O'Brien off to the BHA...

Krizon, I am pretty sure if your own horse was lame and clearly unsound, already inspected by the vet, treated and cooled down - you would not be so agreeable if the same vet returned to see an unsound/lame horse trot again with little else to be gained from the second inspection.

I could understand if they wanted to do a scan or something different - but there was nothing to be gained from this other than risking further injury/damage to the horse.

krizon said:
It's a piffling storm in a teacup - but it's not the first time O'Brien's fallen foul of the BHA. People must have very short attention spans if they've forgotten how he disgracefully delayed last year's Derby, for a start.

All the BHA and senior racecourse vet wanted to do was to be able to sign off on the nag being sound enough to travel back to Ireland, ffs. The animal went lame in the Dante and they wanted to be sure it wasn't any worse before it set off on an arduous journey. It's their job to ensure that any horse reported as injured in any way is fit to leave the course. It's their responsibility to AOB's and anyone else's animal. Just not a big deal, except that AOB made it one.
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I agree, perhaps following the investigation the vet and officials will be forced to see they were in the wrong, in this instance.
 
The whole thing is bollocks. The horse had already been trotted up and examined once and any further requests were tantamount to nowt but harassment. Had the horse been mine I'd have told them exactly where to stick their trotting up, especially since they'd already been granted a trot-up and examination. Horses don't come sound suddenly after five minutes treatment but also nor does such situation mean they are not fit to travel. Utter load of drivel and the BHA should be ashamed of themselves.
 
Probably IS, I just think that if they did not charge him with bringing the sport into disrepute this would be done and dusted by now.
 
I'm no Ballydoyle fan but this is absolutely absurd from the BHA. The horse infront of Rip was playing up so he moved him behind his stablemates to settle him and not cause him to play up too. Do the BHA ever make any decisions on common sense?

AIDAN O'BRIEN was fined £1,000 by the Ascot stewards after admitting that he had instructed Johnny Murtagh to follow his other two runners on Rip Van Winkle, thereby breaking the racecourse parade for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

The colt had paraded in racecard order in the parade ring, as required, but not when the runners came out on to the racecourse.

The fine, for a breach of Rule B (30), represented a further brush with the authorities for the trainer.

He is still awaiting his punishment following a disciplinary hearing at the BHA headquarters at High Holborn last month, at which he pleaded guilty to two breaches concerning his refusal to comply with instructions from the York stewards in the aftermath of Cape Blanco's Dante Stakes win in May.

It's as though the BHA don't want some of the best horses in Europe running over here at times.
 
In fairness he deserves the fine if he did indeed break the parade with no good reason (I did not see a horse become unsettled ahead of him) as everyone else has to do it.
 
I think it was Bushman who was unsettled ahead of him as they came out on course, the BBC commented on it and how APOB had moved ACM and Beethoven ahead of RVW.
 
Sequoyah said:
I think it was Bushman who was unsettled ahead of him as they came out on course, the BBC commented on it and how APOB had moved ACM and Beethoven ahead of RVW.
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Correct. Justifiably protecting his most prized commodity in the race.
 
Gamla Stan said:
Correct. Justifiably protecting his most prized commodity in the race.
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But still breaking the rules - if the rules exist and no-one has a problem with them, then no-one can also have a problem about breaches of said rules being punished. Simple, surely?
 
Yes - using one of the pacemakers to do so. But what would have happened if the horse behind Rip wasn't an O'Brian horse ? Is it fair then that another horse gets unsettled as well ?

The parade is there to benefit the paying public, who all want to get a look at the horses - rightly so - and parading in order is just the fairest way of ensuring everyone gets treated the same. You could argue it's unfair for an animal to be first to go down to the start or the last, as they could get more unsettled than others but that's just life!
 
He only changed the order of his horses though in order to benefit the one with most chance of winning the race and the one who's arguably the most likely to play up due to a horse infront of him playing up.

It's following the rules for the sake of it, a bit of discretion wouldn't go amiss at times from the BHA.
 
O'BRIEN HANDED HEFTY BLANCO FINE
By Ashley Iveson, Press Association Sport
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Aidan O'Brien has been fined a total of £10,400 by the British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel in relation to the Cape Blanco affair at York in May.
The Ballydoyle trainer was initially charged with "acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct and/or good reputation of racing" after instructing his employee, Pat Keating, not to trot up the horse in front of the BHA veterinary officer and the senior racecourse veterinary surgeon following the colt's Dante success.
That charge was later amended, and O'Brien admitted to "acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of horseracing in Great Britain" at a disciplinary panel hearing which ended last month, as well as two other charges of encouraging and/or causing Keating to refuse to comply with two instructions given by the York stewards.
In its findings released today, the disciplinary panel concluded that in respect of Keating no penalty is due, as on both occasions that he refused to obey the stewards he was "acting under the direct instructions of O'Brien".
O'Brien 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 is "failure to obey stewards".
A statement added: "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 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."
 
Absurd, horses get stopped every week in the UK and they waste their time with things like this and issuing stupid fines.

Eddie Ahern did way worse on Friday at Wolverhampton and there wasn't even an enquiry.
 
The point I was making is that the BHA spend nowhere near enough time on investigating "giving horses an easy" and way too much time on nonsense like this.

The public couldn't give a toss if Cape Blanco was trotted up post race or not, they do give a toss if horses are getting stopped every week. I have very little time for Ballydoyle and their moody big raceday shenanigans but the BHA currently seem to be picking on them for the sake of it.

There are much more important things for the regulatory body to tackle.
 
The comment about having "very seriously considered" the prospects of banning O'Brien in Britain is risible when you consider the eventual punishment.

Like something you'd hear from the Turf Club.
 
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