John Joseph Murphy / Cul A Dun – Killarney, 26th August 2011

The Referrals Committee Judge Tony Hunt (in the Chair), Ms. Meta Osborne and Martin O’Donnell met at the Turf Club, The Curragh, Co. Kildare on Tuesday, 6th September 2011 to consider the referral of John Joseph Murphy, trainer of Cul A Dun, when following the running of O’Keeffe O’Shea O’Connor Solicitors Handicap at Killarney on 26th August 2011, he was referred for a possible breach of Rule 213 as the Stewards were of the opinion that he had failed to report something which may have affected the horse in his previous runs.

Evidence was heard from John Joseph Murphy.

In his evidence, John Joseph Murphy accepted that he didn’t report that Cul A Dun was sore after two of his earlier runs as he didn’t think that the soreness was significant. He said it wasn’t necessary to treat the problem with anti-inflammatories. He attributed the horse’s poor previous runs in the earlier part of the season to the soreness and to the bad form of his string of horses at the time.

Having considered the evidence, the Committee found that John Joseph Murphy was in breach of Rule 213 (iii) and taking all the circumstances of the case into account, including his previous record, they fined him €250. In arriving at their decision the Committee were of the view that if Mr. Murphy felt that the soreness was a contributory factor to the horse’s poor runs in the earlier part of the season and if he felt it warranted mention to the Stewards at Killarney as a possible reason for the improvement in form, then it should have been reported in accordance with the provisions of Rule 213.

The case was presented by Denis, Egan, Chief Executive of the Turf Club.  John Joseph Murphy was represented by Andrew Coonan, Coonan Cawley Solicitors, Naas, Co. Kildare.