Petrol Head© Photo Healy Racing
Controversial bottom-weight Petrol Head has been withdrawn by the IHRB from today's Galway Hurdle, as news of a positive sample from a win taken last month has confirmed the presence of a banned substance.
Initially trained by David Dunne and then moved to Ronan McNally, Petrol Head was part of a long-running IHRB investigation in recent years with the result of that seeing him being disqualified from his initial 10 races — which included one win, due to the concealment of his ownership.
Now in training with Katy Brown for the Orchard Garden Syndicate, the 126-rated eight-year-old earned a 'win-and-you're-in' ticket to today's summer showpiece by winning at Bellewstown on July 6 but has this afternoon been dramatically withdrawn.
The IHRB report reads:
"The following is the IHRB explanation regarding the withdrawal of Petrol Head from today's Galway Hurdle. It reads: "following notification from LGC Laboratories of a screening finding in a post-race sample taken from Petrol Head at Bellewstown on 6 July 2024, the IHRB immediately commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the screening finding.
At 11am on Thursday 1 August, the IHRB received confirmation from LGC Laboratories of the presence of a prohibited substance in the sample taken at Bellewstown.
As a result of this confirmation of a prohibited substance and following the IHRB investigation into the matter, the Directors of the IHRB have withdrawn Petrol Head from the Guinness Galway Hurdle Handicap under the provisions of Rule 21 of the Rules of the Racing.
The IHRB will not be commenting any further on the matter until the disciplinary process is complete."
Petrol Head had halved in price to 6/1 favourite - from 12s this morning, at the time of withdrawal from the €270,000 race, which now contains 19 runners.
