THE chief executive of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board [IHRB] says the organisation needs to “sharpen up” the processing of disciplinary hearings, particularly in relation to anti-doping cases.

In an interview with The Irish Field this week, Darragh O’Loughlin said that the IHRB “fell behind” with its caseload last year, though he added there were genuine reasons for the delays. Just this week the IHRB published the results of two Referrals Committee hearings which related to races staged in late 2024.

O’Loughlin said: “Do they need to take that long? I would say no. We need to sharpen up, and we have revised our procedures with defined decision dates.

“We need timelines within the process from getting the lab result and confirming the lab result, through to the investigation, preparation of papers and the hearing. Everybody who deals with a regulator – I did in previous roles – says it takes too long. It is not fair to have it hanging over people while waiting for the case to be heard.

“If we rush it, we’ll be told that’s not fair, because not enough time is given to prepare a defence. That said, over the course of 2025 we fell behind in how we processed cases, and we have recently been seeing cases where the sample was taken in late 2024 just coming to hearing. It is longer than it should take, and there was a very specific reason for that.

“Resources go to it, but it is a very small team here, and we had some unscheduled absences, mostly through illness, in the first half of last year. We do not have any spare capacity, and when we lose key people to illness the work falls behind. That is the reality. We are making active efforts to catch up.

“Any organisation to be effective all the time needs to have what looks like spare capacity, so when something unexpected arises, you have the ability to absorb it. There are external expectations, and we have our own as well.

“It is deeply frustrating and unsatisfying for us when we fail to meet the standards we set ourselves. In this case it happened for very clear reasons, and now there is a recovery underway.”

Comer case

It also emerged this week that the IHRB has initiated legal proceedings in the High Court against Luke Comer over the non-payment of financial penalties imposed on the suspended trainer in 2024. Comer lost his licence following the discovery of an anabolic steroid in samples takes from 12 of his horses in 2021 at his Co Dublin training yard.

Comer, who spends most of the year abroad, denied any wrongdoing but was still held repsonsible for the positive drug tests. After losing his appeal, Comer was left with fines of €85,000 and he was ordered to pay 75% of the IHRB’s legal fees, totalling €775,000.

A spokesperson for the IHRB said: “The proceedings referenced relate to the enforcement of fines and a costs order previously awarded in favour of the IHRB further to a disciplinary matter.

“As the individual concerned is resident outside the jurisdiction, an application has been made to the High Court seeking permission to serve proceedings abroad. This is a procedural requirement and does not reopen or revisit the substantive disciplinary matter.

“The IHRB does not intend to comment further on ongoing legal proceedings.”

Prohibited substances

Strangely, two of the three prohibited substance case results published this week relate to the same horse but not the same trainer.

Muredach Kelly was the official trainer of Art Of Unity when he won a five-furlong handicap at the Curragh in October 2024.

The horse subsequently tested positive for cobalt, above the allowed threshold. Kelly was fined a total of €2,500 and the race was awarded to Rathbranchurch, trained by Michael Mulvany.

Art Of Unity was trained by Aidan Melia when he won a five-furlong handicap at Bellewstown last October. This time the horse tested positive for an anti-inflammatory. Melia was fined a total of €1,250 and the race was awarded to Steel Magnolia, trained by Willie McCreery.

The third Referrals Committee hearing result published this week saw trainer Michael Flannery fined €1,250 over the positive post-race test returned by Bowgate Street, winner of a handicap hurdle at Sligo in October 2024.

The mare tested positive for anti-inflammatories and painkillers. The race was awarded to Queenofthelodge, trained by Sam Curling.

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