Whip Crack Away Turbine's unfortunate claim to fame is likely to be as the first horse to test positive for an anabolic steroid in Ireland. But seven years after steroids were found at the yard of Philip Fenton, and five years after the former Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector John Hughes was found to have possessed a commercial quantity of an anabolic steroid, the Turbine case also suggests a sport at long last starting to catch up with anti-doping reality. By any measure the pace of change has been glacial. There's certainly plenty still to be done. A vital Service Level Agreement that allows Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board officials test on unlicensed premises such as stud farms still has to be secured. There are suggestions that sales companies are struggling to be ready in time for IHRB testing by January 1. Out of competition testing rates across the industry need to be increased significantly. Nevertheless, as uncomfortable as the Turbine headlines were last week, especially for his trainer and owner who were exonerated after the vet who'd treated the horse for a wind operation last January accepted full responsibility for what may have been an error in administering a substance containing Nandrolone, it ultimately showed a system working to order. Two positive post-race tests in May, including after a win for Turbine at Cork, were reported by the LGC lab in England. By the end of that month an out-competition test took place at the yard of Turbine's trainer Denis Hogan. Blood samples were taken and, for the first time, hair samples. They tested positive for Nandrolone too. The same tests carried out on five other horses were negative. A day later Hogan's vet, Donnacha Houlihan, outlined how a horse stabled next to Turbine in January was being treated with a substance containing the anabolic steroid and he believed the drug was given to the wrong horse. The hair test results evidenced that Turbine was "exposed to Nandrolone in a time window consistent with his hospitalisation in January." Transparency is vital when it comes to doping. This case illustrated a regulatory process in operation delivering a result that made sense. For the IHRB, which has seen so much of its credibility evaporate over recent years in relation to doping, it was a much needed boost in terms of its outcome. Yet, somehow, a regrettable bum note was still allowed to burrow its way into the process. Considering what's occurred in recent years, and the scepticism that exists about the industry's seriousness in tackling anti-doping generally, this was an opportunity to deliver a message. When the Anti-Doping Task Force released its 2016 report there was a lot of talk about a zero tolerance approach when it comes to drugs, and especially anabolic steroids. This was the first positive result for anabolic steroids. It was a chance to set a tone for the future. The particular circumstances that applied were delicate and it certainly shouldn't have been a case of making an example of anyone. But the shadow of anabolic steroids has hung over Irish racing for years now and in reputation terms it is vital that the industry not only takes it seriously but is seen to do so. Considering the Referrals Committee panel was working off British Horseracing Authority guidelines their decision to backdate a 14 month penalty to when the substance was administered (January ) rather than the date of the positive sample (May) appears to err on the side of lenience. That's hardly a signal racing needs to give. It smacks of old-school rather than any brave new dawn. Following the BHA standard might have left the Turbine camp feeling sore about a longer wait to run their horse again but there's a bigger picture involved. A statement of intent was made in this case. It could have been even more emphatic. Why it wasn't needs to be addressed by those who made the decision. Simply saying they had the power to do so, and so did so, isn't good enough. It seems the whip, like the poor, will always be with us. In Britain a Labour party that might really be better served sorting out more pressing problems outlined an animal welfare manifesto which calls for an independent review to establish if use of the whip for encouragement purposes can be justified. Sure enough it was an entirely predictable dog whistle for those who see welfare reds under every bed, out to get their right to bear whips. The BHA, which so many suspect of being some Trojan horse operation undermining the sport rather than a body trying to keep a step ahead of the game in an ever more squeamish world, had its response ready. That was no surprise considering the BHA has long since decided the real welfare battleground is in Westminster. In Ireland a battle is brewing up nicely over the whip rules introduced in April which now rarely sees a day go by without some jockey being either cautioned, suspended or referred on over their use of the stick. Evidence that the rules are really starting to bite comes today when five riders appear before a Referrals Committee having been automatically 'sent-on' after a fourth offence. In the case of no less than Derby winning jockey Seamus Heffernan, he got referred for a fourth offence at Cork last month and a week later got another 'fourth' at Killarney. That he's joined by two other senior classic winning riders in Kevin Manning and Chris Hayes, represents stark evidence of an issue coming to a head. The Irish Jockeys Association has outlined how serious disillusionment with the whip rules is rising among the riders' ranks in this piece - Irish Jockeys Association warns of rider shortage over whip rule breaches. At heart the jockeys' problem appears to revolve around the whip rule being a blunt instrument covering a range of offences, all of which contribute towards a fourth breach that automatically results in a referral. The other main issue seems to be that once a mandatory six day ban is served, a rider doesn't get the slate wiped and start again. Instead a next offence results in another automatic referral, and the likelihood of another minimum six days, even if it is for a relatively trivial offence. That's the prospect facing Hayes for instance. Ideally you sense the jockeys would love a return to the previous regime where race-day stewards had discretion rather than having to enforce an eight-stroke limit. But that's something of a cop-out, purely because, at the very least, the perception is that amateur officials are just aching for an excuse to cop out of making a potentially painful decision. What the rule is fundamentally aimed at doing is altering the culture of whip use. Such a behavioural ambition takes time and means a minimum of grey areas. When it comes to restricting use of the whip black and white measures are necessary. If a jockey repeatedly exceeds eight strokes then they deserve to have the book thrown at them as well as getting a lesson in numeracy. But counting such behaviour as equal to other elements of the whip rule does look questionable. Marking a horse for instance, as Hayes appears to have done at Roscommon last month, even though he used the whip just four times, simply doesn't look as straightforward an offence as going to work on one and hitting it a dozen times. So why should the penalty be the same? Finally, the 'Irish Champions Weekend' organisers could have done with Dean Rock sticking over that last free in the All-Ireland final. Now we have a replay fixed for Saturday week at 6.00, just 35 minutes before the start of the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes. It's the first replay since 2016 but that year neither game clashed with Irish flat racing's showpiece event. The impact on attendances of such clashes can be overstated. There is an overlap but possibly not as much as one might think. But considering Champions Weekend is designed to advertise racing to a wider general public, in profile terms it's all but inevitable the shadow of possibly Irish sport's biggest occasion is going to be very hard to peep out from under.
