Trainer John McConnell fined £500 for welfare breach over the treatment of two runners at Chelmsford

Trainer John McConnell has been fined £500 for breaching BHA welfare guidelines over the treatment of two of his horses at Chelmsford last year.

At a disciplinary panel hearing on Monday, McConnell, 48, said it was “the perfect storm of not knowing the [course] layout, panic, and being left short [staffed]” that had caused the breach.

The case involved the treatment of Noble Crusade and Mulgrave, who ran in the fourth and sixth races at Chelmsford on March 29 last year.

The horses were attended by Martin Fox, a member of McConnell’s travelling staff. Neither Fox nor the trainer, who was not at the track in Essex, were aware of the significant walk between the stables and the paddock.

After running, Noble Crusade, who had finished tenth in a 1m6f handicap, was washed and walked to cool off for 15 minutes and six seconds, according to the BHA. During that time, a racecourse official, whose offer to help with the horse was not taken up, noticed skin abrasions on the horse’s fetlocks.

According to the BHA, the racecourse vet said Noble Crusade had “not been cooled sufficiently and that there were not enough staff to cool the horse off and get the next horse ready”. A BHA vet further recommended the horse’s legs be dressed before leaving the racecourse.

After his race, Mulgrave, who finished last of 14 in a mile handicap run an hour and ten minutes after Noble Crusade's race, was washed and walked to cool down for 13 minutes and ten seconds, before being loaded onto the horsebox 32 minutes and 35 seconds after crossing the line. 

Noble Crusade left with Mulgrave before dressings were applied as recommended.

McConnell, a qualified vet, said: “There were some shortcomings. Martin is one of my top guys and it seems like he got in a panic and didn’t do things up to the standard we normally want, but I also left him short. 

“It was the perfect storm of not knowing the layout, panic, and being left short. Things could have been done better, but it wasn’t intentional.”

McConnell said he would normally instruct horses to be walked for 25-30 minutes, and that the marks on Noble Crusade’s fetlocks were minor abrasions that did not require treatment when the horse returned. 

He said a third horse from the yard ran at Lingfield on the same day, and needed collecting before the horsebox boarded the Holyhead ferry for the return trip to Ireland, where McConnell trains.

The BHA apologised for the delay in resolving the case, which “fell outside the accepted timeframe”, but added that due to the case being a welfare breach it could not be dealt with via the fast-track procedure.

On the BHA's recommendation, the panel reduced their penalty of a £1,000 fine for McConnell by £500, in acknowledgement of the delay.

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