Curragh officials have said they will “take stock” of the Comer Group’s sponsorship of the historic Irish St Leger at the end of this year.
Separately, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has confirmed it is continuing High Court proceedings against Luke Comer in relation to more than €1.3 million owed to it in arrears by the billionaire.
Comer’s failure to pay resulted in him being placed on the IHRB’s forfeit list on Thursday, making him a disqualified person from Irish racing.
Disqualification means the Monaco-based businessman can attend racetracks but only in areas open to the general public. Integrity spaces such as the parade ring will be closed to him. He is also prevented from owning or training horses.
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Comer is currently subject to a three-year suspension of his training licence which began in 2024 after a major drugs scandal which saw a dozen of his horses test positive for anabolic steroids during a raid on his stables in Kilternan, Co Dublin in 2021. The IHRB has pursued him for fines and legal costs associated with that lengthy case but without success.
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On the face of it, Comer’s non-payment appears to put a significant hole in the IHRB’s finances, with suggestions in some quarters that it might ultimately have to be filled with State funds from Horse Racing Ireland, the sport’s ruling body.
Horse Racing Ireland guarantees the IHRB’s operational and integrity service costs. It allocated €17.8 million to integrity funding in its 2026 budget.
Queries on the matter were met with a straight bat by both bodies on Friday, although a regulatory spokesman confirmed: “The IHRB is pursuing recovery of the monies owed through High Court proceedings.”
Earlier this year, due to Comer being resident in Monaco, the IHRB went to the High Court for permission to try and secure from him fines and costs initially estimated at just over €840,000. On Thursday they took the dramatic step of disqualifying the 68-year-old businessman.
Comer’s disqualification came just four days after he presented the prizes in the Curragh parade ring for the €500,000 St Leger sponsored by the property and investment firm he helped found.
The race is the feature of the track’s leg of the Irish Champions Festival and was won on Sunday by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Scandinavia.
The Curragh chief executive, Brian Kavanagh, stressed on Friday how good a sponsor the Comer Group has been since first backing the Leger in 2014.
Comer, originally from Galway, has been a significant sponsor in Irish racing for years. His disqualification means he can’t sponsor on an individual basis. But the IHRB has confirmed there is nothing to prevent the Comer Group from continuing sponsorships. As well as the Leger, the Comer Group also backs a Leger Trial in August.
The company had also sponsored an insurance scheme in relation to career-ending injuries with the Irish Jockeys Association (IJA). The deal, which started in 2019, involved participating jockeys wearing the company’s corporate logo on their breeches.
However, that arrangements ended at the end of last year and the IJA’s interim executive secretary, Derby-winning rider Emmet McNamara, confirmed that although the career-ending insurance remains in place for this year, it is financed by the IJA with no sponsorship involved.
The Comer Group’s Leger sponsorship also came under focus two years ago when Comer lost his licence to train. But his disqualification presents the Curragh, and the sport in general, with awkward questions about the optics of such sponsorship continuing.
It is understood that the Comer Group’s Leger backing has been on a year-by-year basis. Brian Kavanagh wouldn’t comment on that or about the impact of Comer being put on the forfeit list.
“We review sponsorships annually at the end of each year and that will be the same this time,” the former long-standing Horse Racing Ireland chief executive said. “Comer Group international have been a valued and good sponsor here for a number of years. We will take stock at the end of the year.”
In other news, this season’s Irish Oaks heroine Johanna Walsh will go through the sales ring at the end of the year. The Joseph O’Brien-trained star will be offered at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.
Two years ago, another Irish Oaks winner, You Got To Me, was sold for 4.8 million Guineas (about €5.8 million) at the same sale.
Johanna Walsh is a filly by Sea The Stars and has run just once since her classic victory when out of the money in last month’s Yorkshire Oaks. She was also runner-up in June’s Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot.
O’Brien has described her as “immensely talented” and predicted she will get better in 2027.
“She’s a beautiful athlete and has been from the first day she entered our yard and should only improve as a four-year-old,” he said. “She gifted us our first win in the Irish Oaks and should attract plenty of interest from the world’s leading racing and breeding operations.”
