The Referrals Committee Mr Justice Tony Hunt (in the chair), Sean Barry and Noel McCaffrey met at the Turf Club, The Curragh, Co Kildare on Monday, 4th January 2016 to consider whether or not A.J. Martin (Trainer) was in breach of any Rules as result of his failure to nominate an authorised representative at Down Royal on 26th December 2015. The matter was referred by the Stewards at Down Royal for further investigation, as A.J. Martin’s representative on the day, Paul Gray, had informed the Stewards that he was a long time authorised representative for A.J. Martin. However, the records available to the Stewards did not show that Mr Gray was currently registered. Following subsequent examination of Mr Martin’s registrations, the matter was referred to the Referrals Committee by Denis Egan, Chief Executive of the Turf Club.

Evidence was heard from A.J. Martin.

In his evidence A.J. Martin accepted that Paul Gray had not been properly registered as an authorised representative in 2015. He said this arose as his name had inadvertently been deleted by a staff member from the annual return instead of another employee who had left Mr. Martin’s employment. He said he only became aware of this when his registrations were checked by the Turf Club following the racemeeting at Down Royal.

Having considered the evidence the Committee found that A.J. Martin was in breach of Rule 147(v) and imposed a fine of €130.

The case was presented by Conal Boyce, Solicitor, Naas, Co Kildare.