Irish jockeys would benefit from a consolidation of the various charities operating within the sport it has been argued, after the sector came under the spotlight last week when an independent report concluded the Charities Act was breached by a €350,000 transfer between one fund and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB).
The Jockeys’ Emergency Fund (JEF), one of four charities or funds noted by the Mazars report as being administered for free by the IHRB, was accessed in January of 2022 to make up for “urgent cash flow pressures” at the regulator. The money was paid back three months later.
The report states neither the IHRB’s chief financial officer, Donal O’Shea, nor its finance manager reported the transfer to anyone else, including to JEF trustees.
The IHRB’s chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin told the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee last week that providing administration to charities was an “anomalous” situation for the regulator, but it was a practice carried out for decades. He also acknowledged the financial transfer should not have happened.
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Mazars cast doubt on whether current arrangements carried out by IHRB in relation to charities and funds can continue, something also questioned by O’Loughlin although some changes to practices have already been put in place. The IHRB boss said a more sustainable model is required, a stance applauded by Irish Injured Jockeys (IIJ).
Set up a decade ago, and with renowned former riders Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty on its board, the IIJ is funded by donations and aims to provide long-term care to jockeys when they are injured. They also help riders in secondary careers and in their lives after they have stopped racing.
Bodies such as the JEF and the Drogheda Memorial Fund, also administered by the IHRB, are mainly funded by levies and deductions taken from prize money and rider fees.
In recent years, two other bodies, the Jockeys’ Accident Fund (JAF) and the Qualified Riders’ Accident Fund, changed from charity status to limited companies. The JAF provides an income continuance scheme for riders on the injury sidelines. There is also the Jockeys Trust organisation, founded almost 50 years ago.
“From a broad-brush point of view we think there is too many of them and we could benefit from consolidation,” IIJ general manager Michael Higgins said on Sunday. It was a point taken up by Barry Geraghty, who serves as the IIJ’s secretary.
“We’ve been working towards that [consolidation] for a good while. Maybe what’s happened has highlighted how much that’s needed,” said the former champion jockey.
Higgins said he was encouraged by the approach being taken by O’Loughlin, who has proposed a possible review of the situation in the new year.
“We wrote to the IHRB originally, saying we like the way you’re thinking Darragh and when you are thinking this way we would like to be included in the conversation. That’s all we said to them, we didn’t put forward anything more solid than that,” he said.
“Before anything could happen there needs to a negotiation, here’s where we are, this is what we’ve got, and try to agree where there is room for consolidation, for merger.” Higgins also said he did not feel jockeys’ confidence in the IHRB’s administration of funds had been shaken and that it was fair to acknowledge how the JEF had benefited from being administered for free.
“One of the reasons why I would see a benefit to a merger is that it would be easier for jockeys to know where to go when they need something, or what their entitlements are. There is a huge amount of confusion about where do I go next, or who should I go to?” Higgins said.
“At the moment, the way they’re set up, it’s possible jockeys could benefit from the Jockeys’ Accident Fund to get his income continuance, and possibly go to the Trust or ourselves for some supplement of support on medical expenses on top of that.”
An IHRB spokesman said on Sunday: “As Darragh O’Loughlin said before, this is an anomalous situation that the racing regulatory body should be providing administration services for charities. But when the IHRB was established, it had inherited this as a custom and practice from the Turf Club.
“He also noted that IHRB staff only provide the administrative service, not the decision-making for the charities.
“We are satisfied that the measures we have put in place meet the recommendations in the immediate term. But as Darragh said, ultimately, we need to take a higher-level view and ask ourselves if it is appropriate for us as a regulatory body to be administering charities, albeit in a related area.”
In other news, a tilt at the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March hasn’t been ruled out for Vauban after Willie Mullins’s dual-purpose star failed to fire for a second year running in last week’s Melbourne Cup. His stable companion Absurde was fifth in the Flemington highlight.
Although both horses could stay on the flat with options in Saudi Arabia, Mullins is weighing up the option of going for the Stayers’ crown with Vauban.
“He probably wasn’t good enough to win a Champion Hurdle and didn’t jump well enough, but going half a mile an hour slower over an extended trip might suit him better, and he’d be class horse in that division I think,” he said.
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