A Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer has complained about how long it is taking racing’s ruling body to organise a rehearing in his case, a finding against him having been quashed as part of the Matthew Lohn debacle.
Paul Gilligan, whose stable is near Athenry, was banned for six months in March by a panel chaired by Lohn but that verdict was later set aside because of an appearance of bias, Lohn having also been paid for private advice to the British Horseracing Authority.
Gilligan continues to deny the charge that he ran one of his racehorses at an informal “flapping” meeting in Ireland and hopes to clear his name at an eventual rehearing. But so far the BHA has yet to do so much as propose a date for that rehearing.
“We’re left in limbo, we don’t know what’s happening,” Gilligan said on Thursday. “I talk to my solicitor every so often, he doesn’t know himself. Everything seems to be hinging on the Jim Best case. We’re just waiting and waiting and waiting and there’s no attempt [by the BHA] to do anything about it.”
Best’s case is the one that first exposed the fact that Lohn had been advising the BHA in addition to his role as chairman of its independent disciplinary panel. The initial hearing in Best’s case was held three weeks before Gilligan’s but, whereas a specific week this month was marked out for the Best rehearing as far back as May, Gilligan’s case appears to have been put on hold.
The contrast in the BHA’s handling of the two cases is all the greater because the authority has been resisting requests by Best’s lawyers to delay his hearing for a fortnight until early October. That would allow it to be heard after publication of the Quinlan review of BHA disciplinary procedures, which could suggest significant changes to the way the regulator handles such hearings.
The BHA has so far refused to consider even a short delay on the grounds that it is in the sport’s interests to deal with the matter as soon as possible. That reasoning appears not to apply to Gilligan, who also complains that the BHA has yet to pay him anything, despite having accepted that it owes him for the wasted costs of the March hearing.
“Every small yard is suffering, especially since the recession kicked in,” Gilligan said. “We’re no different, trying to make ends meet; sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. This comes along and it really bottoms us. It’s cost us so much so far and there seems no end to it. It’s had a massive effect on me and my wife, Natalie, our children and my parents, who live beside the yard.”
Gilligan has sought to replenish his store of horses at the sales this summer but has found owners reluctant to commit to him while his career hangs in the balance. “I really appreciate the owners who’ve stood by me but what can I say when they ask me for the latest news? ‘You know as much as I do ...’?
“I’ve just been thrown aside and forgotten about. ‘He’s the small trainer over in Ireland; we’ll deal with him when we’ve got over this hurdle with Jim Best ...’”
Gilligan won a top-class race at the 2010 Festival with Bertie’s Dream, a 33-1 shot. He won another Grade One that year with Jadanli, who also landed him the Thyestes Chase in 2013.
A BHA spokesman said: “The process of determining dates for hearings is confidential. An announcement will be made as soon as a date and details for the rehearing involving Paul Gilligan have been confirmed. The issue of costs regarding the case ... is also confidential and subject to ongoing correspondence between the parties.”
