Art Of Unity - The sad story of an ageing sprinter The results of two Referral Hearings published by the IHRB last week pose a number of questions for the sport and in particular highlight how the sport has failed an 11-year-old sprinter named Art Of Unity. The gelding was a fair performer in his prime. He reached a peak rating of 82 after a victory at Navan in September 2021. This was the last of the four races he won when trained by John Feane on the Curragh. He ran a further five races for Feane before switching to a trainer named Alan Richardson. Three poor runs for Richardson and then Art Of Unity was moved on again. He joined the small Galway yard of Muredach Kelly in early 2023. Kelly's set up was mainly about breaking and pre-training horses, but he kept a small number in training himself. By the end of the summer of 2024 Art Of Unity had run a further 13 races for Kelly without success. The one-time useful sprinter was by now languishing on the basement handicap rating of 45 and showing no obvious signs that a revival was imminent. A Sudden Revival However, on the 3rd October 2024 Art Of Unity runs at Bellewstown, is backed from 14/1 to 8/1 and wins. The horse's first victory for over three years. Six days later he raced under a 7lbs penalty in a handicap at Navan and again performed well, finishing a close fourth of 18 runners. On 17th October 2024 Art Of Unity won at the Curragh, his second victory in the space of just two weeks. After the Curragh victory Muredach Kelly paid tribute to his farrier: "I have to thank my farrier, he has glue on shoes and up to this we were struggling to keep him sound." Unfortunately, it subsequently transpired that the upturn in Art Of Unity's performances may not have been solely down to his glue on shoes. The urine sample taken from the gelding after the Curragh race tested positive for cobalt. "High doses (of cobalt) can lead to performance enhancement and adverse effects on horse welfare" according to the IHRB. What is very odd here is that Art Of Unity was also drug tested after his victory at Bellewstown two weeks earlier, but the results from that test had come back clear. Article highlights: Art Of Unity, an 11-year-old sprinter, tested positive for prohibited substances after two separate race victories with different trainers Despite being moved between seven different trainers over nine years, the aging horse continues to race despite apparent physical issues Both positive doping cases resulted only in disqualifications and fines for trainers It seems only logical that the horse's three improved performances in the space of two weeks were as a direct result of the cobalt, but the drug didn't show up in the urine sample taken after the first of those races. More Stable Changes Anyway, the story doesn't end there. Art Of Unity had just one more run for Kelly on 24th October 2024, finishing down the field, before changing stables again. This time he was off to Cork to be trained by former successful pony racing trainer Maurice Ahern. The gelding ran poorly twice in May and June 2025 for Ahern before he was on the move yet again. Maurice Ahern notified Horse Racing Ireland on 24th July 2025 that Art Of Unity had been 'sold.' On the 16th September 2025 trainer Aidan Melia registered the gelding as 'in training' with him. Melia was also registered as the horse's new owner. History Repeats Itself Two weeks after joining Melia, on 2nd October 2025, Art Of Unity ran in the very same Bellewstown handicap the horse had won a year earlier when trained by Muredach Kelly. Nibbled at in the betting from 22/1 to 14/1 Art Of Unity wins again. Following this victory a urine sample was taken from Art Of Unity and once more it tested positive for a prohibited substance, this time for a drug called dexamethasone. Dexamethasone is a synthetic corticosteroid hormone which is used as an anti-inflammatory drug in horses. The detection time for this drug, published on the IHRB website, is 14 days which is not far off the length of time Art Of Unity had spent in Aidan Melia's yard before the positive urine sample was taken. This was the horse's second victory in a row where he had failed a dope test. On 22nd October 2025 Art Of Unity ran his second and final race for Meila, finishing last of 19 runners in a Navan handicap. Seven days later he was sold again. No End in Sight The IHRB's subsequent investigations (one of which lasted 16 months) into the two positive tests for prohibited substances found no source of the drugs at either trainer's premises and in the end the horse was simply disqualified from both races and each trainer received a fine. The gelding is now 11-years-old, has been in training for nine years and competed in a total of 72 races. He is now on his eighth different registered owner and with his seventh different trainer. He is currently in the care of Katy Brown on the Curragh and was entered for another race as recently as last Friday at Dundalk, but he wasn't declared to run. It seems highly likely that Art Of Unity has been struggling with a variety of issues for much of the last four years, but there is no sign of his racing career ending anytime soon.
