O’Brien must wait on penalty

AIDAN O’Brien will have to wait at least a week before finding out his punishment in relation to the Cape Blanco affair at York in May.

The Ballydoyle trainer was initially charged with “acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct and/or good reputation of racing” after instructing his employee, Pat Keating, not to trot up the horse in front of the British Horseracing Authority’s veterinary officer and the senior racecourse veterinary surgeon as part of their examination of the colt after his Dante success.

That charge was later amended, and O’Brien admitted to “acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of horseracing in Great Britain” at a disciplinary panel hearing which concluded today, as well as two other charges of encouraging and/or causing Keating to refuse to comply with two instructions given by the York stewards.