Management at the Curragh and Comer Group International, the backers of this Sunday’s €600,000 Irish St Leger, are planning to review their sponsorship arrangements later this year.
Curragh chief executive Brian Kavanagh said on Monday that the Comer group have been a “valued” sponsor of the Leger since 2014 when it became one of the feature events of this country’s flat racing shop window event, the now-titled Irish Champions Festival.
In July, Luke Comer, one of the founders of the hugely successful property development group, began a three-year suspension of his licence to train racehorses after a big doping scandal.
In 2021 an unannounced Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) raid on his stables near Kilternan Co Dublin resulted in a dozen of Comer’s horses testing positive for the anabolic steroids methandienone and methlylestosterone.
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The billionaire businessman, who lives in Monaco and spends just three months of the year in Ireland, has vehemently protested his innocence.
Although it could not be established how the drugs got in the horses, and there was no evidence of deliberate doping, the licence holder Comer was held responsible for a drug controversy unprecedented in scale in this country. An appeal against the decision failed.
Separately, just over a week ago, the businessman’s son, Luke W Comer, had his own restricted licence to train horses suspended for a year due to reputational damage caused to racing.
It came on the back of decomposed horse carcasses being found on his property near Summerhill, Co Meath, in 2021 by Department of Agriculture Food & Marine officials.
The matter went to court in March of this year when Comer jnr said he knew nothing of the matter and co-operated fully with officials. He escaped conviction and donated €20,000 to the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with the charges struck out.
An IHRB referrals panel outlined how the public response to the discovery was “intense and critical” and concluded that public confidence in horse welfare standards within the industry had been undermined by the case.
Comer jnr has appealed against the severity of the penalty while the IHRB has lodged an appeal of its own against what it sees as the leniency of the one-year suspension.
The regulatory body said on Monday no date has been set for any appeal. Comer jnr is allowed to enter horses pending any hearing. As things stand, he has a trio of entries — Seattle Creek, Aircraft Carrier and Ich Liebe Berlin — for the big race his father’s company sponsors on Sunday.
Tuesday marks a vital confirmation stage for the Curragh and Saturday’s Leopardstown leg of the Irish Champions Festival.
The Comer trio, who carry the colours of Luke Comer snr, are long-priced outsiders in ante-post Leger betting lists. However, two of them, Aircraft Carrier and Seattle Creek, ran in July’s Leger Trial at the Curragh, a race also sponsored by Comer Group International. They were Comer jnr’s last runners.
It makes for an awkward look to such a high-profile race, although Kavanagh commented: “Comer Group International have been valued sponsors of the Irish St Leger and other races at the Curragh since 2014. We are greatly looking forward to the race this year.
“As with all Curragh sponsorships, we will sit down with the sponsor before the end of the year to review this year’s races and discuss the situation.”
Separately, the Curragh boss said a trio of German-trained runners are expected for Sunday’s Leger.
The highly-rated gelding Lordano, a Group Two winner in Hamburg in July, and beaten just a neck by the top-class Fantastic Moon in Cologne before that, will travel to take on the home favourite Kyprios.
Trained by Marcel Weiss, Lordano will be joined by compatriots Waldadler and Nastaria.
They were placed in a Group Two at the Hoppergarten track in Berlin in May and Kavanagh said: “It is a win and you’re in a race for the Leger that’s been in place for a number of years. The Curragh has developed a relationship with Hoppergarten over the years.”
On Tuesday, there is Listed action at Galway where 16 fillies and mares will purse valuable black type in the Oyster Stakes.
Newmarket-based Mark Prescott sends Rouge Sellier to Ballybrit and she will have the assistance of champion jockey Colin Keane. Her form ties in with the exciting Kalpana.
Among the home team, the course and distance winner Andromeda is the sister to the classic winner Peaceful and soft going will not impede her.
Received wisdom that a high draw is a negative around Galway has taken a knock in recent seasons and that could encourage further hope that Kinda Tiny can overcome a wide slot in one of the handicaps.
The course and distance winner is 9lbs higher in the ratings after impressing on soft ground at Gowran last week.
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