Byrnes awaits result of appeal into 6 months ban Charles Byrnes will have to wait a bit longer to learn his fate following a lengthy appeal yesterday against a six-month suspension of his licence in relation to the Viking Hoard case. Byrnes was handed the ban for being “seriously negligent” when the horse was ‘nobbled’ with a sedative at Tramore in October 2018. Due to coronavirus restrictions, evidence was heard by video conference for almost two hours by a panel which was chaired by Justice Nial Fennelly and also included Justice Leonie Reynolds and John Powell. “The panel will consider their decision and inform the parties involved in due course,” said an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board spokesman afterwards. Viking Hoard was pulled up in a handicap hurdle and was found to have 100 times the safe limit for the sedative ACP in his system after being doped by an unidentified third party. It was also found in the original hearing that Viking Hoard had been laid to lose on Betfair in that Tramore race and other races. Byrnes saddled a winner at the Dublin Racing Festival in Leopardstown last Sunday when the JP McManus-owned Off You Go landed the €125,000 Gaelic Plant Hire Leopardstown Handicap Chase and afterwards spoke on RTE's television coverage of how upsetting the case had been to himself and his family as well as Irish racing in general. The County Limerick trainer, who has enjoyed many big race wins in the past including at the Cheltenham Festival, is adamant he has been in no way negligent in leaving Viking Hoard unattended for a period of time in the stableyard at Tramore.
