The Veterinary Team is headed by the Chief Veterinary Officer/Head of Anti-Doping, Lynn Hillyer:

Lynn Hillyer
Chief Veterinary Officer/Head of Anti-Doping
Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board
The Curragh
Co. Kildare
lynn.hillyer@ihrb.ie
087 1925366

The Veterinary Team comprises Veterinary Officers and Veterinary Assistants and is the primary group within the IHRB responsible for the health and welfare of the Thoroughbred racehorse, on and off the racecourse.

The principal responsibilities of the Veterinary Assistants on and off the racecourse include:

• Identification of horses via microchip and/or markings
• Inspection of passports to ensure compliance with the rules of racing.
• Taking urine samples from horses
• Monitoring the health and welfare of racehorses on the racecourse, such as by assisting with pre-race inspections, post-race examinations, racecourse stable yard monitoring.
• Contributing to the wider veterinary team to develop its integrity and welfare function
• Identification and reporting on horse and facility details in Stable Inspections and other testing and welfare monitoring activities

The Veterinary Officers are responsible for regulatory clinical examination of horses, equine anti-doping procedures and the provision of advice on veterinary matters to the stewards on the racecourse. They also carry out a wide range of other duties including:

• Working with the Veterinary Assistants to identify horses via microchip and/or markings on the racecourse and elsewhere.
• Monitoring the health and welfare of racehorses on the racecourse and elsewhere, through planned pre-race inspections and other examinations.
• Documentation of any injuries sustained by the horses during the racing day.
• Leading sampling, observations, recording and reporting during out of competition testing (OOCT)
• Leading/assisting Stable Inspection Officers during Stable Inspections
• Assisting the Security Department during investigations
• Providing veterinary evidence as required during disciplinary proceedings
• Contribution to the Veterinary Team, developing its integrity and welfare function

For further information about the work of the IHRB Veterinary Officers or Assistants please contact equine@ihrb.ie

The IHRB veterinary team works alongside Racecourse Veterinary Surgeons (RVS), who are employed by the racecourse. There must be at least two RVSs on duty at a meeting and the meeting cannot, under the Rules of Racing, go ahead without them. As well as needing to be licensed to practice via membership of the Veterinary Council of Ireland/the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, many RVSs are also members of the Association of Irish Racecourse Veterinary Surgeons (AIRVS) who provide training and further education in this specialist area of veterinary medicine. Matters relating to RVSs should be raised in the first instance with the individual/racecourse concerned but the IHRB is a further point of contact if needed.

Derogated Movement of Registered Horses

Movement of Horses to/from France

Post-Brexit, the Tripartite agreement (TPA) between Ireland, United Kingdom and France is no longer in operation. The TPA was in place to allow Horses with documented higher health standards to be exempted from the requirement for pre-export inspection and official certification when moving to/from France and Britain. Whilst the United Kingdom have left the European Union, remaining Member States may be able to avail of general conditions of derogation from the requirement for health certification for registered Horses entering Ireland, in accordance with Article 69 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688. This is an area that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the IHRB are actively working on. There will be further communication to all licensed trainers on this matter as soon as possible.

From time to time a horse may not be able to race owing to a disease or condition which could be aggravated by the race, or may affect the horse’s performance in the race. At other times, the horse may have a condition which would not necessarily preclude the horse from running but will likely mean that the horse in question will be subject to a pre-race examination by the Veterinary Officer on duty.

In either of these circumstances, it is very helpful if the trainer of the horse, and their veterinary surgeon, communicate with the IHRB team ahead of the raceday if they are aware of the condition at that time. If that communication can include clinical information as to what steps have been taken with regards to diagnosis and/or treatment of the condition, then the IHRB veterinary team are better able to work with the trainer to make an informed judgement about the best course of action. Such communications should be made in the first instance to equine@ihrb.ie or if the matter is urgent to:

We are keen to avoid the situation where a horse is presented on the day to race with a condition about which there is differing veterinary/trainer opinion because in those circumstances, the Veterinary Officer must take a precautionary approach based on their best professional judgement. They will make a decision on the day with whatever information is available to them – the more information there is, the better informed that decision can be. We would like to move away from the position where veterinary colleagues provide certificates that in their view the horse is ‘fit to race’ and towards the provision of information about the horse which can be taken into account.

