Co Tipperary trainer Michael O’Meara has been fined a total of €2,000 by an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals panel after his Thurles winner in November, Parnell Street, failed a subsequent drug test.
The IHRB panel concluded on Thursday that O’Meara’s horse tested positive for phenobarbital and disqualified him from first place in a handicap hurdle.
O’Meara trained the Breeders’ Cup winner Ethical Diamond in his first three starts, including when winning at Limerick in 2023, before being sold to the Willie Mullins stable for 320,000 guineas. Ethical Diamond lines up in Saturday’s $6 million Sheema Classic in Dubai.
Following November’s positive test, an unannounced inspection was carried out at O’Meara’s premises.
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The IHRB’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Lynn Hillyer, told the panel that phenobarbital is widely used in the treatment of seizures and is a prohibited substance on race day.
She confirmed that O’Meara suggested cross-contamination from his dog as a possible explanation and supplied a veterinary prescription for phenobarbital for his dog who was receiving treatment for seizures. Hillyer confirmed following all analysis that cross-contamination was a plausible explanation in this case.
O’Meara said that the dog, is a long-term family pet and had at that time, the run of the yard. He added that the dog is now kept away from the yard where the horses are.
In 2021, O’Meara was fined €5,000 by the IHRB after his runner, Noble Music, tested positive for an anti-inflammatory drug. The horse was found to have been treated with a painkiller on the day of the race in Cork.
The trainer’s representative at that IHRB hearing said his client had “had a very rude awakening in the area of medicines and was wholly apologetic for the sequence of events”.
Earlier this week, another IHRB panel disqualified last month’s Dundalk winner Oxford Circus after it decided that the horse’s jockey, Elizabeth Gale, didn’t hold a valid licence to ride at the time.
Gale stated that she received a verbal agreement from her previous employer in Britain that they would keep her as an employee until the end of February.
She confirmed that she had begun the process of getting licensed in Ireland and did not receive any correspondence to advise her that her previous employment had been terminated. She stated she signed the attestation at Dundalk in good faith as she believed when she rode there on February 27th she held a valid licence.
Gale accepted that a licence obtained from the BHA is relinquished once employment with a trainer ends. However, she said she had not received any notification of her employment being terminated earlier than she expected.
