Never a dull day at the Turf Club

Developing the Curragh, breathalysing jockeys, fending off errant economists, cracking down on manipulated appeal hearings and dealing with Betfair is just part of the workload faced by the Irish Turf Club. Declan Colley finds out how they manage.

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.