Identification issues become centre of attention yet again Last Thursday a minor fixture at Punchestown hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when a horse that was declared to contest a maiden hurdle ended up running in a different race on the day over fences. The mix up involved two horses trained by Enda Bolger and both owned by JP McManus. Five-year-old gelding Don't Tell Jack and six-year-old gelding Centreofattention. When the two horses arrived at the stableyard at Punchestown they had their microchips checked with a scanning device by Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) officials as is normal practice for every horse competing at a race meeting in Ireland. These checks confirm each horse's identity. The Identification Process On some occasions, "when resources allow," the IHRB officials carry out a second check of the microchip once the horses are saddled and are about to enter the parade ring for their race. Punchestown on Thursday was such a day and it was intended that all horses would have their microchip scanned a second time prior to racing, but "due to a technical issue outside the IHRB's control, additional resources were required to confirm the markings of horses having their first run on the racecourse. This delayed the planned second scanning until the fifth race when resources became available and the error was detected." The error was detected because Don't Tell Jack, which should have contested an earlier Novice Chase on the card, was presented saddled up for the Maiden Hurdle that Centreofattention was declared to run in. It was only then that it became apparent that Centreofattention had actually run in the earlier race instead of his stablemate. Article highlights: Two horses owned by JP McManus were mistakenly swapped at Punchestown races IHRB officials only detected the error during a delayed second microchip scan Similar identification issues have occurred before, notably at Galway Festival Volunteer stewards play a significant role in overseeing racing regulations The Mix-Up Explained Trainer Enda Bolger was not in attendance at the race meeting, so it was staff representing him that mistakenly saddled the two horses for the wrong races. It turns out the two horses are slightly different colours: Centreofattention is registered as a Bay (brown) with black mane and tail Don't Tell Jack is registered as Brown, indicating a brown mane and tail I'd imagine the trainer, or staff members familiar with the two horses, could readily differentiate between them, but nonetheless a mistake was made on the day. When the IHRB officials became aware of the error they informed the raceday stewards and an enquiry was held into the matter where the second horse was withdrawn and the incident was referred on to headquarters for further investigation. Implications for Racing Integrity While this whole affair once again makes the sport look decidedly amateurish, I do think it was most likely a genuine case of human error with no malicious intent, despite the fact that the runner in the Novice chase was weak in the betting markets. That said, I do wonder how regularly this type of thing happens and how often it goes undetected? If Thursday's meeting had not been a fixture where the IHRB were carrying out the second scan of the microchips and neither horse won their respective races, we would be none the wiser that an error had been made. It is less than four years ago that a three-year-old horse trained by Jessica Harrington won a race confined to two-year-olds at the Galway Festival. You would think after that high-profile mess that procedures would now be in place at all times to prevent a repeat, but obviously not. Ensuring that the horse you place your money on is in fact the horse that competes in the race is the most fundamental role of the sport’s regulators. Volunteer Stewards and Conflicts of Interest An interesting aside to this issue is that two of the four volunteer stewards acting at Punchestown excused themselves from the enquiry into the mixup due to a potential conflict of interest. We are not told what the potential conflict of interest was in relation to in this case, but it is a common occurrence for stewards to recuse themselves from enquiries, oftentimes because they have a relationship with one or other party involved in an enquiry. Only a few weeks ago at Galway three acting stewards recused themselves from an interference enquiry after a Bumper race because one of the horses was owned by a friend of theirs and fellow steward William Flood. Almost all of these voluntary stewards are connected with the sport in some capacity, commonly as racehorse owners and breeders, so it is likely that on many occasions they will encounter a situation where they have some potential conflict of interest. Considering how many areas of society, let alone horse racing circles, that the likes of JP McManus will have some connection to, it is a wonder the IHRB can find any stewards to sit in on enquiries involving his horses or other such high-profile owners, trainers and jockeys. The Economic Value of Volunteers Overall, it is remarkable how important this network of unpaid stewards continues to be to a sport and industry that is worth so much to the economy. There are four voluntary stewards in attendance at every one of the 395 race meetings held each year. If we take it that they work an average of 5 hours per day, even at the current minimum wage of €13.50 per hour that adds up to over €106,000 per year that the sport is saving, before you consider the employer's PRSI contributions and other associated costs of employing staff. These volunteers are also present at all Point-to-Point meetings and sit on the various committees and boards within the IHRB annually. For an industry worth an estimated €2.6 billion to the economy each year it is quite a trick to get these people to offer their services for free. A Note on the Luke Comer Case Lastly, harping back to last week's blog about the latest revelations in the Luke Comer anabolic steroid case, I got a few surprises when I went through the form of the 12 horses under his care that tested positive back in 2021. It turns out that 10 of those horses never won a single race when trained by Luke Comer, despite running a total of 83 times. One horse named Wee Jim, which Comer purchased for £105,000 after it won twice in the UK, came to him with a rating of 92, but after 17 races in the Comer silks it had dropped down to a rating of just 47. If a horse can disimprove by over three stone when exposed to anabolic steroids, it is no wonder that they are banned from use.