‘Trainers are reminded that under Rule 148 v (a) they must provide a veterinary certificate to accompany any Horse racing if 'visible evidence of a recent skin disease exists’.  The certificate must confirm that that an examination of the Horse was carried out by a veterinary surgeon within the 3 days prior to the raceday and that the skin disease is no longer active or contagious.

Pre-race Inspections/’Veterinary List’ – why, when and how?

Pre-race inspections are used by all major racing jurisdictions as part of their welfare strategy – they are carried out as a means to try to reduce the risk of injury. Horses for pre-race inspections are listed on a ‘Veterinary List’ maintained by the IHRB which includes horses who were withdrawn on a previous occasion for a veterinary reason, those which sustained an injury or veterinary condition last time they ran and those which fall into a number of categories known to be associated with potentially increased risk of injury.  Horses noted to have visible or palpable abnormalities, particularly of the limbs, will have these observations documented so that any change can be followed over time.  The more information that can be provided to the veterinary team via equine@ihrb.ie about particular horses in advance of raceday should they have an injury or condition, the better informed the team on the day will be.  Without this information, the team will always have to err on the side of caution if there is any doubt about the horse’s suitability to race.

Pre-race inspections are used to:

• identify horses whose condition has changed for whatever reason since they were last seen by their trainer and time of arrival at the racecourse (the ‘knock in the box’ scenario). It is in everyone’s interests that these horses are either flagged, checked and cleared to run or they run another day.
• identify horses which have a clinical abnormality that may not be an issue in terms of increasing risk of their injury but once identified can be monitored by the IHRB Veterinary Officer and trainer in conjunction with the trainer’s own veterinary surgeon.
• identify those horses which for one reason or another may not be in a fit condition to race.
• identify and examine horses that may be at increased risk of injury based on evidence from data on racing injuries in Ireland and other jurisdictions.

Clinical information from pre-race inspection is added to post-race data and maintained on an ‘equine injury database’. This is confidential to the veterinary department of the IHRB. It is only used for on-going monitoring of individual horses and, on occasions and under controlled conditions including anonymisation, for research to identify particular risk factors for injury with the ultimate aim of reducing those risks.

If the horse has been seen before, he/she will be marked as ‘for information’, ‘for monitoring’ or ‘for clearance’ to race. He/she may be examined at rest and at the walk and trot. Any veterinary evidence provided will be taken into account.

‘Whole card’ pre-race inspections are unannounced. Where there is a suitable place and time, a full inspection to include palpation at rest and observation at walk and trot is carried out. On some racecourses there are not yet facilities for this and the horses will be examined at rest; the IHRB are working with the racecourses and trainers to develop safe and suitable areas for pre-race inspections.

Pre-clearance of ‘Flu’ vaccination certification in passports

Future subsequent vaccinations between the pre-clearance and raceday should be uploaded directly into the Weatherbys App. A member pf the Weatherbys team will contact relevant parties directly with registration details and additional information.

A high level of  demand is anticipated with the launch of this service so horses intended to race on the flat in the first two months of racing resumption will be prioritised when being processed. All uploads will however be worked through as quickly as possible so please send us what you have, when you can.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the method of checking passports for vaccination compliance moved from physical handling of the passport on Raceday to digital pre-clearance of equine influenza vaccination certification via the Weatherbys App. This has been retained and all equine influenza vaccination certification is managed via the Weatherbys App. There is a requirement for any uploaded vaccinations to be ‘vet verified’ as this is the equivalent of the administering veterinary surgeon professionally certifying in the paper passport. Under Rule 91 v), from 1st March 2023, vaccinations must be uploaded to the app and approved for clearance to run by 5 pm on the day entries close.

Passports continue to be required under legislation to be with the Horse on raceday, and under the Rules of Racing.