RECENT CUTS to the Turf Club’s budget have been put forward as contributing to scenes labelled as “farce” by trainer Michael Hourigan at Ballewstown on Saturday evening, when the €24,500 feature hurdle race began before gambled-on favourite Warcraft arrived at the start.
Hourigan’s Warcraft, owned by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, was a heavily-backed favourite (7 to 1 in to 100 to 30) for the Séamus Mulvaney Crockafotha Handicap Hurdle, but his saddle slipped on the way to the start.
Jockey Adrian Heskin struggled to pull the horse up but, after the favourite eventually stopped, he was being led to the start by Heskin and was half a furlong from the other runners when starter Derek Cullen began the race.
After a prolonged stewards’ inquiry that delayed the start of the final race by over half an hour, Warcraft was ruled a withdrawn horse under Rule 1947F. There was a 20 cent Rule Four reduction on winnings.
“It was a shambles, an absolute joke,” Hourigan said yesterday. “The starter said he counted 12 horses at the start, but he obviously can’t count very well. There couldn’t have been 12 horses because mine wasn’t there.”
The Co Limerick trainer added: “In my opinion the race should have been declared null and void. Why didn’t they run the race after the last, when everybody that wanted to run could run? I travelled 150 miles with my horse, he was fit, he was backed off the boards and we got no run. We didn’t even get much of an explanation.”
Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan said yesterday a full investigation into the matter will be undertaken, with all aspects of the problem examined.
“It was human error and very unfortunate,” Egan said.
“The starter said he counted 12 horses as they went by him arriving at the start. But he obviously didn’t check to see if Michael Hourigan’s horse had stopped.”
He said Saturday night’s card was the first full meeting at which Cullen had been in charge of starting the races, but he also suggested an absence of some senior Turf Club staff might now be affecting Saturday evening meetings.
“The majority of officials were recruited prior to 2002, and when Saturday evening racing started it was agreed to pay them extra money on those dates,” said Egan. “Due to recent cutbacks it is no longer possible to pay this extra money and the majority of officials are now refusing to work on Saturday evenings. Those recruited since then are on different contracts and the team that were on duty at Bellewstown are newer recruits.
“They would not have been put out if we weren’t convinced of their competence. Other personnel who might have started at Bellewstown weren’t working.
“Derek Cullen has done all the training, done very well and satisfied the senior starter, Joe Banahan. This is simply human error and I feel very sorry for him,” he added.
“In view of what is going on in the economy generally, where everybody is suffering, it is unfortunate that some staff have decided not to work on Saturday evenings,” Egan concluded.
Hourigan, however, remained very unhappy yesterday and is set to take the matter up with the Irish Trainers Association.
“What are the Turf Club going to do about it is what I’d like to know. If it was the Irish National that was started without one of the runners, what would happen? My horse did not fail to jump off and he was not withdrawn. It’s a farce,” he said.
“A lot of questions are going to have to be answered.”
