Charles Byrnes suspended for six months by IHRBHorse was ‘nobbled by an unidentified third party’Charles Byrnes, one of Ireland’s most successful trainers, has had his licence suspended for six months by the
Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s Referrals Committee after his horse Viking Hoard was nobbled before a race at Tramore in 2018, possibly on the orders of “an individual based in a distant part of the world [who is] associated with match fixing and associated betting in connection with other sports”.
Viking Hoard drifted from 4-1 to 8-1 before a handicap hurdle at Tramore on 18 October 2018, received a reminder from its jockey after jumping the first and was detached from the field when he was pulled up before jumping the seventh flight. A subsequent dope test showed high levels of the fast-acting sedative acepromazine (ACP) and its metabolites, suggesting it had been administered about two hours before the race.