Aidan O'Brien receives final warning from BHA

Aidan O'Brien

Aidan O’Brien’s latest brush with the British racing authorities ended with him being fined more than £10,000 by the BHA and given what amounted to a final warning about his future conduct.

The incident under investigation dates back to the Dante Stakes at York in May. After the colt had beaten Workforce by three-and-a-quarter lengths there was widespread interest in the fact that Cape Blanco appeared to be lame.

In the days before the race O’Brien had made public the fact that the horse had sustained a slight injury which he described as a “little nick at the back of his heel”. O’Brien then refused requests to allow his travelling head man, Pat Keating, to trot the horse up in front of the BHA's veterinary officer and the senior racecourse veterinary surgeon as part of their examination of the colt. At the time O’Brien, who was not present on the track, was quoted as saying: “It's the most insane thing I've ever heard. Why would you want to trot him again on a bruised heel and cause him more pain?”

O'Brien was initially charged with "acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct and/or good reputation of racing" which was later amended to a less contentious acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of horseracing in Great Britain", which O’Brien admitted to at a disciplinary panel hearing last month, along with two other charges of encouraging and/or causing Keating to refuse to comply with two instructions given by the York stewards.

The disciplinary panel, whose findings were released today, decided that Keating did not have a case to answer because he had been acting under the direct instructions of O'Brien. The trainer himself was fined £9,000 for “acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct and/or good reputation of racing”, as well as £1,400 with regard to Rule (B)83 which covers the “failure to obey stewards”.

While it might not be an unreasonable argument that O’Brien had the horse’s welfare as his paramount concern and simply wished to return him to Ballydoyle as swiftly as possible there is also the perception of whether O’Brien actions put him above the Rules of the sport.

Last year he fell foul of the authorities after his six Derby runners arrived in the parade ring some 20 minutes late and in 2008 O’Brien was fined £5,000 after a BHA enquiry into “team tactics” following Duke of Marmalade’s victory in the Juddmonte International Stakes.

The statement which came with the findings made it clear that measure other than a fine were considered and that a similar breach would be met with an even heavier sentence. “The Panel has considered very carefully whether the proper approach on this occasion would be to deal with the issue by imposing a period of time during which horses entered in races in Great Britain by Aidan O'Brien were not allowed to race,” the statement said.

"The Panel has determined on this occasion that it is proportionate in all the circumstances to deal with the matter by way of a financial penalty and have determined that a fine of £9,000 is appropriate in all the circumstances.

"The Panel recognises that this is a significant sum and considers it properly reflects the disregard demonstrated by Aidan O'Brien for the concern of the vets and the proper conduct of horseracing in Great Britain.

"The Panel wishes to note that if Aidan O'Brien were to breach the Rules in similar circumstances again, this Panel would have no hesitation in acting to restrict the ability of Aidan O'Brien's horses to run in Great Britain.”

Paul Wheeler

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