Trainer Rothwell fined over altering date of vaccination on horse passport

Co Wicklow trainer Philip Rothwell has been fined €700 after admitting to altering the date of a vaccination certified in the passport of a horse in training with him.

On Monday, a Referrals Committee hearing chaired by Justice Tony Hunt concluded Rothwell was in breach of Rule 272(ii) by providing misleading information to an official.

It was noted that in different circumstances such action could have implications for a license. However in this case they felt the appropriate sanction was a €700 fine.

Evidence was heard from the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Lynn Hillyer, who stated the passport had been submitted for inspection to the offices of the IHRB where it was noted that there was an alteration to a date of a vaccination certified in the passport.

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She confirmed that the horse had not been presented at a racecourse for running and that the horse had been sufficiently vaccinated against Equine Influenza.

Rothwell told the panel that “in an error of judgment” he had altered the date on the passport.

Also on Monday the Referrals Committee fined Co Waterford trainer Declan Queally €1,000 and disqualified Cloudy Morning from first in a race run at Wexford in April after the horse tested positive for salbutamol.

Hillyer outlined how salbutamol is a human medication which may be used in horses to dilate their airways, usually in the treatment of respiratory disease.

Cloudy Morning was not reported or recorded as having respiratory disease and the concentration of salbutamol in the sample taken after the race was estimated to be some 20 times the European screening limit.

Queally’s solicitor accepted the findings but said the trainer had never administered salbutamol to the horse and could offer no reason for the finding.

Queally was also ordered to pay €500 costs.