IF you thought the battle was fought tooth-and-nail up the Ballybrit hill in the 2025 Guinness Galway Hurdle, it was probably an even more intense and prolonged set-to that unfolded at the appeal hearing against the stewards’ demotion Helvic Dream this week.

The headline takeaway from the near two-hour sit down at Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board headquarters on Wednesday was that Ndaawi ultimately kept the €270,000 Galway feature, but there was a real feeling of ebb and flow in the room throughout the sitting - it really could have gone either way. The fact Noel Meade was refunded his €500 deposit for lodging the challenge reflects that.

All suited and booted to the last, there were handshakes and brief words of ‘good luck’ exchanged between Gordon Elliott and his fellow Co Meath trainer in the lobby of the IHRB before proceedings got underway. The pair had carried themselves very sportingly in the heat of the moment at Galway. This was no different.

The entire room rose to stand as the three-person appeals panel of Lady Chief Justice The Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan (chair), Nick Wachman and Dr Paddy Molony made their entrance, and it didn’t take long for the first orders of business to be teased out.

Solicitor Patrick Kennedy, representing the Helvic Dream team, submitted an application for the panel to allow an additional appeal on behalf of Donagh Meyler against the careless riding breach he was handed on raceday. Riders have 48 hours to submit appeals but Meyler didn’t make any submissions to the IHRB in the necessary timeframe, with Patrick Kenendy citing “human error” as the reason this wasn’t lodged previously. It seemed the camp didn’t want to “concede that we were careless” as a factor in the appeal, but the request was subsequently rejected.

Separately, however, the first-past-the-post’s legal camp had their application granted to hear late expert witness testimony from an individual named Hugh Ryan. Fran Berry and Ruby Walsh, in their excellent immediate analysis of the incident on Racing TV, made reference to the overhead drone and head-on footage not being of benefit to Helvic Dream’s case, so it was interesting to see the legal team call on Ryan - an architect by trade but described as an expert in the area of drone footage.

Questions asked

Essentially, they tried to make the case that drone footage is “very unreliable” when it comes to potentially distorting the space between objects. While not pushing for the footage to be thrown out entirely, Patrick Kennedy suggested it should be “treated with very little weight” relative to the other camera angles. Even with Ryan allowed to speak, it’s hard to tell whether it seriously aided the Helvic Dream case, but it was a sign of how the team were eager to get on the front foot.

Though Meyler’s own appeal didn’t prosper, Patrick Kennedy called on him for an extensive rundown of the race where every point you could possibly imagine in favour of Helvic Dream was called on. The case was made that they felt Ndaawi had caused the initial bump from the inside, that Meyler put his stick down in the last 65 yards (indicating he felt he had his rival covered) and even what lead legs that the two were on could be construed as a sign of Ndaawi leaning into Helvic Dream.

Meyler described the finish as “good tight race riding” and felt Ndaawi had plenty of chances to get by a “Group 1 horse in a handicap” who was thought to only do enough in front.

Andrew Ring, former National Hunt rider and current IHRB stipendiary steward, asked more questions of Meyler, and later Jack Kennedy, on behalf of the IHRB, but the ante was really upped once Kevin Power, representing the Ndaawi camp, got down to brass tax with Helvic Dream’s jockey.

For a start, they couldn’t even agree on what section of the hurdle Meyler’s mount jumped at the last. That set the tone. Neither wanted to cede ground on any topic. Power paused, fast-forwarded and rewound the replays for several minutes, pressing the in-form rider on any number of fronts.

Everything down to where the boots of the two riders were positioned in the finish was zoned in on, Helvic Dream’s previous hurdles runs debated (in terms of his typical style in a finish), and whether Meyler could “show me the action that shows you actually making an effort with your left hand to pull off Mr Kennedy’s horse”. It went as far as watching footage of Helvic Dream leaning left once the race was over, Power trying to suggest it was a sign Meyler was holding Ndaawi in beforehand.

KP: “You’re a very experienced jockey, Mr Meyler. A very successful jockey.”

DM: “Thanks very much...”

KP: “You know as well as I know you can’t get any closer to the rail than that.”

DM: “You certainly can, 100%.”

The back-and-forth made for fairly compelling viewing. Both men probably gave as good as they got.

Meanwhile, somewhere along the way, another leading jockey, Danny Mullins, quietly slipped in down the back row of the hearing, observing from afar. It was quite the opportunity for any rider to learn from a case like this, without having to be in the heat of battle themselves. IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin joined the viewing just a row in front of Mullins after a while too.

Pressure applied

Meade shared his take on the case and summed up that “the best horse won and it would be impossible to say Ndaawi would have ever gone past” his stable stalwart, just before Jack Kennedy gave his evidence. The rider was initially in conversation with Power and later given a real grilling by Patrick Kennedy.

The former champion jockey said he felt he couldn’t use his whip in his left hand due to the pressure on his outside and “anyone who has seen me ride knows I can be stronger” in a finish than he was able to be due to the tightness. That felt a key point in the case after watching the replays on a loop.

He had “no doubt” he’d have won with a clear run and described the incident as being “like two cars locked together”, adding: “My horse’s hip was caught on Helvic Dream’s hind quarter and even though I had enough horse, I couldn’t get through. I’m riding a safe distance off the rail and any closer, things are going to get… I won’t say ‘ugly’ but they’re going to get difficult. I’m locked on his hind quarter. That lasted to the line.”

It felt like the Helvic Dream legal camp threw everything at the Kerry native. Patrick Kennedy went as far to imply the rider was changing his story from what was said in the initial inquiry, that his horse had enough space to win if good enough. He said Kennedy’s body angle suggested Ndaawi’s rider was in fact the one leaning in on Meyler. Kennedy ended up standing in front of the replay screens to highlight specifics in the footage.

Elliott then made reference to his rider’s confidence that the result would be changed even before a stewards’ inquiry had been called, and how Ndaawi was “basically being fouled” from 150yds out. Meade got in one final word before the solicitors’ closing statements, however.

“I’ve been training since 1970 and in the event of a stewards’ inquiry, every jockey I’ve ever known has always come in and said ‘we’ll get it in the stewards’ room.’” It took just over an hour for the panel to return with their verdict, and the manner in which it was delivered by the chairperson seemed to carry a level of sympathy for connections of Helvic Dream, while ultimately feeling the stewards hadn’t made a mistake. Even with all the back and forth in the hearing, possibly the loudest noise of the day came when Ndaawi’s owner Niall Earls breathed a massive sigh of relief heading for the exit after the verdict was given.

It’s extremely tough on any connections to lose such a massive race in this nature, but Meade - and Elliott - told The Irish Field outside the IHRB headquarters they felt they’d got a fair hearing. Both sides gave this a real crack.

The final chapter done and dusted for one of the most dramatic feature races in the Galway Festival’s 156-year history.