Never a dull day at the Turf Club
Impeccably be-suited and coiffured he may be, but Irish Turf Club Senior Steward Pierce Molony is not afraid of getting his hands dirty when it comes to overseeing the regulation of racing in Ireland and he and his team, lead by Chief Executive Denis Egan, clearly demonstrated that this week when they tackled a range of thorny issues concerning the sport.
Much as in any sport, the regulators often come in for severe criticism when they are perceived to have acted either unjustly or injudiciously, but in racing they can often come under the most intense of pressure because of the many and varied factions they have to preside over – from the trainers, jockeys and owners through the to bookies, the punters, the breeders, the stable staffs and all the other myriad people whose lives they touch in one vital way or another.
This was clearly illustrated this week when the Turf Club announced a series of new measures designed not only to protect the sport and its revenue streams, but also the people involved – not only from extraneous factors, but also from themselves.
Having had to fend off an unexpected and bitter rant from a most unusual source in the shape of two Economic and Social Research Institute economists who opined in a widely publicised paper that racing should not be getting the levels of exchequer funding it does because of diminishing returns from taxation on betting, the Senior Steward and his team then also had to tackle several other pertinent issues – some of which, certain racing insiders felt, were both intrusive and unpopular.
One such was the announcement that the Turf Club intends to breathalyse jockeys on a regular basis. Strange as it may seem to punters and non-racing people alike that a jockey might even attempt to ride a thoroughbred at racing speed after a few libations, the situation is such that the authorities felt action had to be taken.
Molony explained that while drug testing of riders was introduced here in 2003 and since then all samples had been tested for alcohol, the system was not fully to their satisfaction because only five riders per day could be tested and in most cases the tests took place after the jockeys completed their engagements, which sort of missed the point.
“The advantage of the new testing system is that all riders on any given day will have to undergo the test prior to being allowed to ride,” the Senior Steward said. “The limit set will equate to the limit in place for driving.”
He did add that while they were introducing the breathalyser, the Stewards did not believe that there is any evidence of riders riding under the influence of alcohol.
If that was a case of introducing protective legislation, the issue of a crackdown on ‘deferred appeal’ hearings was one which made many sit up and take notice.
The Senior Steward said they were concerned by individual jockeys who were appearing to manipulate the appeal system by deferring appeal hearings to allow them ride on dates when they would otherwise have been suspended and then dropping the appeals altogether.
By proposing that appellants would have to provide for the out-of-pocket costs of governing bodies in the event of withdrawn appeals, they hope that they will end the practice, although they did later confess that proposals for a mandatory forfeiting of a deposit in the event of a lost appeal, might have to be looked at again and that the merits of individual cases could determine the imposition of this new regulation.
Another thorny issue – and one which circulates mainly around the controversy cause by the ban on Kieren Fallon by the British Horse Racing Authority – was that of the reciprocation of penalties.
“One of the big problems facing every racing jurisdiction,” Molony said, “is what to do if a rider or trainer which it licences suffers a heavy penalty in another jurisdiction which the rider or trainer feels is disproportionate or which may have been imposed without following what is perceived here as natural justice.
“As a result of the discussion, the article dealing with the reciprocation in the International Agreement is being reviewed. In future a racing jurisdiction may make provision in its rules to consider an appeal from an aggrieved rider or trainer provided the appellant has exhausted all avenues of appeal in the jurisdiction where the penalty was imposed.
“If this criteria is met, the Appeals Body may then consider the appeal. However, only in very exceptional circumstances will the Appeals Body vary the decision which was imposed by the other jurisdiction.
“We will be bringing forward new rules in the next few weeks to deal with this matter as our rules do not currently provide for any appeal in respect of a foreign sanction.”
This will not, of course, be much good to Fallon, whose highly unjust ban while facing a court hearing on corruption charges in the UK, has no way of being overturned while he awaits trial.
The long-running and only recently resolved saga whereby Horse Racing Ireland recently concluded a deal with Betfair which will see some €4m being paid over a three year period for the provision of data, meant the Turf Club could recently sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the on-line gambling outfit will provide “integrity related betting information.”
In effect this means the Stewards will be able to request Betfair to provide them with certain specified information where they have concerns over the integrity of the betting trends on any specific race.
This will cover individuals who are subject to the regulations of the Turf Club provided they have reasonable grounds to suspect various breeches of those regulations.
“This,” Molony said, “is a most welcome development and while we have no specific information that there is a problem with the backing or laying of horses in Irish racing, the agreement of the MOU will enable us to monitor much more closely what is going on.”
Further new rules are being drafted to allow the Turf Club to request record from licensees such as copies of phone bills and so forth and these will be published shortly before being approved next month.
That a deal has also been done with the Association of British Bookmakers to provide information on irregular and suspicious betting patterns (with something similar being put in place with the Irish Off Course Bookmakers) will further strengthen the Turf Club’s hand where suspected dodgy dealings are concerned.
Delays to the development of the Curragh by various actions of environmental groups locally have frustrated the Turf Club in recent times, but a decision has now been made to commence work.
The Senior Steward said the Turf Club had now taken a “commercial decision” to commence the work, the first part of which is the construction of a new round around the Stand House Hotel, which will allow for the building of the new grandstand on the old road.
“The first stage of the construction work was always going to be the new ring road and I am delighted to announce that work has started on this,” he said.
Construction of the new grandstand will now start after next year’s Irish Derby and section of the new building will be available for the 2008 Derby before being completed in 2009.
