A full independent inquiry into the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has been called for in the Seanad.
Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan said there are serious questions about racing’s regulator on the back of two recent newspaper reports relating to doping and the IHRB’s treatment of former trainer Stephen Mahon.
The Sunday Independent has suggested links between Mahon supplying the IHRB’s head of anti-doping, Dr Lynn Hillyer, with details of an unnamed trainer using drugs on horses in 2020 and an inspection of his Co Galway yard a year later.
Mahon subsequently saw his licence suspended for breaches of animal welfare rules. That ban – the longest ever given out in Ireland – was subsequently reduced by six months on appeal.
The Sunday Independent previously pointed to Mahon as the source of information that prompted Jim Bolger’s claims about drugs being Irish racing’s number o …
- March 2, 2022
