RACING News round-up: The long-running "morphine" saga in Irish racing could finally be coming to an end with Monday's scheduled Turf Club hearing into the Killultagh Thunder issue being seen as something of a test case for the other remaining six cases.
An appeals & referrals committee panel will hear from the connections of Killultagh Thunder who finished runner -up in a Beginners Chase at Punchestown almost two years ago but was then discovered to be one of nine horses in this country who produced traces of morphine in subsequent urine samples.
The common denominator in all the instances, which included a further 37 cases in Britain, appears to have been batch of feed from the Connollys Red Mills firm who subsequently decided to refund any lost prizemoney to connections.
All the cases in Britain ended in disqualifications, including the Willie Mullins-trained Be My Royal who "won" the 2002 Hennessy Gold Cup. But the Co Carlow trainer has declared he is taking the Jockey Club to the High Court in Britian over the issue.
Action has been slower in this country, however, with only two cases resolved to date and both of those ended in disqualification.
The remaining seven have been delayed as more time has been sought to analyse evidence. An expert on the issue, the American-based professor Tom Tobin has been engaged and Connollys are reported to be footing the bill for all legal costs.
Killultagh Thunder, trained by Willie Mullins to finish runner-up in the Greenhills Beginners Chase on December 7th, 2002, was yesterday described as being something of a "test case" for the chances of the other horses.
However, the Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan would not comment on that and only said: "I imagine there will be a decision on the matter when the hearing takes place on Monday."
Certainly those involved in the other six cases will be watching intently next week. If the hearing is favourable to the Killultagh Thunder team it would leave the way open for the others and the matter to be finally finished.
If it isn't, though, there can be an appeal to the senior stewards of the Turf Club and if that is unsuccessful they have the option of going to the courts as Mullins has already done in the UK.
The Connollys firm have been arguing that the traces of morphine found in the samples are too small to have any impact and that there should be a threshold for the drug. The issue has now been hanging over the sport for two years with the positive samples coming from tests taken in November and December of 2002.
On the immediate racing front, a field of only five runners is likely for Sunday's Hatton's Grace Hurdle with the Noel Meade-trained Power Elite described as "unlikely" to take part in the Grade One race. "He is so far out of the ratings, he is 13lb wrong with the others, that the probable plan is to wait for the Pierse Hurdle. But there is nothing definite yet," said Meade yesterday ahead of today's final declaration stage.
Meade and stable jockey Paul Carberry will be focussing across channel tomorrow as Harchibald will take his chance against Inglis Derver and co in the Pretemps Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle. Harchibald upset the highly rated pair of Back In Front and Macs Joy in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown a fortnight ago.
Davy Russell can make an immediate impact at this afternoon's Wexford fixture where the Edward O'Grady-trained Whizbang looks an interesting runner in the second maiden hurdle. Crooked Throw looks to hold a good chance in the first maiden but Whizbang should be much better for a third to Kerryhead Windfarm at Punchestown where significantly he started favourite. Windmill Flyer (handicap hurdle) was a handicap winner at Cork last March and ran an encouraging fifth behind Rosaker on the flat at Galway when reappearing.
