Mike Cattermole column following ban for trainer Charles Byrnes

NOT SO MUCH OF A HOARD FROM VIKING HOARD DOPING

This week’s report from the Referrals Committee at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, detailing both the Viking Hoard doping and laying on the exchanges, was fascinating and appalling in equal measure.

It concluded that the gelding, trained by Charles Byrnes, was doped by an unknown party with massive doses of the tranquiliser Acepromazine (ACP) at Tramore in October of 2018.

Yet the amounts reported to have been won, €34,889 risked to win just €3,200, seemed paltry in the extreme for such a vulgar and dangerous stunt.

I am often asked by non-racing friends and acquaintances if I think our game is straight? I feel defensive, of course, as I sometimes feel as if those asking are sceptical or, at the least, doubtful.

I then try and explain that I’d prefer to believe that it is, with better standards of stewarding, patrol cameras, dope testing – both on and away from the track - and that, overall, the regulatory side the game has never been more strictly observed.

Of course, that explanation wouldn’t quite wash in this case as there were no CCTV cameras in the stables at Tramore at the time Viking Hoard was got at. However, Owen Byrne, who took over then as general manager of the Waterford course, soon installed a set of cameras in the early part of 2019, in his words “to cover all the corridors of the stable yards."

Other Irish courses without such facilities will no doubt be keen to replicate this.

This story is a shocker in many ways for our sport but, cameras or not, it wasn’t the first time that Viking Hoard had been laid heavily on the exchanges and drifted markedly in the betting. It had also happened on his two previous starts.

But on the other two occasions, the rewards were greater. At Sedgefield on his previous run earlier that month, he drifted from 3/1 to 10/1 with €30,279 risked to win €12,000 on the exchanges. He was a well-held fourth but there is no reference to any testing being carried out, at least on the BHA website.

Prior to that, he was pulled up at Galway in July when €55,000 was risked to return €12,000. Viking Hoard was tested but presumably nothing was found.

The point is that somebody knew that Viking Hoard was not going to perform anywhere near to his best on all of these occasions.

This story takes on a more sinister and chilling side because the bets to lay Viking Hoard were traced to the same account number on an affiliated Betfair site (promoted on parent company Flutter’s website and called Exchange White Labels) somewhere, as the report describes, “in a distant part of the world.”

The good news here is that this wouldn’t be possible now as Betfair withdrew the ability for “White Label” customers to place lay bets on horse racing the following year in 2019.

So, who did get at Viking Hoard at Tramore?

Being ultimately responsible for the horse on that fateful day, Byrnes was given a six-month ban and fine of €1,000 by the Referrals Committee. He strongly denies any knowledge of both the doping and the lay betting on his horse and has lodged an appeal.

What Byrnes did admit to was twice leaving Viking Hoard unattended in the stables before the race.

The Committee found “that only two scenarios were reasonably likely as to the administration of ACP close in time to the race. Firstly, ACP was administered during that time by or with the knowledge of the trainer”, or “ACP was administered during that time by a person with authorised access to the stable yard during a period when the gelding was left unattended.”

It was not a requirement of the Committee to choose between either scenario.

It was distressing to hear amount of ACP used was over 100 times higher than the international screening limit. Whoever was responsible either made a huge error or was ruthlessly and callously taking absolutely no chances.

The veterinary advice is that horses are not to be ridden for at least 36 hours after being given just a prescription dose of ACP.

Given the amount found in Viking Hoard’s system, it’s a wonder that he stayed conscious and that he and his young rider Kevin Brouder didn’t come to any harm or, indeed, adversely affect any of the other 10 runners and riders in the race. It’s a miracle he managed to jump six flights before he was pulled up.

Dr Lynn Hillyer, formerly of the BHA but now Chief Veterinary Officer and Head of Anti-Doping at the IHRB, provided much evidence in this case and concluded that it was all part of a conspiracy to “nobble” Viking Hoard to make money by laying him on the exchanges.

The report concluded that: “The deliberate doping of Viking Hoard close to race time in this case could not conceivably have been a casual or opportunistic event."

Of course, defrauding punters by doping horses has been going on long before betting exchanges were invented.

It is hard to believe that is just over 30 years now since the Barry Hills-trained Norwich and Dick Hern-trained Bravefoot were doped in successive days, also with ACP, at the Doncaster St Leger meeting in 1990 when both were beaten favourites for the Park Stakes and Champagne Stakes respectively.

In an even earlier era, the doping scandal in Britain in the early 1960s, involving scores of incidents, was truly shocking and is brilliantly captured in Jamie Reid’s 'Doped' which is one of the most evocative and gripping books I have read on racing.

I would thoroughly recommend it as a distraction during these tough times.

DAVID MULLINS RETIRES

The decision taken by David Mullins to retire from the saddle at 24, less than five years after winning the Grand National, seems to have gone down as a shock to most.

Reading his reasons why revealed a young man who was just not enjoying his job and hadn’t been as far back as the Galway Festival in 2019.

Coming from a family rich in jumping’s DNA (he is the son of Tom Mullins, nephew of Willie and grandson of the late Paddy), it must have been a real battle for him to admit the truth.

There is nothing wrong with deciding that something isn’t for you and he isn’t the first and won’t be the last to come to the same conclusion. Mullins deserves credit for this.

Just a few years ago, Paul Nicholls’s nephew Harry Derham was making his mark as a promising young conditional rider and had ridden 50 winners, including one at the Cheltenham Festival, when he decided, at the age of 19, that it wasn’t for him either.

Like Mullins, Derham said at the time that his heart was not fully into it – “It’s not a job you can do 99% committed,” he explained.

Derham has since built up a highly successful role as assistant trainer to his famous uncle and clearly loves what he is doing.

Mullins has plenty of time to stop and rationalise and find something that fits more comfortably into his mindset, too.

I wish him well.

DEATH OF DALAKHANI

Dalakhani, the Prix du Jockey Club and Arc winner, died this week at the age of 21. The half-brother to Daylami had been retired from stud duties a few years back but had made his mark as a sire of such as Reliable Man, Conduit and Defoe and also as a significant broodmare sire too, notably with Pinatubo.

Having won eight of his nine starts, his only defeat was when runner-up in the Irish Derby. He clearly was a brilliant racehorse but it wasn’t until talking to Christophe Soumillon, who rode him in all his races, that you started to appreciate how highly regarded he was.

When pressed as to who was the best he had ridden, “Soumi” insisted that he could not split Dalakhani and Zarkava.

BAN THE DRONES

How depressing to hear that the police were called in because three unauthorised drones were spotted flying over Wincanton on Thursday.

It’s by no means the first time that this has happened. Drones can relay footage of races without the delay of the authorised broadcaster. Firstly, that is a theft of rights, and secondly, it gives those that operate them a distinct live betting advantage, which is cheating.

As we’ve seen above, some people go to extraordinary lengths to con others and it is time that these fraudsters were dealt with properly by the law.