IRISH racing was in the spotlight on Thursday when Horse Racing Ireland’s Brian Kavanagh, and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s Denis Egan and Dr Lynn Hillyer, with others, appeared online before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Leinster House.

The two-hour session, the first of a number of such meetings, ran out of time, and the Committee’s chairman, Jackie Cahill TD, called for a second meeting with the same group on Tuesday, July 20th. The Irish Field now understands that this meeting is moved forward to next Tuesday, with a proposed meeting scheduled that day with officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine set to be delayed a week.

Opening statements from Kavanagh and Egan were followed by contributions from a number of members of the Joint Committee, all expressing concerns about recent reports in the media about drug cheats in the sport.

Wexford’s Fine Gael TD Paul Kehoe described himself as “absolutely horrified and very concerned” by correspondence he had received on foot of his call for the meeting to be held. This came after recent reports in which Jim Bolger told Paul Kimmage, “‘I know who the cheats are; if I had the responsibility I’d have them rooted out in six months.”

Bolger was invited to appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee, but declined to do so on legal advice.

A staunch defence of its practices was put forward by both Egan and Hillyer of the IHRB, with the CEO stating that it “now has unique anti-doping powers that are unparalleled in any other jurisdiction.”

With regard to the recent appointment of IHRB officials as authorised agents, he described this as “a game changer, as it enables these officials to access any thoroughbred horse in any place, at any time.” He added that the IHRB “continues to evidence that there is no systematic attempt to cheat, through doping, in Irish racing.”

Record straight

Both Egan and Hillyer expressed frustration and disappointment when it came to the coverage of alleged drug cheating, with Egan telling The Irish Field that he was “delighted to get the opportunity in a public forum to set the record straight.” The IHRB chief also told the Joint Committee members that CCTV cameras will be in place in all of Ireland’s 26 racecourses ahead of the 2022 season.

Members of the Joint Committee posed a number of questions about anti-doping procedures and protocols, all of which were responded to by Dr Hillyer.

She categorically rejected claims made by an unnamed English trainer that a number of horses he got from Ireland had tested positive for prohibited substances, saying that these allegations “were simply untrue”.

Further claims of a failure to act by the IHRB on analysing samples, alleged loss of samples and of supposed court injunctions were denied.

Michael Collins, an Independent TD for Cork South-West, said that it was his personal belief that the IHRB should be disbanded, believing that it was a “closed shop”. HRI’s Brian Kavanagh responded that it was untrue that the IHRB was not answerable to anyone.

Admiration

Matt Carthy, the Sinn Fein TD for Cavan-Monaghan, expressed his admiration for the racing industry, before questioning Dr Hillyer on whether she believed people were seeking to gain an advantage by using performance-enhancing substances. Hillyer answered that she believed the IHRB was on top of the matter.

Kavanagh instanced that Ireland proportionately races more horses overseas than any other country, with 1,733 Irish-trained runners around the world in 2019. Tested under various regimes, and representing 6% of the total runners in Ireland, he pointed out that no adverse findings were made.

View last Thursday’s meeting on oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/video-archive/committees/