The Referrals Committee, Mr. Laurence McFerran (in the chair), Mr. Noel McCaffrey and Mr. Finbarr Cahill convened at the Offices of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board on Thursday 17th November 2022 to consider the referral of Mr. Kevin O’Ryan following the fixture at Dundalk on 9th November 2022.
On the day, the Stewards considered a written request from Mr. O’Ryan, Authorised Riders’ Agent to allow substitutions for his client, Dylan Browne McMonagle, on his three nominated rides at this fixture as he was unavailable. In the submission, Mr. O'Ryan stated that he had known that Mr. McMonagle was riding in France on the day but had completely forgot when nominating him on three horses for Dundalk, only realising his error after the deadline for nominations of riders under Rule 195(i). He added that he had notified the three trainers that had been inconvenienced and apologised to everybody involved for his error. In view of Mr. O'Ryan's previous record, the Stewards referred this matter to a Senior Racing Official for further investigation.
At the Referral Hearing, Mr. O’Ryan apologised for his mistake. He explained that he is an Authorised Riders’ Agent for almost 20 years and that this was an embarrassing and unprofessional mistake to make but only his second in that 20 year period, the previous being in September of this year. Mr. O’Ryan said that he was aware Mr. McMonagale was riding in France on the day in question but that he had forgotten about this on the morning of declarations and the deadline for nominations of riders had closed by the time he realised it. He added that he immediately contacted the trainers involved and also wrote to the Stewards at Dundalk.
Having considered the evidence and Mr. O'Ryan's record in this regard the Referrals Committee found Mr. O’Ryan in breach of Regulation 3.4 in that that he had nominated a Rider who was unavailable to take rides at the fixture and fined him €300.
The case was presented by Mr. Michael Daly, IHRB Regulatory Legal Advisor.