Aidan O’Brien has been officially charged by the British Horseracing Authority following Cape Blanco‘s victory in the Dante Stakes at York in May.
Aidan O'Brien has been charged by BHA
The Ballydoyle handler refused to allow his stable lad Pat Keating permission to trot the horse up in front of the BHA’s veterinary officer and the senior racecourse veterinary surgeon as part of their examination of the colt. This comes after the O’Brien runners ran poorly in the English and French Derbys, having all been well beaten apart from the pacemaker who finished second at 100/1 in The Epsom Derby.
O’Brien has been charged with breaches of Rule (A)37 and (B)83, in that he encouraged and/or caused Keating to refuse to comply with two instructions given by the stewards. No date has been announced for the hearing yet.
I think that common sense has to come in here, I don’t know why the BHA had to get involved and O’Brien in my view was right to not want a third party vet getting involved. There was no welfare issue, Ballydoyle have their own vets and the race was over. Prior to the race then that would be different. This is nonesense in my book and only makes British Racing look silly.
