Trainer Eric McNamara has lodged an appeal to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board against the massive penalties handed out under ‘non-trier’ rules at Clonmel on Thursday following the performance of his runner Mount Ferns.
Ridden by McNamara’s son, Conor, Mount Ferns finished sixth to Luminous Light in a novice handicap chase. A stewards' inquiry concluded that both jockey and trainer had breached Rule 212 by “deliberately or recklessly causing or permitting a horse to run other than on its merits”.
Having taken both men’s clean records into account they suspended Conor McNamara for 40 days, while his father was fined €6,000. Mount Ferns was suspended from running for 90 days.
On Friday, McNamara labelled the fine and suspensions as “outrageous” and confirmed all aspects of the penalties will be appealed.
“I’ve never seen fines and suspensions as big as this ever in my life. This is outrageous, absolutely crazy,” said Eric McNamara on Friday.
“Are they trying to get rid of all the jockeys, all the trainers, all the owners, out of the game? How can they suspend a horse for 90 days and expect us to handle it? How can you fine trainers like myself, who’re struggling, €6,000?
“And how can you take a young fellow’s livelihood away like that for 40 days when he’s missed months already this year through injury. How can you do that to any young fellow?
“We’re not appealing the severity of anything. We’re appealing because we are 100 per cent innocent in this. We did not go out to mislead the public or mislead anybody.”
Conor McNamara told the Clonmel stewards he was generally happy with the way the race went until his mount, who started a 14-1 shot, started hanging badly going down the hill and turning into the straight.
He said the horse was “extremely difficult to ride at this point and he could not even ride the horse out to the line.” He also admitted he’d forgotten to make a report at scales that the horse was hanging. The IHRB’s veterinary officer reported Mount Ferns to be “post-race normal”.
“We have to appeal it. I feel very hard done by. My son said he couldn’t ride out a finish because the horse was hanging so badly,” said McNamara Snr.
“The only regret I have is that I ran the horse at a track that probably didn’t suit him. It is very obvious the horse was hanging very badly coming down the hill. Then, when he straightened out, at one point he had both hands on the one rein.
“The horse was hanging so badly he felt something was possibly amiss. From whatever angle you take, horse welfare or whatever, if he couldn’t ride him out, he couldn’t ride him out.
“All I can do is promise that this horse was off for his life. We were trying to do our best with him. That is a fact. He rode exactly to instructions – mid-division, come with a late run – because we felt we might have made too much use of him in Limerick the last time where he fell at the second last.
“The horse didn’t handle coming down the hill and basically he couldn’t ride him from that point on,” he added.
The IHRB made changes to the running and riding rules last year that allowed for stewards to impose harsher penalties.
In 2023, trainer Charles Byrnes was also hit with a massive €6,000 fine following the running and riding of Ellaat at Gowran. That horse, too, was banned from running for 90 days. But rider Gearóid Brouder was suspended for 21 days.
Eric McNamara trained his first winner over 40 years ago and his big-race victories include three wins in the Kerry National at Listowel. He also enjoyed Grade One success in France in 20025 with the Ruby Walsh ridden Strangely Brown.
Conor McNamara rode his father’s Real Steel to a high-profile success in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown during Christmas 2022. McNamara’s son, Emmet, famously won the 2020 Epsom Derby on the Aidan O’Brien-trained Serpentine.
Philip Fenton’s handicap hurdle contender Pirate Island is Conor McNamara’s sole spin at Gowran on Saturday, where Kitzbuhel is a star attraction in the Grade Three Red Mills Trial Hurdle.
Willie Mullins’s runner made an impressive Irish debut at Punchestown in December when comfortably accounting for the admirable Colonel Mustard. Later on the card, his stable companion Saint Sam has just two to beat to repeat his 2024 victory in the Grade Two Chase.
“Saint Sam is quickly turning into a bit of a cult hero, stepping into the category of Easy Game, Wicklow Brave kind of horse,” reported Patrick Mullins. “He’s won 11 races now and this looks another great opportunity for him at his right trip.”
