Charles Byrnes: 'I don't lay horses, I back horses'

Speaking publicly for the first time about the Viking Hoard case after sending out Off You Go to win a valuable handicap chase at the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown on Sunday, Charles Byrnes insisted that he does not lay horses, he only backs them to win.

Byrnes will on Tuesday appeal against last month's decision made by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board to suspend his licence for six months after Viking Hoard tested positive for the sedative ACP at Tramore in 2018.

The IHRB found Byrnes to be negligent. However, the Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer denied that and criticised the IHRB for how it has handled the investigation and Betfair for withholding key information relating to who was laying Viking Hoard.

"I don't lay horses. I back horses," Byrnes told RTE after Off You Go recorded a third Dublin Racing Festival success when landing the Gaelic Plant Hire Leopardstown Chase.

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When Brian Gleeson put it to Byrnes that the recent controversy brought a huge amount of shame on Irish racing, the trainer responded: "I couldn't agree more. It's very upsetting for myself and my family, and racing in general. We just have to let it take its course now."

He added: "I can't go into the specifics but we don't believe that we were in any way negligent. There are lessons to be learned from all sides. It is a very unfortunate incident that wasn't followed up properly from day one and it has been left to drag on. We're here now in this situation and the appeal is on Tuesday so I can't say too much more on it."

When pressed further, Byrnes said: "There was nobody held to account. Betfair are not putting anyone forward. Why can't we question the people who are supposed to have laid the horse? Betfair are not cooperating at all. I have big questions. There hasn't been much of an inquiry either. There have only been two people interviewed in the space of two years.

"That's not the way I operate. I don't lay horses. I back horses."

Charles Byrnes: 'I can't go into the specifics but we don't believe that we were in any way negligent'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Byrnes was speaking after the IHRB chief executive Denis Egan stated the regulator can win back the trust of the racing industry in the wake of a calamitous start to 2021.

As well as defending the IHRB against a growing wall of criticism over a series of own-goals in recent weeks, Egan refused to discuss the lack of CCTV on Irish racecourses, putting forward Byrnes' appeal as the reason for his failure to address the topic.

Blaming "human error" for a series of high-profile incidents, Egan, speaking to Racing TV's Gary O'Brien at Leopardstown in an interview aired on Luck On Sunday, said he was optimistic about the IHRB restoring its reputation.

He said: "I'm very confident that we can. What has happened in the last few weeks is unfortunate and down to human error. The important thing is that we learn. We are learning the whole time and if something can be improved we will improve it."

Egan signed off by telling O'Brien: "I'm sure everything will be fine."

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Prior to that, of his refusal to be interviewed on Racing TV after the false start fiasco at Naas last Sunday, he said: "I know I've been criticised for not commenting at Naas but the difficulty I had was that the matter had been referred to me for investigation and at that stage the investigation hadn't been carried out and it would have been inappropriate to say anything which would have prejudiced the investigation."

When O'Brien interjected to ask why Egan could not have said all that on the day, he replied: "I spoke to the Racing TV reporters [Kevin O'Ryan and Ruby Walsh] on the day and gave them a three or four-line statement that the matter would be referred to me and a report would be published before the end of the week. We got the report out on Thursday so we kept our part of the bargain."

Read more from Leopardstown on Sunday:

Kemboy seizes the opportunity to secure Willie Mullins an 11th Irish Gold Cup

'What can you say after that?' – magnificent Monkfish strolls to Flogas success

Emphatic rather than exceptional but Appreciate It gets job done for Mullins

Mullins praises the brains behind DRF initiative after two-day Closutton blitz

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