KILKENNY equine veterinary surgeon Tim Brennan will appear before the Disciplinary Panel of the British Horseracing Authority next Monday and Tuesday.

Brennan is charged with passing inside information to his brother Michael on the prospects of Faugheen participating in the 2016 Champion Hurdle.

It is alleged that Michael Brennan profited from this information on a betting exchange. Michael Brennan did not co-operate with the BHA’s investigations and has been deemed an ‘excluded’ person.

If found guilty next week Tim Brennan could be excluded from racing for a period of six months or as much as three years.

DEFENCE

Brennan will be contesting the charges and has assembled a strong legal team. He told the Guardian this week he will have a lawyer and two barristers representing him. They include Edward Fitzgerald QC, who represented Willie Mullins in the Be My Royal case in 2005.

The panel for the hearing will be Philip Curl (chair), Jodie Mogford and Simon Rowlands.

Faugheen was a hot favourite to win at Cheltenham following his Irish Champion Hurdle success in January of that year.

But Faugheen was withdrawn from the race in mid-February due to injury and connections were instead represented by Annie Power, who won the race.

Prior to his withdrawal Faugheen drifted on betting exchanges, leading to speculation at that time that someone had profited from the information before the horse’s injury was made public.

According to Brennan’s solicitors, the wager at the centre of this case “appears to have been less than €2,500.”

Should Tim Brennan be found in breach of the Rules and a penalty imposed, the BHA plans to request that the penalty be reciprocated in Ireland by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB). The same request will be made regarding Michael Brennan once the case has been concluded.

The BHA also made clear that neither Willie Mullins, trainer of Faugheen, nor his staff are involved in any wrongdoing in this case.