CHARLES Byrnes played a major role at Downpatrick’s Monday meeting, not only because the Co Limerick trainer saddled three winners on the card but also because he withdrew his runner in another race which saw a huge gamble landed.

Anyway, trained by Ken Budds, was backed from a morning price of 28/1 to even money before he easily won a handicap hurdle on the card. The winner races in the name of the trainer’s father but was originally bought as a store horse by Byrnes.

The raceday stewards enquired into the withdrawal of the Byrnes-trained Karloss from that race and the trainer told them the horse “slipped in the trailer and sweated up on route to today’s fixture,” and that he felt it was in the horse’s best interest to be withdrawn.

He said that the owners of Karloss were travelling behind him so they brought Karloss back to his yard.

The stewards’ report on the day suggested Karloss had not arrived at the track but Byrnes says this is inaccurate and has asked for CCTV footage to be examined so that he can prove Karloss was at Downpatrick before being taken home.

Byrnes also told press during the week that officials from the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board visited his yard very late on Monday night to see if Karloss was there but the horsebox had not yet arrived home. The stewards referred the matter on to a senior racing official for further investigation.

Budds was also called before the stewards and asked to explain the apparent improvement in form of Anyway.

Senior jumps handicapper Andrew Shaw stated that the winning performance marked a significant improvement on Anyway’s previous form, including his last run when beaten 46 lengths in Punchestown.

Budds stated that he gave Anyway a break after his last run and that he is a lazy horse who benefited from the application of cheekpieces.

On further questioning he stated that he has the horse more than eight months, that he is owned by his father Pat Budds and that they bought the horse from Charles Byrnes.

The stewards also referred this matter on to headquarters for further investigation.

Byrnes is no stranger to stewards’ enquiries and IHRB investigations. His winners are often very well-backed and he has a reputation for being able to coax massive improvement from his handicappers, although it should be noted that he is also more than capable of winning Grade 1 races with his stable stars.

In 2021 Byrnes was given a six-month suspension having been found guilty of facilitating the doping of one of his runners with a tranquilizer at Tramore by leaving the horse’s box unattended. There was no evidence to suggest he was involved in the doping of the horse or in placing bets on the horse to lose.

Downpatrick report >>32-33