IRELAND’S CHAMPION trainer Aidan O’Brien has been fined over €12,000 by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in relation to the Cape Blanco controversy at York, but has escaped a ban on his horses running in Britain.
The long-running saga finally ended yesterday, over seven months after Cape Blanco’s Dante Stakes victory in May, following which O’Brien instructed his representative, Pat Keating, not to trot the colt in front of the BHA vet and the racecourse vet for a second time.
Cape Blanco had hurt a heel in the race and O’Brien said he didn’t want to trot a colt that was already sore. He also wanted to get the horse home as quickly as possible for treatment.
The Ballydoyle trainer was initially charged with “acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct and/or good reputation of racing”. That charge was later amended, and at a disciplinary panel hearing which ended last month O’Brien admitted to “acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of horseracing in Great Britain”, as well as to two other charges of encouraging and/or causing Keating to refuse to comply with two instructions given by the York stewards.
Keating was cleared of any penalty, but O’Brien was fined £9,000 for “acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct and/or good reputation of racing”, as well as some €1,600 (£1,400) with regard to Rule (B)83 which is “failure to obey stewards”.
A BHA statement added: “The panel has considered very carefully whether the proper approach on this occasion would be to deal with the issue by imposing a period of time during which horses entered in races in Great Britain by Aidan O’Brien were not allowed to race.
“The panel has determined on this occasion that it is proportionate in all the circumstances to deal with the matter by way of a financial penalty and have determined that a fine of £9,000 is appropriate in all the circumstances.
“The panel wishes to note that if Aidan O’Brien were to breach the rules in similar circumstances again, this panel would have no hesitation in acting to restrict the ability of Aidan O’Brien’s horses to run in Great Britain.”
