Brian Sheerin in Friday’s Racing Post

 

Reputational equity anyone? No, me neither. It’s a cornerstone at Teneo, the public relations and advisory firm (“Our team in Ireland partners directly with senior executives to create, enhance and protect reputational equity on a global scale”) but don’t ask me to explain it. It’s obviously some kind of rare and exotic fragrance for corporate suits in need of expensive advice.

The suits were six senior executives from Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the IHRB: Brian Kavanagh (CEO, HRI), John Osborne (Director of Animal Welfare, HRI), Denis Egan (CEO, IHRB), Lynn Hillyer (Chief Veterinary Officer and Head of Anti-Doping, IHRB), Niall Cronin (Head of Communications, IHRB) and Cliodhna Guy (Head of Licencing, Legal and Compliance, IHRB).

The problem was a series of damning newspaper articles on doping in the sport and the a la carte system being used to address it. The rare and exotic fragrance would be applied on the morning of Thursday, February 5 by Alan Tyrell, a managing director at Teneo.

“Format wise,” he explained via email, “we will operate via Teams and using a combination of PowerPoint and discussion provide [an] overview on broad techniques on media engagement and dealing with interviews and questions. Then move to a more specific set of mock interviews where we put the attendees under pressure. The session will be recorded and we will provide feedback to attendees in how they are managing the media interviews and delivering the message.”

The message — “a firm reassurance that Ireland’s anti-doping system is more than fit for purpose” — has been repeated constantly since:

Denis Egan on February 12: “The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board welcomes the continuous support of Horse Racing Ireland and obviously share the goals of HRI, and everyone in the racing and breeding industry, to continue towards delivering a gold standard in equine anti-doping systems.”

Denis Egan on June 14: “There is no room for complacency when it comes to equine anti-doping. The IHRB have shown that by significant increases in testing over the last number of years, and through collaboration with LGC we have been able to take advantage of the science available. Our focus is on risk based and intelligence led strategy which directs us to get the right sample from the right horse at the right time.”

Denis Egan on June 19: “It is incumbent on anyone who has information on alleged malpractice to pass it on to us. They can do this in a number of ways and do not have to identify themselves. One option is to leave a message on the confidential telephone (1800 855846) or to write to me personally at the IHRB. We act on all information we receive.”

Denis Egan on July 2: “Everyone in the industry has a vested interest in keeping doping out of our sport and I would urge anyone that has any information about the misuse of drugs to pass it on to us and it will be dealt with confidentially and appropriately. It is only by working together that we can all play our part in keeping racing drug free.”

 

It’s not that the idea of doping shocked him. After all, it’s been part of the sport since its infancy. Sir Barton, the first Triple Crown winner, was given so many stimulants that he had difficulty performing as a sire. In the 1930s, when horse racing was the No 1 sport in the US, horses ran on cocaine and heroin; later it was amphetamines.

But doping now seemed so brazen and pervasive that the fastest horses were as suspicious as the best home run hitters had been in the late 1990s. “I came away thinking that I couldn’t believe in the integrity of the results,” (Stuart) Janney says. Watching from his seat that afternoon, “there were four or five big races, and I couldn’t prove it, but I just felt like they had all been won by cheaters,” he says.

The next week, Janney called Jim Gagliano, the Jockey Club’s president, and told him something had to be done. “I wanted to catch the cheats,” Janney says. “I’m not talking about people doing little things here and there, I’m talking about the big fish, the people impacting our game.”

‘Inside the Doping Scandal

That Rocked Horse Racing’

Bloomberg, July 1

 

Two years ago, on May 20 2019, two senior officials from the IHRB travelled to Jim Bolger’s yard at Coolcullen in Co Kilkenny to conduct an out-of-competition doping control. Samples were taken from 15 horses and the results — all negative — were conveyed to the trainer four months later in a letter signed by Lynn Hillyer and Cliodhna Guy.

The process was very drawn out to say the least, so Bolger sent a reply:

“Dear Madames,

“Thank you for your letter of September 19, 2019 — One hundred and twenty one days after your inspection . . .”

A month later, they sent a reply: “We accept the points made in your letter regarding the length of time it took to write to you. We are actively addressing this so it will not arise in the future and thank you for taking the time to engage with us regarding the feedback.”

There was also an open invitation to engage with the officials again.

In September ’20, a meeting was arranged with Hillyer in Rathvilly to discuss Bolger’s concerns about doping in the sport. “I think she was keen to do something,” he recalls, “but I wasn’t sure she had the back up.”

A month later, Bolger used an interview with The Irish Field to put the issue centre stage: “I am concerned with the lack of policing in racing,” he told Daragh Ó Conchúir. “It’s not up to the mark. It’s not up to scratch . . . It is not a level playing pitch at the moment.”

A day later he doubled down in the Racing Post: “I have knowledge of problems and I would like to see the IHRB stepping up to the plate. There needs to be more rigorous testing, but action has to happen after that testing has taken place. I’m inclined to think we have had instances in the past where action wasn’t taken when it should have been.”

Then his phone started ringing.

