BROTHERS Ben and Alex Harvey and Tom Harney have each been fined €400 by the Referrals Committee for comments made in a post-race media interview at Leopardstown in April.

Following the success of Harbanaker in a flat handicap on April 9th, it was suggested in a Racing TV interview that the trio were part of the winning syndicate which, as professional jockeys, is against the Rules of Racing. Amateur riders Charlie Mullins, Finian Maguire, Harry Swan and John Gleeson were also mentioned and gave submissions to the hearing. Harbanaker’s owner is officially listed as Niamh Harvey and not a partnership or syndicate, as suggested in the interview.

Solicitor Andrew Coonan, representing the three professional riders, outlined the background to a group of friends uniting in their grief following the untimely passing of Michael O’Sullivan and using this horse as an outlet to come together.

Coonan accepted that their actions led to a perception that they were part-owners of the horse but insisted that Niamh Harvey is the sole owner of the horse in question.

The riders apologised for the “inaccurate claims” which they acknowledged raised a legitimate concern.

The Referrals Committee accepted that that the riders were not the owners of the horse but imposed the fines for the “careless public statement, the investigation of which necessarily but needlessly consumed the time and resources of the IHRB.”

JUMP jockey Paddy Hanlon has accepted a job with trainer Nicky Henderson and will move to Lambourn next month. The news was broken on Racing TV’s Luck on Sunday, hosted by Rishi Persad, last weekend. The 18-year-old has ridden 21 winners.

THE Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has confirmed that Alba Chiara, trained by Natalia Lupini, carried 11lb too much when winning the Ulster Cesarewitch at Down Royal on September 5th.

Due to an administrative error, the weight-for-age allowance was not applied to the three-year-old filly when the weights for the race were allocated.

DECLAN McDonogh has lodged an appeal against the decision of the stewards at Tipperary on August 31st to suspend him for seven days for careless riding aboard Mataariki in the Group 3 Fairy Bridge Stakes. The jockey is appealing against the severity of the suspension.

THE Irish Equine Veterinary Association is hosting an seminar entitled ‘Equine Is For Everyone’ next Wednesday, September 17th, at the Horse & Jockey Hotel in Co Tipperary. It starts at 9am and will conclude in the late afternoon with a series of interactive clinical cases. The seminar is open to all veterinary practitioners and sponsored by IDEXX.

Speakers are Alex Draper, Siobhan McAuliffe, Fernando Garcia Seeber and Orla Doherty, and topics being covered include lameness, haemotology, biochemistry, behaviour, diagnostics and antibiotics.

Tickets: irisheva.ie