratulations to TG4 for their enterprise in securing the broadcast rights to Irish weekend racing in March and April. Eight racecourses will benefit from having pictures shown of the sport, and hopefully this will help them to secure sponsors for the televised races.

What I especially enjoy about the TG4 coverage is their ability to project the sport from what might be called a grassroots level. In particular I would single out Daragh Ó Conchúir for his interviews. His empathy with the interviewee and his own passion for racing are both seen to good effect. Make sure to put the dates for the seven weekends in your diary.

Long haul

A special word of congratulations to Ado McGuinness, the Total Recall Racing Club and Ronan Whelan for their success yesterday in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup in Qatar.

With a winners’ purse of some £83,000, it was worth the long haul travel to Doha.

Today Ado saddles two runners with chances in Riyadh, where the combined value of the two races for the winners is a cool £1.1 million.