Irish horse trainer Ronan McNally has faced an extremely heavy penalty, involving a 12-year disqualification from racing, an order to return more than €13,000 in prize money and to pay €50,000 in costs after the referrals committee of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board published found him guilty of a range of integrity violations in December 2022.
McNally’s ban is the longest-issued suspension that has ever been issued to a holder of an Irish horse trainer licence. His disqualification exceeds the four-year licence suspension (which was then reduced by six months following an appeal) received by Stephen Mahon for bringing racing into disgrace as a result of certain welfare breaches. After being struck by the penalty, the trainer confirmed that he intended to appeal against the referrals committee’s findings but refused to make any commentary on the matter.
Mr McNally had been found guilty of participating in a conspiracy with fellow trainer David Dunne to conceal that he owned All Class and Full Noise. Mr Dunne, in his turn, has faced a two-year suspension of his trainer’s licence, with the final 18 months of that suspended for two years, and will have to return the prize money that he had earned by using illicit means. David Dunne will also have to pay a €5,000 monetary penalty.
Serious Findings Announced by the Horseracing Regulatory Board’s Referrals Committee
The report issued by the Horseracing Regulatory Board states that the findings against Ronan McNally are being considered very serious by the committee. The Board stated that the trainer’s offences affected the integrity and the objective of having a level-playing field for everyone involved in horse racing. As found by the referrals committee, his transgressions also involved a deception of the public, especially the viewers placing wagers on horse races.
After a hearing that took place in October 2022, McNally was found to have caused extensive damage to the Irish horse racing industry’s interests. At the time, 10 of the 11 charges that he had faced were upheld. The findings of the committee’s probe were published in December and the sanctions were announced on January 13th.
As the report states, the Irish horse trainer was found to have conspired with Ciaran Fennessy, County Cork-based point-to-point handler, by the provision of inside details for betting purposes. Under the existing rules, Fennessy has also been considered a disqualified person and faced a licence suspension for a period of three years, along with a €5,000 fine.
As for Mr McNally, the evidence showed a bias towards horses trained by him. According to the board’s allegations, Mr Ciaran Fennessy or Mr McNally have provided inside information, so certain individuals had knowledge of the expectations for the horse of the day. Apart from that, the trainer was found to have intentionally concealed his ownership of horses and manipulated their official handicap ratings.
- Author
Daniel Williams
