AI technology causing friction between IHRB and Trainers A New App at the Centre of the Storm The Irish Horse Racing Authority's (IHRB) veterinary procedures have been the subject of much discussion over the past week. It began when news broke that young trainer Danny McLoughlin's first ever Classic runner, Magny Cours in the Irish 1000 Guineas, had been subjected to 40 minutes of trotting up inspections prior to the race. The IHRB dispute that the inspections took that long, with their records indicating that Magny Cours trotted up three times during a 25 minute period. In the end the filly was deemed fit to race, but on a particularly warm afternoon at the Curragh, any chance she might have had in the race was possibly impacted by the repeated inspections. Richard Hughes and America Queen Trainer Richard Hughes was severely critical of the IHRB's veterinary procedures on the same afternoon which resulted in his filly, America Queen, being withdrawn from the same race. After inspecting America Queen the IHRB vets came to the conclusion that she was lame and would not allow her to race. Hughes disputes this, stating that his filly simply has a "funny gait" and that he provided the IHRB team with detailed x-rays which prove that America Queen was sound, but this evidence along with supporting explanations provided by his own veterinary surgeon were disregarded. Another trainer contacted me during the week to say that he had looked to bid on America Queen when she was put up for auction at a Tattersalls Breeze Up sale last year, but didn't proceed because his vet "had a question mark about her stifle." Six weeks later when the filly was in the care of Richard Hughes, having been purchased for €180,000 at the Breeze Up sale, she bolted up by 12 lengths on debut at Haydock. According to Richard Hughes the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) vets also thought they had spotted an issue with his filly prior to her run in the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket in April of this year, but permitted her to race. She went on to produce the best performance of her career to date by finishing a neck second in that contest. Article highlights: The IHRB's use of AI lameness-detection app Sleip is causing controversy after two fillies were flagged at the Curragh on the same afternoon. Trainer Richard Hughes claims his filly America Queen has an unusual gait that triggers a false positive on the app, and that supporting x-rays and vet evidence were ignored. The Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) is now calling for a formal investigation into raceday trot-up procedures. A separate incident at Limerick saw a jockey disqualified for dangerous riding, with betting patterns on the race drawing further attention. The Sleip App The crux of the problem here appears to be a new app called Sleip, which the IHRB veterinary team are using to aid in their pre-race assessments of horses' suitability to race. The mobile phone app assesses video footage of a horse trotting and then produces an output which grades the horse's gait into one of four different colour coded levels. Red indicates a lame horse. It seems most likely that America Queen does indeed have an unusual gait which triggers a 'red' result on the Sleip app, but crucially she has no underlying issues. It also appears that the IHRB veterinary inspection team at the Curragh placed too much emphasis on the technology they were using to determine lameness — and this trumped all other evidence, including X-rays supplied by Hughes. Furthermore, IHRB has since informed Richard Hughes that his filly will have to undergo an MRI scan before she can be permitted to race in Ireland. The IHRB has also informed McLoughlin that his filly Magny Cours must undergo X-rays before she can race again, which seems particularly odd considering the organisation's own veterinary team allowed her to race in the Irish 1000 Guineas. Either there was something wrong with her on Guineas day or there wasn't. Trainers Association Demands Answers The Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) are now calling on the IHRB to hold an investigation into their procedures around raceday 'trot ups' and having previously furnished the Regulator with a number of questions relating to the use of this new app, the IRTA is also seeking clarity as to the processes currently in place. A robust and coherent approach to 'suitability to race' benefits everyone. No trainer or owner wants to risk running a horse that is displaying signs of lameness, but the current procedures appear to be placing too much emphasis on an AI tool to determine the health of the horses and this one-size-fits-all approach is causing friction and undermining the confidence of trainers in the whole process. Dangerous Riding at Limerick Switching subjects to the extraordinary conclusion to a handicap hurdle at Limerick last Thursday, where the winner was disqualified by the stewards due to its jockey having "ridden dangerously." The stewards were scathing in their condemnation of the ride Philip Byrnes gave his father's horse Marian Avenue. The gambled-on favourite (3/1 to 11/8) was leading when it veered off a straight line approaching the second last flight, impeding his two closest challengers, one of which was forced out of the race due to the interference. Philip Byrnes stated at the inquiry "that his mount cocked his jaw coming down to the second last hurdle, tried to run out and that he had two hands on the reins trying to keep his mount straight." The Limerick stewards didn't believe the rider's version of events and were instead: "satisfied that Philip Byrnes failed to correct his mount at a point in the race that was in close proximity to the hurdle and as such rode in a way which was far below that of a competent and careful Rider, and where it would be obvious to such a competent and careful Rider that riding in that way was likely to endanger the safety of another Horse or Rider." Dangerous riding is the most serious riding offence a jockey can commit. It carries a minimum sanction of 21 days suspension. The raceday stewards have leeway to impose a stiffer penalty, but in this case, despite their conclusion that Byrnes' actions were "likely to endanger the safety of another horse or rider," they opted for the minimum punishment. A Pattern of Controversy? Byrnes' Limerick riding offence occurred a year to the day after another controversial incident involving the same rider. The saga around whether or not Philip Byrnes had deliberately jumped off Redwood Queen at Wexford in 2025 rumbled on for months before the rider was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing by an IHRB Referral Committee. It may be nothing more than a coincidence that both incidents involved significant market moves on horses trained by his father, but interesting to note all the same. The horse he parted company with in Wexford, Redwood Queen, was a huge drifter in the betting that day. Marian Avenue, on the other hand, was gambled on to win at Limerick last week and most probably would not have crossed the line in first place were it not for the incident at the penultimate hurdle. How Punters Were Affected Whoever tried to profit from laying Redwood Queen a year ago collected their money, thanks to the horse and Philip Byrnes parting company at the final flight of hurdles, but those that punted Marian Avenue into favourite at Limerick last week won't necessarily have been so lucky. Almost all high street betting shops and online bookmakers pay out on the double result 'first past the post or Rules Of Racing', so bets placed on Marian Avenue by those methods will have been deemed winners and paid out. He was first past the post. However, the gamble on Marian Avenue took place in the minutes before the off of the race at Limerick. Bets struck either with: on-course bookmakers at the track, or placed on the Betfair exchange ...will have been settled under Rules Of Racing, which means they were losers. Of course none of the betting side of this latest incident will be of the slightest concern to Charles Byrnes as the colourful trainer recently told this website that he no longer bets at all. Probably just as well.
