Trainer Tony Martin to lose licence for three months after IHRB appeal

Trainer Tony Martin had his licence taken away for three months by an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) appeals committee on Thursday. The suspension will begin on May 15th.

In December, Martin, who is set to saddle Good Time Jonny in Easter Monday’s Boylesports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse, was handed a six-month suspension that was suspended for two years subject to no breach of doping rules in that period.

He was also fined a total of €11,000 on the back of a positive drug test from his winner Firstman at Dundalk the previous January.

Firstman tested positive for lidocaine, a local anaesthetic prohibited on race day, and a referrals panel rejected Martin’s suggestion that it may have come from contaminated bedding at the racecourse. That panel also heard that Firstman had been twice administered an anti-inflammatory, Cartrophen, by two separate vets the day before the race.

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Firstman started a 13-8 favourite for a two-mile handicap and won by an easy two and a half lengths under jockey Billy Lee. Firstman was the third Martin-trained winner in four years to fail a drugs test.

The IHRB appealed the referrals committee verdict on the basis of leniency while Martin appealed the decision to fine him €10,000. In December he was also fined €1,000 for failing to maintain a complete medicines register at his Co Meath yard.

Both hearings by an appeals panel took place on Thursday and an IHRB spokesperson confirmed that the original six-month withdrawal of Martin’s licence would remain, but with just three of the six months suspended. The €10,000 fine remained unchanged.

Martin has been training for over three decades and has saddled top-flight winners both on the flat and over jumps. He has also established a reputation for winning big handicap prizes, including four successes in the Galway Hurdle.

The long-running investigation into the case saw a referrals panel originally meet last August and reconvene in November to hear the case. It emerged there that on the back of Firstman’s positive test, an unannounced inspection of Martin’s yard was carried out, with hair and blood samples carried out on nine horses, including Firstman. All results were negative.

Good Time Jonny, a winner of last year’s Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival, is a 16-1 shot for Monday’s €500,000 feature, which is Ireland’s richest jumps race. Martin won the Irish Grand National in 2001 with David’s Lad.

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