Turf Club welcomes HRI funding for enhanced drug testing facilities

The Turf Club has welcomed the decision of the Horse Racing Ireland board to make funding available for the purchase of laboratory equipment to enhance drug testing capabilities within Irish racing.

A dispute between the sports ruling and regulatory bodies over funding for improvements at the BHP laboratory in Limerick led to the Turf Club resorting to the unprecedented step of initiating an arbitration process on the relevant part of the 2014 integrity budget.

Details of HRI’s 2015 overall budget were outlined last week, including a provision of €7.1 million for integrity services, which includes capital provision for new lab equipment. A further €3.4 million is projected for other integrity related racecourse services such as the purchase of new starting stalls and enhanced picture production levels.

Although details of the 2015 budget have yet to be officially approved, senior figures within the Turf Club now believe the contentious issue of arbitration in relation to improvements at the BHP lab is likely to be shelved.

The issue had the potential to seriously compromise racing's image, which has struggled to cope with the impact of the steroids controversies which have dogged much of 2014 and resulted in both trainer Philip Fenton, and the former Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector John Hughes, being "warned off'' for three and five years respectively.

"We very much welcome the allocation of funds for laboratory improvements," the Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan said. "This matter has been of concern to us for some time."

A projected total budget of €10.5 million for integrity in 2015 comes on the back of a near 25 per cent increase in Government support to racing, resulting in a total of €54.4 million for next year. HRI confirmed it will increase prizemoney for 2015 by €5 million while minimum race values will be upped by €500 to €8,000.