Charles Byrnes set to resume training after six-month ban comes to an end

Charles Byrnes is expected to be able to make entries from Monday after his six-month ban over the high-profile nobbling case of Viking Hoard comes to an end on Friday.

The Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer met with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's licensing committee on Thursday and is expected to resume control of his Limerick base from his son Cathal, who has been the face of the operation in recent months.

Byrnes began his ban in March after an IHRB referrals panel found him to be "seriously negligent" in relation to his supervision of Viking Hoard at Tramore in October 2018.

Viking Hoard's urine sample showed he was 100 times over the international screening level for a sedative when he ran in a handicap hurdle at the County Waterford venue. He was pulled up by Kevin Brouder after racing behind the bridle throughout.

The referrals committee accepted the interpretation of the evidence that Viking Hoard had been "nobbled" by an unidentified third party when left unaccompanied. It consequently noted that "it follows as a matter of probability that Mr Byrnes's general mode of operation permitted such a strategy to be viable".

Viking Hoard: horse was found to have been administered a sedative before Tramore runCredit: Alain Barr (racingpost.com/photos)

One wager on that Tramore race had a liability of €34,889 to win €3,200 on the defeat of Viking Hoard, who drifted from 4-1 to a starting price of 8-1, but there was no evidence found linking Byrnes to the bets.

Speaking in February before his appeal, Byrnes denied being linked to the lay bets and criticised the IHRB for its handling of the case.

"That's not the way I operate. I don't lay horses – I back horses," Byrnes said after Off You Go won the Gaelic Plant Hire Leopardstown Handicap Chase at the Dublin Racing Festival.

When it was put to him that the controversy brought shame on Irish racing, the trainer said: "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."

Byrnes has been unavailable for comment this week but the IHRB confirmed he is nearing a return.

“Mr Byrnes has applied for his licence and met with the licensing committee on Thursday,” an IHRB spokesperson said.

While details have yet to be finalised, it is understood that Byrnes will be in a position to make entries from Monday.

Byrnes is a multiple Grade 1-winning trainer with the likes of Solwhit, Weapon's Amnesty, Pittoni and Cailin Alainn. He trained 13 winners from 117 runners in the 2020-21 Irish jumps season which was curtailed by his suspension, while he also trained six Flat winners from 37 runners in 2020.

Read more on this subject:

Charles Byrnes given six-month ban after runner is 'nobbled' with sedative

Read the explosive evidence from the investigation into the Charles Byrnes case

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

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