The potential extent of the drug problem facing Irish racing is suggested by the news that a man who runs an equine and veterinary supplies business in County Clare is facing 36 charges in an Irish court of possessing unauthorised animal remedies. Kieran O’Driscoll, whose address is Sunset House, Fanore, Ballyvaughan, has a significant legitimate business supplying goods to studs, vets and trainers and is believed to have clients in England as well as in Ireland.
But in May he appeared in Loughrea district court to answer charges that he had been caught in possession of banned items on 28 January 2012 at an address in County Galway. The items listed in the summonses are largely antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and sedatives and include items which could be legally possessed if prescribed by a vet.
It is believed O’Driscoll will defend himself against the charges but he did not answer phone calls or return messages on Wednesday. He did not attend a hearing date in September and his case is next due to be raised in court in January.
No anabolic steroids were found in O’Driscoll’s possession but the allegations, if proven, are nonetheless of enormous concern to Irish racing. Privately, officials fear that some trainers are subverting all regulation by obtaining drugs from the black market, cheaper and more easily than they could through a vet and possibly buying material which would never be legally available.
When Ireland’s champion jumps trainer, Willie Mullins, expressed his concern about the issue in the spring, his focus was not principally on allegations that steroids were being used. “I’d be interested in who was buying the sedatives and who it was going to,” Mullins told the Guardian in March. “Everyone’s going on about the anabolic steroids. But I’m always warning my lads here about guys using sedatives. If you wanted to nobble someone who would you nobble? Nobble us.”
The Irish Department of Agriculture is running the prosecution but refused to comment when asked about O’Driscoll on Wednesday. The Department has had its hands full with such matters since the prosecution last year of John Hughes, formerly employed by the Department as a veterinary inspector, who pleaded guilty to possessing unauthorised animal remedies included an anabolic steroid.
Hughes is a brother to the racehorse trainer Pat Hughes, who, it emerged on Wednesday, has appealed against the recent verdict of an Irish court that he was guilty of possessing anabolic steroids and other banned substances. Pat Hughes was fined €2,500 and ordered to pay €5,000 in costs three weeks ago at Carlow district court after being found guilty of eight charges. No date has yet been set for his appeal but it is thought likely to be heard in the new year.
At his trial, Pat Hughes gave evidence to the effect that some of the products had been accidentally left in his car at a race meeting by an unnamed man who intended to pass them on to a vet, since deceased. Hughes denied administering any steroid to his horses and could not explain why stanozolol was found on his premises.
Hughes’s solicitor, John Foley, was quoted as saying in the aftermath of the guilty verdict: “Some of the stuff found was so out of date as to be unusable. This was mere possession in its simplest form and the judge acknowledged that it was ‘a sad case’.”
Hughes’s fellow racehorse trainer Philip Fenton returns to court on Thursday for a final hearing to determine whether he is guilty of possessing unauthorised animal remedies, including steroids. He is expected to mount a vigorous defence.
