On Monday morning, an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals committee panel is due to start a hearing into the circumstances of how jockey Philip Byrnes was unseated from his mount Redwood Queen in a hugely controversial race at Wexford in May.
What the Racing Post has labelled as “the most talked-about episode of the Irish racing year” involved how Redwood Queen, trained by the jockey’s father, Charles Byrnes, appeared to have a claiming hurdle race in the bag only for her rider to part company at the final flight.
The incident immediately provoked huge levels of comment, on all kinds of media, but the Wexford stewards took no action. It was only the following day that the IHRB said a senior official would carry out a review.
The IHRB said that review could mean engagement with external service providers or stakeholders. Charles Byrnes said shortly afterwards no one was hurting more about the mishap than his son and argued that the mare “came up out of his hands and blew him out of the saddle”.
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Redwood Queen was weak in the betting at Wexford and started a 13-2 shot. Following her exit the race was won by the 1-3 favourite Beacon Edge.
Monday’s hearing at IHRB headquarters on the Curragh is due to start at 9.30am. IHRB officials would not speculate on how long the referrals panel might need to carry out the hearing process.
Just over a couple of hours after deliberations begin on the Curragh, the first of eight races is off at Naas, although there’s no doubt the biggest focus will be on a mares’ maiden hurdle due off at 2.20pm.
Bambino Fever became just the sixth horse to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Bumper double last season. Jody Townend was on board for both of those Grade One victories, but her brother Paul takes over for the first time now she faces flights.
A range of novice options at Cheltenham in March are open to Bambino Fever, including the Mares’ Novice for which she is already a clear 4-1 favourite. She is also second favourite for the Supreme where her sex allowance would come into play against geldings.
Gordon Elliott’s Oldschool Outlaw might normally be expected to pick up a Monday maiden such as this considering she won a smart bumper herself at Navan last month. Bambino Fever, though, will be widely expected to maintain her unbeaten record.
Townend has opted for Funiculi Funicula in the opening Beginners’ Chase and he can boast some decent Grade One form over hurdles. Titanium won a premier flat handicap on heavy ground at the Curragh last month and might be up to exploiting a mark of 102 for jockey Alan O’Sullivan in the Qualified Riders handicap hurdle.
In other news, both Aidan and Joseph O’Brien failed to strike at Sunday morning’s Hong Kong International Carnival in Sha Tin where it was mostly a case of “as you were” in the four main Group One races.
The local superstar Romantic Warrior landed the featured Longines Hong Kong Cup for a fourth year in a row. It was an 11th Group One victory for the gelding who took his world record career prize money tally to more than HK$240 million (€26.2 million).
The Irish outsider Galen cut out much of the running for Dylan Browne McMonagle and kept on admirably in the straight to be fourth.
The feature event was not disrupted despite a protester accessing the track as the horses entered the closing stages. The protester, who had a sign drawing attention to the recent Hong Kong apartment complex fire that cost the lives of more than 150 people, was restrained as the horses raced to the line.
Joseph O’Brien’s other Carnival hope, Al Riffa, was also fourth in the Hong Kong Vase won by the French star Sosie. The first five home in the mile-and-a-half contest were European trained, including Ballydoyle’s Los Angeles, whose last start before going to stud yielded a fifth place.
It was a record fourth win in the Vase for Sosie’s trainer André Fabre and the colt, who ran third to Daryz in October’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, is likely to continue his racing career in 2026.
Ireland’s The Lion In Winter never featured in the Mile won for the second year running by Voyage Bubble, while another Hong Kong superstar, Ka Ying Rising, again routed his opposition in the Sprint.
It was a 16th consecutive success for the New Zealand-bred horse widely accepted to be the world’s best sprinter. His Australian jockey, Zac Purton, who also scored on Voyage Bubble, commented: “He drew the right gate [one] and when it came out they said ‘what do you think’, and I said I thought he’d win by further. He’s just in a league of his own now.”
