BHA set to announce decision on O’Brien ‘Dante’ affair
It has been a long time coming, but at last the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is set to deliver its verdict on the events surrounding the refusal of top trainer Aidan O’Brien to let their vet examine his high-class colt Cape Blanco after winning the Group 2 Dante Stakes at York in May.
O’Brien, who is set to train star Australian middle-distance performer So You Think from his Ballydoyle stables in Ireland in 2011 having upset the fixed odds previously with other recent Aussie recruits such as Starspangledbanner and Haradasun, has been charged with bringing the sport into disrepute after refusing to let the Jockey Club vet attending York on Dante Day trot his horse for a second time after the race in which the son of Galileo sustained a heel injury on account of the prevailing fast ground.
Both O’Brien and his travelling head lad Pat Keating have admitted breaching the rules, but have argued that they were acting in the best interests of the horse, who they say returned to the unsaddling area slightly lame. O’Brien has suggested that trotting the horse up and down once for the vet was more than enough, and that to do it for a second time would have aggravated the injury.
The inquiry into the incident originally opened in August but was adjourned pending further investigations. O’Brien will be represented by legal counsel but does not plan to be present for the hearing.
Cape Blanco, who easily accounted for subsequent Epsom Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Workforce in the York race, went on to win the Irish Derby and Irish Champion Stakes in a stellar season that smashed the racing odds, and also ran second to the outstanding Harbinger in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in mid-summer. He is likely to stay in training next season as a four-year-old.
Loading ...