IHRB microchip scan averts Galway mix-up

A costly mix-up at the Galway festival was averted by an IHRB scan check on Tuesday, with trainer Ciaran Murphy later fined €500 having placed wrong saddles on two stablemates.

Murphy ran Castleheath — which subsequently dead-heated to win the race, and fifth-placed Convincing in Tuesday’s concluding Caulfield Industrial Handicap but, on entering the parade ring, both were found by a second IHRB veterinary scan to have incorrect saddles on.

Castleheath eventually dead-headed with Heliogabalus to win but, under the incorrect saddles, stablemate Convincing - beaten only a length in the race, would have carried 8lb less.

In the subsequent enquiry, Murphy accepted responsibility, stating human error on his behalf, apologised and was fined €500.

Tuesday’s incident somewhat mirrors a horse-identity mix-up at the 2021 festival where three-year-old Aurora Princess incorrectly contested and ‘won’ a juvenile maiden, before being disqualified as year-younger stablemate Alizarine was trainer Jessica Harrington’s intended runner.

A second horse-identity disqualification occurred at Killarney in September 2023 and while IHRB microchip scan checks are now more common and came to the rescue on Tuesday, they do not take place at all courses.

Regarding Tuesday’s incident and explaining scanning in general, IHRB’s Senior Stipendiary Steward Liam Walsh stated “every horse is scanned coming into the stable yard for every meeting in Ireland and, when the veterinary department can, they have another person scanning horses entering the parade ring.

“However this doesn’t happen at every meeting and while it is definitely something we are working towards, it is a budgetary issue.”

He added “we’d like to think the error would have been caught further along but it was the scan which picked it up. For example at Tipperary two weeks ago, we had the same thing with a trainer who had three runners in the same race but when one of the jockeys went to mount, realised it wasn’t his saddle.

“However, introducing parade ring-scanning is something we need and is something I have been strong on doing since the Killarney (September 2023) incident. It absolutely is a priority for the IHRB now.”