Pace of change has to increase at IHRB if public scepticism is to ease

Since it has been a private club for more than two centuries it probably shouldn’t surprise if the instincts of Irish racing’s regulator have leaned towards keeping problems in-house. Discretion is prized in any closed shop. But it’s an expensive impulse the sport can’t afford any more.

There is recognition within the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) that it must change to survive. History is all well and good but €11.4 million of public funding for 2023 in the here and now means ambitions towards accountability and transparency need to be more than just corporate jargon.

Effective acknowledgment of a chronic deficit in both were underlined last year by the appointment of a new chief executive whose claims to the regulatory helm were helped by knowing nothing about racing.

Ignorance is rarely an employment plus, but public scepticism meant Darragh O’Loughlin’s apparent agenda-free status outweighed his lack of knowledge.

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That was just one step in attempting to slowly crank integrity governance into a 21st century gear where outside opinion counts. There have been others too, but the IHRB’s unfortunate accuracy when it comes to shooting itself in the foot keeps forcing several more steps backward.

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Even in an as inherently conservative sector as racing, with its default setting for circling wagons, patience appears to be increasingly wearing thin about a body having to play so much reputational catch-up.

Few things can undermine confidence quite like a smell of financial impropriety and the whiff of O’Loughlin’s “bombshell” revelation to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee last summer in relation to a still unspecified financial matter of grave concern still lingers.

An independent report is in the pipeline which, presumably, will eventually clear up speculation as to whether, or not, it might be connected to an apparent discrepancy in money provided to various funds administered by the IHRB that support injured riders.

Pre-emptive attempts to downplay the matter as some harmless accounting technique come up against the gravity of the language employed by O’Loughlin. There is credit due for both going public originally and a commitment to publish any report. But inevitably, as everyone waits, speculation rushes into the information vacuum.

Such vacuums used to feel like useful stock in trade for a regulatory system seemingly designed to simply ride out any storms. Miserly rations of public information helped feed into that impression and fitted into what essentially has been oversight by a private body. But that can’t cut it any more.

It’s why the IHRB’s shock announcement last week that it had no evidence to present after a marathon three-and-a-half-year examination of a controversial claiming race at Dundalk in March of 2020 resonated of another time and attitude.

The saga of how the Denis Hogan-trained pair Tony The Gent and Yuften finished first and second at Dundalk, prompting an investigation that included looking at betting patterns, has been another bad smell hanging over the game for far longer than is reasonable.

For the regulator to try to flex its muscles, pledge to have it all progressed as soon as practicable and then a week before a planned referrals hearing suddenly announce it had no evidence because of documentation submitted by Hogan the month before looks dispiritingly slipshod.

An inability to get something over the line is one thing, but this has looked like abject failure.

That the IHRB has blamed Hogan for not submitting this expert evidence long before might have some justification. But it also came across as adding a petulant tone to an embarrassing shambles that smacks of a real lack of seriousness all round.

There have been much-needed structural changes to racing’s regulation in recent years. Embarrassments thrown up in the process have, at times, been considerable and public, but can’t be allowed prevent further necessary reforms being carried out to improve the policing of a vital €2.5 billion sector.

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Some within the IHRB argue that a relatively new regime is being criticised for past failings. But it’s not like the Hogan case is some complete anomaly from history. Nor is it the case that changing the head of an organisation magically changes either its culture or its reputation.

At the very least, the pace of change at the IHRB needs to be upped significantly. Even then, there’s a sizeable undercurrent of opinion convinced that structural reform will ultimately have to take place at the most fundamental level.

That’s because Irish racing is an outlier in having separate bodies covering administration and integrity. Most other jurisdictions rub along with just the one. If the IHRB keeps giving itself reputational black eyes, the question will increasingly be asked as to why can’t the same apply here.

Spending public money demands accountability. Regulation here used to be little more than a private playpen with all the usual intrigues inevitable to such anatomies. But for the outlay going into it now, it is reasonable to expect more impressive performances than have transpired recently.

Something for the weekend

Friday’s Grade Three feature at Down Royal shapes as a likely match between Irish Point and MAGICAL ZOE (2.02) and the latter has plenty in her favour, including race fitness, proven course and distance form as well as a handy weight concession.

Chelmsford’s all-weather action on Saturday sees the Godolphin two-year-old TRIBAL STAR (6.0) have a second career start after an encouraging Newmarket debut on soft ground last month. The gelded son of Sea The Stars gets a hefty chunk of weight from the winner, Poniros.