Banned trainer and jockey seek judicial review

RACING NEWS:EAMON TYRELL and Jason Behan, the Irish trainer and jockey both warned off for three years yesterday by the British Horseracing Authority after deliberately stopping a horse from winning a race at Newcastle in August, have indicated they will seek a judicial review of the case.

The BHA yesterday disqualified both men for three years each after concluding they were guilty of stopping Casela Park in a race at Newcastle on August 4th.

Neither Tyrell nor Behan are allowed onto a racecourse in Britain for that period and the penalties are set to be reciprocated by the Turf Club in Ireland.

However, Tyrell said yesterday: “I’ve been in touch with my solicitor and it’s under judicial review. It’s astonishing but I can’t say anything at the moment.”

Behan added: “It’s under judicial review so I can’t say anything at this stage.”

The five-year-old Casela Park finished sixth in a handicap race, beaten just two lengths at odds of 17 to 2, after a hugely controversial ride by Dublin-born jockey Jason Behan who was judged to have stopped Casela Park from winning.

After a BHA disciplinary hearing two weeks ago, at which neither Tyrell nor Behan was legally represented, the British authorities concluded that the incident was the first deliberate stopping ride in Britain for 19 years.

They reported: “The gelding was subjected to strong and persistent episodes of restraint in the last two and a half furlongs and was manoeuvred several times away from gaps and back behind other runners.

“It was running on well in the last 50 yards (despite an absence of any driving or encouragement) and lost by only two lengths. But for its treatment by Behan it would have won.”

The BHA yesterday said the penalties would serve as a warning against the consequences of similar riding which strikes at the nature of racing.

However, reaction to the case in Ireland has been critical in some quarters, with both the trainers association and the jockey’s body in this country previously warning against sentences that would effectively put both Tyrell and Behan out of business.

Yesterday, Andrew Coonan, spokesman for the Irish Jockeys Association, described the sentences as “very harsh”.

He added: “It is in the interests of everyone that the integrity of racing is protected. However, Jason Behan’s circumstances are such that he is a rider with very little opportunities, and very little other means of earning a livelihood, and it seems to me the BHA, in doing what they’re doing to him, have effectively sought to deprive him of earning a livelihood in the only area he realistically knows how to.

“And while the industry has to be protected, that would seem to me to be extremely harsh.

“It is now open to the BHA to expect the Turf Club to reciprocate and I would hope the Turf Club here would very carefully consider that before implementing such a ban.”

However, the Turf Club indicated that, in the absence of an appeal, they will reciprocate the bans. “If there is no appeal, we will reciprocate immediately,” the Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan said.

“A disqualified person is not allowed set foot on a racecourse and they can only work in a trainer’s yard with the permission of the governing bodies.”

Fifty-year-old Tyrell trains near Kildare town and once had up to 60 horses in his yard including the dual-listed winner Slip Dance. However, he has had just a handful of runners this year and last week said: “The only thing I know is horses and if they take my licence off me, I’ll have nothing.”

He added: “The whole issue has snowballed out of all proportion. It’s not like there was a big betting coup or we’re even a big betting yard.”