Botched Denis Hogan case has left the IHRB publicly humiliated - and with a major credibility problem

I wasn't planning a trilogy when I started but, as one remarkable development has been heaped upon another, this is the third consecutive week I've written a column about the IHRB investigation into the running and riding of the Denis Hogan-trained pair Yuften and Tony The Gent at Dundalk in March 2020.

This murky affair reached a conclusion of sorts last week when the IHRB's referrals committee met as scheduled to adjudicate under bizarre circumstances, the IHRB having declined to present any evidence in a case that it had been looking into for three and a half years.

The committee outlined how Hogan, jockey James J Doyle and two other named individuals, John O'Shea and Noel Hayes, faced serious allegations in a report served by the IHRB on April 3, 2023. As recently as September 11, when the case against Hayes was dropped, the others were facing an imminent hearing in relation to what the committee described as their "conspiracy".