Dreal Deal on his way to a fifth victory in a row at Cork in Oct 2020© Photo Healy Racing
Last week the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) released the results of a two year investigation into the affairs of trainer Ronan McNally.
This investigation culminated in 4 days of Referral Committee Hearings into 30 separate charges against 6 licensed individuals including McNally.
The investigation was sparked after McNally-owned horses landed a number of big gambles, most notably with Dreal Deal which won five races on the bounce during a three month period in the latter part of 2020.
What is most interesting about this investigation is that it’s the first time I can recall where the IHRB has looked back at past races with a view to finding breaches of their rules by either trainers or jockeys that were not spotted by the acting stewards on the day.
Before Dreal Deal’s winning spree began it had raced 11 times under both codes - 10 times in Ireland and once at Ayr in the UK - and finished down the field on each occasion.
On each of those 10 Irish runs (and for good measure the Ayr race as well) the acting stewards on the day saw nothing untoward with the horse’s performance. The stewards at Navan (3 times), Clonmel (twice), Cork, Curragh, Down Royal, Gowran Park and Limerick never asked a question of the rider on the day or of McNally in relation to the running and riding of Dreal Deal. The only time during this period that the race day stewards spoke to McNally in respect of Dreal Deal was at Limerick in December 2019 when the horse was led around the parade ring by a minor which is contrary to the rules.
The crux of the IHRB case against McNally and all the subsequent diverse strands to the investigation stems from the fact that, according to the IHRB, horses owned (and for the most part trained) by McNally were “Achieving a pattern of improvement in form of horses at a level previously unfamiliar to experienced and long-serving handicapping officials.”
The IHRB handicappers were basically saying that they had never seen anything like this level of improvement before. And they appear to have a point when it comes to a horse like Dreal Deal which first won a hurdle race off a rating of 84 and four months later was still capable of winning off a rating of 141.
Plenty of other trainers’ horses have shown dramatic improvement on the track. There are hundreds of examples, but here are just three from memory -
Baron Samedi, down the field when rated 65 in a flat handicap at Tramore 15 August 2020. Achieved a rating of 112 after winning a Group 2 in France just over two months later.
Dun Doire, won a handicap chase off 93 at Navan 18 December 2005. Was rated 137 after winning at the Cheltenham Festival the following March.
Solwhit, won a handicap hurdle off 127 at Fairyhouse 29 October 2008. Had a rating of 165 when winning Grade One’s the following year.
The difference, we are told, between these rapidly improving horses and the ones owned by McNally is that in his case there is a “pattern” with his horses.
This must have left the IHRB and their handicappers scratching their heads. A series of horses, all owned by McNally, were showing improvement at a level the authorities were previously unfamiliar with and landing huge gambles in the process. These horses couldn’t have been doped as every winner was sampled after the race and they were all coming back clear, so the only other possible explanation was that they had achieved their initial handicap marks by not running on their merits. Of course the problem with that hypothesis was that the acting stewards hadn’t spotted anything wrong with the initial runs.
So the IHRB set about re-examining all the races that Dreal Deal and other horses owned by McNally had contested prior to landing gambles. It appears from the Referral Committee Hearings’ details released last week that the IHRB investigators actually found very little evidence that these horses were all stopped in each of these races, which it seems they should have been if the IHRB theory is to explain how these horses were achieving a pattern of improvement at a level they were unfamiliar with.
They did find that two horses, The Jam Man and Dreal Deal, didn’t try in a Flat maiden race at Navan on 3 July 2020. Interestingly, while Dreal Deal’s run in that race went unnoticed by the stewards on the day, the stewards did hold an enquiry into the running and riding of The Jam Man which was actually ridden in the race by McNally himself. On the day his explanations were noted and he simply received a caution.
McNally has since admitted he had failed to advise of concerns raised by the Irish Equine Centre involving Dreal Deal and that, throughout the campaigning of the horse, he failed to disclose matters concerning its health and condition and/or running and riding issues. He also admitted that he failed to report that The Jam Man bled at Cheltenham on 12 March 2020 (until 3 July 2020 enquiry at Navan).
The IHRB also found that on 3 of Dreal Deal’s 10 Irish runs prior to landing an initial gamble he had started slowly. This fact should have been reported to the stewards on the day by each of his riders, but none did so. A relatively minor infringement on the part of the riders.
The majority of charges in this case against another trainer David Dunne and jockeys Darragh O’Keeffe and Mark Enright were not proven to the satisfaction of the Referrals Committee.
The overall investigation into McNally looks to have been extremely complex. Each new piece of evidence and/or intelligence led the investigators down a completely different path - there were multiple issues with McNally owning horses in other yards where he had disguised this fact. The investigation also took a far more sinister turn where it is alleged that McNally conspired with others to engage in a corrupt or fraudulent practice in relation to the passing of inside information for betting purposes.
I’m not sure why the IHRB didn’t just focus on this alleged fraud. This is the big one and makes all other charges seem irrelevant. It’s like the Gardai stopping a car and finding a body in the boot, but at the subsequent murder trial the list of charges against the alleged perpetrator includes no tax or insurance and a defective tail light.
All in all, the IHRB has thrown everything, but the kitchen sink at McNally and the Referrals Committee has deemed him guilty on the majority of the charges laid against him. We will have to wait until early in the New Year to find out what exact sanctions McNally will face, but it does seem obvious that his licence to train is in jeopardy.
It’s difficult to know what the wider implications of this investigation will be for the sport going forward. Will other trainers face similar scrutiny should their horses show a pattern of improvement in form at a level previously unfamiliar to experienced and long-serving handicapping officials? Of course, it’s unlikely to be unfamiliar to the experienced handicapping officials after this case.
The biggest issue appears to be that the race day stewards are failing on occasions to spot non-triers and even when the IHRB think they have found one they cannot necessarily prove it.
The one element of this case I found most bizarre was that the Referrals Committee wasn’t satisfied that there was enough evidence to prove McNally was “Securing a pattern of organising betting coups in association with improvement in form.” I had thought that was the basis for everything that followed.
