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The Referrals Committee, Mr Robert Dore (Chair), Mr Noel McCaffrey and Mr Jack Rearden convened at the offices of the Irish Horseracing Board on Thursday, 27 November, to consider the referral of John C McConnell (Trainer) by an IHRB Senior Racing Official following the running of the Now Racing Every Wednesday Handicap in Dundalk on Wednesday, 5 November 2025.
On the day, the Raceday Stewards found Mr McConnell in breach of Rule 148(i) in that his two runners in the race, Waystar and Together Aclaim (GB) had to be resaddled due to the incorrect saddles being placed on the two horses.
The request of the Senior Racing Official to the Referrals Committee to review the sanction under the provisions of Rule 27(i) was due to the leniency of the sanction imposed. On the day, an administrative error suggested that Mr McConnell had a clean record, but it was his third offence in a 12-month period.
At the referral hearing, evidence was heard from Mr McConnell.
In his evidence, Mr McConnell accepted the record that this was a third breach of this rule in a 12-month period and that he had no breach of this nature for 11 months. Mr McConnell explained that he was not at the races himself on any of the three occasions where this occurred, but he had put measures in place following the two previous incidents of a similar nature to ensure there were no further incidents of saddles being mixed up when he had multiple runners. Mr McConnell apologised that those measures had failed in this instance but that resources were stretched as two senior staff members were attending to runners in Britain on the same day. Mr McConnell provided assurances that there would be no such repeat.
Having considered the evidence, the Referrals Committee found Mr McConnell in breach of Rule 148(i) and having considered Mr McConnell’s record in this regard they imposed a €1,000 fine.
The case was presented by Ms Christine Traynor BL, Head of Racing Regulation and Integrity.