The winner of a handicap chase at Downpatrick almost two years ago was disqualified by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) last week for failing a drug test.
Chainofconsequence, owned and trained by Co Clare based Michael J McDonagh, tested positive for cobalt following his victory in June of 2024.
A pair of unannounced inspections of McDonagh’s premises by the IHRB subsequently took place in July of 2024.
A referrals committee chaired by Justice Frank Clarke met to examine the matter last week, although the IHRB published its conclusions on Tuesday. McDonagh was fined a total of €4,750 for various rule breaches and the horse was disqualified.
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A handful of reports on other stable inspections carried out by the regulator in 2024 were also only published on Tuesday.
Some weeks ago, the IHRB’s chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin said that the regulatory body needs to “sharpen up” when it comes to processing positive drug tests.
He was commenting on the back of two hearings into positive tests going back to October 2024 that were only published in February.
The veteran sprinter Art Of Unity was disqualified from first place in a Curragh handicap after a positive test for cobalt as well, when the horse was in the care of trainer Murdeach Kelly. Fines totalling €2,500 were imposed on Kelly.
Trainer Michael Flannery was fined a total of €3,750 after his runner Bowgate Street won a handicap hurdle at Sligo in October of 2024. The horse tested positive for the anti-inflammatories, meloxicam and diclofenac.
“Do they need to take that long? I would say no,” O’Loughlin said. “We need to sharpen up and have revised our procedures with defined decision dates.”
He added: “If we rush it, we’ll be told that’s not fair, because not enough time is given to prepare a defence. That said, over the course of 2025 we fell behind in how we processed cases, and we have recently been seeing cases where the sample was taken in late 2024 just coming to hearing. It is longer than it should take.”
