Racehorse trainers association silent after Chris Gordon defamation ruling upheld

The Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) declined to comment on Thursday after the Court of Appeal upheld a 2020 High Court defamation ruling in favour of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s (IHRB) head of security, Chris Gordon.

The IHRB official was awarded €300,000 following a 30-day trial that ended in March of 2020.

The jury found he had been the subject of an “orchestrated and severe campaign” against his good name by the IRTA.

Allegations

Gordon, who was head of security to the regulatory body then known as the Turf Club, claimed he was defamed in a letter about his role in a 2014 inspection of the yard of trainer Liz Doyle, daughter of former Fine Gael politician Avril Doyle, who was also at the inspection.

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He sued the IRTA over a letter from its solicitor to a senior Turf Club steward, claiming it falsely alleged he tried to entrap Liz Doyle into an admission of wrongdoing.

He also claimed that leading trainer Noel Meade, then chairman of the IRTA, defamed him in an article in the Irish Field newspaper that year when he referred to Gordon’s role in stable inspections.

Following the High Court judgment, the IRTA lodged an appeal and details of that emerged on Thursday when all grounds for their appeal were dismissed.

The Court of Appeal ruled the IRTA had not established the award of €200,000 in general damages was either unreasonable or disproportionate and concluded the jury award of €50,000 each for aggravated and exemplary damages should not be interfered with.

The Court of Appeal judgment said the trial, presided over by Mr Justice Bernard Barton, was clearly, for all involved, a bruising and hard-fought affair.

The jury had concluded that an entirely innocent error on the part of the plaintiff was misinterpreted, and then used by an organisation of racehorse trainers to inhibit the plaintiff in the discharge by him of important duties in the course of his employment.

No honest belief

The allegation against Gordon — that he had knowingly used a concocted document in an attempt to entrap a racehorse trainer into an admission of serious wrongdoing — was transmitted by the defendant to its solicitors and by its solicitors to the plaintiff’s employer, was very serious, said Mr Justice Murray.

He also said that all of the claims were found by the High Court jury to have been related and to have been advanced when the defendant had no honest belief in the allegations against the plaintiff and formed part of a campaign against Gordon.

Mr Justice Murray added that the trial judge delivered a charge to the jury on the issue of malice that was as clear as it was correct.

The IRTA is a limited company that represents the majority of racehorse trainers in Ireland.

A spokesman said on Thursday: “Our legal team are currently considering the very lengthy judgment and there will be no further comment at this time.”

In other news, the IHRB has confirmed two new directors to its board, Mary Cullen and Alison Millar. They join the former government adviser Angela Flanagan who was announced last month.

The IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin said: “The IHRB recognises the importance of having a board which reflects the industry and wider Irish society. The appointments show the organisation’s commitment to gender balance at board level, to all-Ireland representation and to the appointment of truly independent board members.”