The Referrals Committee, Mr. N.B. Wachman (in the chair), Mr. Peter N. Reynolds and Mr. Anthony Byrne convened via Zoom on Wednesday, 24th November 2021 to consider whether Matthew Smith (Trainer) was in breach of any rules as a result of a stable inspection carried out at his Training Establishment on 20th November 2019 by Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board officials.
On the day, the inspection team observed a number of administrative errors.
At the Referral Hearing, the panel considered the report of the stable inspection and heard evidence from Mr. Smith.
The stable inspection report noted the following:
i) Five horses were not returned out of training which was referred under Rule 148(vi)
ii) A copy of the annual Trainer/Employee Agreement was not on display as required under Rule 298
iii) A termination of employment form had not been completed and the Employee cards for Fiona Leaney and Andrea Smyth had not been returned within five days of them leaving Mr. Smith’s employment as required under Rule 149(ii)
iv) There was only one entry in the Medicines Register for 2019 which was referred under Rule 148(iii)(b)
In his evidence, Mr. Smith admitted that at the time he was responsible for doing most of the work himself and that as a result he had let some of his paperwork fall behind. He accepted that horses were not returned out of training in a timely manner and in terms of his Medicines Register he explained that he would rarely use medicines on horses and if a horse in his care was unwell for any reason he would tend to give it time off rather than use medicines, however at the time he had started some horses on a course of GastroGard and failed to update his Medicines Register with this information. He admitted he was unaware at the time of the need to fill out forms in relation to the employees who no longer worked there. Furthermore, he could not recall where the Trainer/Employee Agreement notice was displayed in his yard at the time.
Having considered the evidence, the panel complimented Mr. Smith that the inspection report had stated that his premises were in pristine condition on the day of the inspection, however they were satisfied that Mr. Smith was in breach of Rule 148(vi) in that he had failed to return five horses out of training, Rule 298 in that he had failed to have a copy of the annual Trainer/Employee Agreement displayed, Rule 149(ii) in that he had failed to return a Termination of Employment form together with the Racing Establishment Employee cards in respect to two former employees and Rule 143(iii)(b) in that he had failed to keep his Medicines Register up to date. Having considered his record in each regard, the panel imposed a fine of €650 for a breach of Rule 148(vi), a fine of €260 for a breach of Rule 149(ii), and €250 for a breach of Rule 143(iii)(b) and they cautioned him for a breach of Rule 298.
The case was presented by Mr. Michael Daly, IHRB Regulatory Advisor.