One of the more interesting callers was a trainer from England who shared Bolger’s views on the state of the game. He also had a story to share. The previous summer he had instructed his vet to send hair samples from six horses recently acquired in Ireland to a laboratory in Suffolk to be analysed for the possible presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

The survey — a 14-page report from a distinguished toxicologist — cost ten grand and yielded the following conclusions: “One horse has produced a suspicious finding for an elevated level of testosterone. On the balance of probability this is likely to reflect exogenous administration.

“A second horse has produced a suspicious finding [for] androstenedione. On the balance of probability this is likely to reflect exogenous administration.

“A third horse shows evidence for the presence of an unidentified keto steroid (m/z 318 post-derivatisation). On the balance of probability this is likely to reflect exogenous administration of a performance enhancing medication within the steroid class.

“Three horses all showed evidence of a number of currently unidentified possible keto steroids. This is a concerning finding. A number of these substances were found in common in all three horses. I have not encountered these putative steroids in previous hair analyses that I have undertaken.”

It was this call, as much as anything, that steeled Bolger’s views in his interview with the Sunday Independent last month:

You’ve no faith in all the trumpeting about hair testing?

“I’m not sure they’re very serious about it. The samples might have been taken but if they were tested properly, they would have had results by now.”

So it’s your sense that . . .

“There’s a problem, and I’ve had great support from my staff who know that I am 101 per cent right. And they know more about it than I do because they are right in the mix.”

What do you mean?

“They have contact with other stable staff. They are closer to the coalface than I am.”

I’m seeing a lot of parallels with pro cycling here.

“Well, there will be a Lance Armstrong in Irish racing.”

There will?

“There will.”

You say that with certainty?

“Yes.”

 

“Jim has said it’s a Lance Armstrong magnitude case, so that means it’s somebody that’s competing at the very top, which means they are competing internationally, which means they’re being tested in all different racing jurisdictions. And there hasn’t been an Irish horse test positive . . .

“It needs to be factually based. This is a global industry and Ireland is the focus of this subject, and I think Jim has an obligation to tell (the Oireachtas) everything he knows. There’s an anonymous line there . . . if he feels like he can’t say a name, or mention a medication, there is an anonymous line there for a reason.”

Jane Mangan,

RTE Racing, June 26

 

The ink had barely dried on Bolger’s interview with the Sunday Independent when the editor, Alan English, forwarded an email he’d received. “Your interview with Mr Bolger is spot on. It is widely known within the industry that there is a problem within the sport. Not all trainers but some.

“I work in it and have seen it with my own eyes. I started work with a trainer and was actually shown where he kept the drugs in his office by the trainer himself. I was appalled but moreso that everyone in the yard knew it.

“At the time I sent an anonymous letter to the IHRB [then the Turf Club] outlining where the drugs where kept in plain view of the office [in a cupboard, no need for a drug dog or high-tech expensive equipment] but nothing was done. Not even a yard inspection. This was quite a big high profile trainer [over a decade ago].

“Mr Bolger is also right when he says the staff know better than anyone else. I have friends who have their own stories to tell. I know of one other who claims to have sent an anonymous letter to the IHRB giving explicit details and NOTHING was done. Knowing this person they are the type to have sent it. Why are we always wrong whilst those who protest too much in public are considered the truth tellers?

“They know people are too afraid to speak up so use this fear to narrate their own agenda. Why will others not speak out? Some are of the trainer’s viewpoint; they just want winners and titles and do not care. Others are just too scared to say anything because of the bullying that goes on and [the fear] of losing their jobs. Whistle-blowers are never treated well in this country, never mind an insular industry.

“The IHRB and certain trainers do not want this dealt with. The shitstorm over Gordon Elliott will be a storm in a teacup if the truth gets out. But you can only hold back the storm for so long. Don’t get me wrong, I am not bitter or have any grudge to grind. I love the industry and the majority are playing by the rules.

“As with all walks of life there is always a few bad eggs but the IHRB needs to do the job they are being paid to do and level the field FOR EVERYONE. As Mr Bolger says it will be better when the swamp is drained.”

The following morning I sent a reply: “Thanks so much for your email. I’d love to hear more about your experiences in racing, and dealings with the IHRB. Is that something you might consider sharing?”

She (it’s always the women) replied later that evening: “Yes I can talk to you if you like but most of what I can tell you is unprintable if you don’t want to be keeping Mr Bolger company in the High Court!! Also, I must be careful of how I tell you I know certain things. The IHRB is not like Google with thousands of employees — it would be easy to ‘guess’ or at least narrow the possibilities of who speaks to me, so I need to protect that person.”

She said she had information that the second letter she spoke of had been received by the IHRB, but not acted on. “Don’t know how much use I can be but if you still want to talk on the basis that my name is kept out of it, let me know.”

A week later we spent an hour on the phone. She had not kept a copy of her letter to the Turf Club but could cite the details: the name of the trainer; the names of the three big winners he had doped; the substances (Nitrotain, Lasix, Cobalt, Stanozolol) used; the location where the drugs were stored.

She had also just come off the phone to the second letter writer, who, she said, was very nervous. He had not kept a copy of his letter. “I’ve told him I’ve spoken to you,” she said.

What she got was the name of the trainer, a list of 21 horses doped and some of the substances (anabolic steroids, Lasix) used. “He stands by it 100 per cent,” she said, “and I believe him.”

Will racing? Stay tuned . . .