A REPEAT of the incident which saw a Galway Races winner disqualified this week could be avoided by new technology which scans horses’ microchips as they pass through a fixed point before a race.

Irish racing attracted some unwelcome publicity on Tuesday evening when it emerged that the two-year-old fillies’ maiden at Galway had been ‘won’ by a three-year-old stable companion. Trainer Jessica Harrington accepted responsibility for the mix-up which happened when the horses were being tacked up in the racecourse stables.

All racehorses have their identity checked on arrival at racecourses but they are not checked again until after the race when the microchip embedded in their necks is manually scanned. At point-to-points, microchips are checked on arrival in the parade ring as there is no stabling area.

The circumstances surrounding last Tuesday’s incident are being investigated by the chief executive of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, and in the meantime no additional pre-race checks are being made.

An IHRB spokesperson said: “This was a very unfortunate situation and the first time it has happened in Ireland for 20 or 30 years. The two horses are almost identical and, though correctly identified when they checked into the stables, they were mixed up at a later stage.

“Thankfully there is a procedure in place which sees the microchip checked prior to the ‘winner all right’ signal being given. The security official who discovered the issue relayed the information to the assistant clerk of the scales and that’s when the stewards were notified.

“Because of time pressures on racedays, the matter was referred on and the CEO will look at the whole situation. We will always look to see where we can improve procedures.”

Michael Grassick, CEO of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, says his members have no objection to having their runners scanned a second time on entering the parade ring, as long as it is done swiftly and efficiently.

“When horses are tacked up, especially young horses, they want to get on with things and not be delayed. Some horses have to leave the parade ring early as they are excitable. I have suggested to the IHRB that the chips could be read by having scanners on marker poles as they walk in or out of the parade ring. Cars have their number plates read when they pass a toll at speed, so it should be possible to read microchips.”

Irish company EquiTrace specialise in traceability solutions for equine organisations and already supply some of Ireland’s biggest trainers with microchip readers.

Company director Kevin Corley said: “There is a panel reader in production which will be able to identify horses as they pass through. It picks up 100% of standard microchips. The smaller mini-chips which are used in the USA are not always picked up, and I believe this is why the product is not yet available.”

Most betting companies either offered a refund to punters who backed the horse disqualified from Tuesday’s race, or paid out as an act of goodwill. There has been some debate over whether the horse should have been declared a non-runner instead but the IHRB spokesperson said: “A horse purporting to be Alizarine ran and had to be disqualified. The stewards’ report clearly states that Alizarine herself did not run in the race.”

Horse Racing Ireland’s betting division manager Pat Brennan said: “I got a good few enquiries about this from bookmakers at Galway. We take our steer from the IHRB ruling and it was a straight disqualification. We don’t make any interpretation of the reasons given for it.

“Bookmakers were obliged to pay out in full on the horse who was awarded the race. They could not make a Rule 4 deduction because Alizarine did not actually run. It was a highly unusual case.”