Tell us about wind operations

Sir,

After the recent debate and rule change obliging UK trainers to declare wind surgery operations it was bizarre [on Friday, April 13th] to see an Irish-trained favourite running at Aintree with this information provided, while at Naas on the same day one of the heavily backed joint-favourites was also running for the first time since undergoing wind surgery but this was not officially recorded.

Surely, with the number of Irish and UK-trained horses moving between both jurisdictions on a regular basis, and the need for transparency and consistency, it’s about time HRI and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board adopted the same approach to this issue as the BHA, for as long as that experiment continues?

Like it or not, betting contributes largely to the Irish racing industry. In promoting the industry internationally, not to mention offering local punters a fair deal, this additional information would be seen as a progressive step.

It is probably too late to adopt this approach for Punchestown but, in its absence, we may have a situation where UK-trained horses, who have recently had wind surgery, race in Ireland where there is no requirement to declare this information. When they race again in the UK the information will not be recorded either, as the horse is no longer having its first run since the wind operation.

Yours etc.,

EOIN Ó DAIMHIN

Na Banta,

Port Mor,

Port Lairge.

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