Trainer Charles Byrnes' two runners at Naas today have both been the subject of big gambles.
The Limerick-based handler has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons recently after one of his horses - Viking Hoard - tested positive for a sedative following a race at Tramore on October 18, 2018.
Byrnes is awaiting a verdict from the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s appeals panel after contesting the decision to suspend his licence for six months and fine him €1,000.
But in the meantime Byrnes is still permitted to have runners, with his last runner Off You Go collecting the €75,000 winners prize for the Gaelic Plant Hire Handicap Chase at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Now Byrnes has sent two horses - Rough Terrain and Hastag Watt - to Naas today and their odds have been slashed this morning.
Rough Terrain runs in the 3.25 race the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle and has been backed from 40/1 into the 2/1 favourite at time of writing.
The six-year-old gelding, owned by Byrnes, has finished a remote last in both of his last two runs on the track at Thurles and Killarney respectively.
And in the concluding 4.35 Tipper Road (Pro/Am) Flat Race, Byrnes saddles newcomer Hashtag Watt who is now 10/3 having been available at 8/1.
Byrnes spoke publicly, for the first time about the Viking Hoard case, last weekend after Off You Go's victory at Leopardstown.
The trainer insisted that he does not lay horses to lose, he only backs them to win. And he criticised both the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's handling of the investigation and betting company Betfair for not releasing information on who was betting on Viking Hoard to lose the race at Tramore.
Byrnes said: "There was nobody held to account. Betfair are not putting anyone forward. Why can't we question the people who are supposed to have laid the horse? Betfair are not cooperating at all. I have big questions.
"There hasn't been much of an inquiry either. There have only been two people interviewed in the space of two years.
"That's not the way I operate. I don't lay horses. I back horses."
