Court hears Weld claims of IRTA vendetta against Gordon

Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board chief executive Denis Egan claimed in the High Court on Wednesday that Dermot Weld believed the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association had a “vendetta” against the regulator’s head of security Chris Gordon.

The court also learned that Weld "ran" IRTA boss Michael Grassick from his yard in 2014 when he tried to convince the trainer to sign a petition to have Gordon removed from his role in the IHRB, Egan claimed.

Dermot Weld: claimed IRTA were blaming Chris Gordon for bringing in the Department Of Agriculture into yard inspectionsCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

“I got a phone call on Saturday, August 23, at 9pm from Dermot Weld,” Egan told the court. “He was on the IRTA committee and was behind the scenes making a big effort to get this matter resolved.

“It was a 12-minute call and it started by Dermot Weld saying he had spoken with Michael Grassick. He said Michael Grassick had been to his office that morning to sign a petition to remove Mr Gordon due to no confidence.

“Dermot said that he had never heard the likes of it in his life and he ran Michael Grassick from his office.

“He said he wouldn’t be signing anything. The next day Dermot came to me at the Curragh and asked if Chris was there. Dermot said he would get it stopped and that the whole thing was a storm in a teacup,” Egan added.

Michael Grassick: “If they were doing it properly and had skilled horse people doing the job, we would have no problem whatsoever with scanning before a race. In fact, we'd welcome it.'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

It was later claimed by Egan that, in a separate conversation with Weld five days later, the trainer suggested the IRTA had a vendetta against Gordon.

Egan claimed: "He said he believed they had a vendetta against Mr Gordon and that they were effectively blaming him for bringing in the Department of Agriculture [into yard inspections].”

He added: "They felt that he was using the Department of Agriculture to fire shots on behalf of the Turf Club. He said they (IRTA) were looking for something to get him on."

During cross examination by SC John Rogers for the IRTA, Egan was accused of making a “grave mistake” by writing the trainer's name Liz Doyle, along with a question mark, on the book of evidence.

This is the book of evidence the then Turf Club obtained from the Department of Agriculture during the case of John Hughes, a retired department vet who was found in possession of 6kg of the steroid Nitrotain.

Rogers repeatedly asked Egan why he had not thought of including trainer Lorcan Donnelly, who had the same initials, as another potential candidate for a random stable inspection.

Egan rejected the claim that he made a "grave mistake" on the basis that, at the time the then Turf Club met with the Department of Agriculture to discuss the potential targets for random inspection in January 2014, Lorcan Donnelly did not hold a licence.

Rogers argued that Egan should have concentrated on the list of trainers who were registered in 2011, when the receipts were written in the lodgement book pertaining to the case, rather than those who were active on the date of the meeting. Egan disagreed.

“Mr Donnelly was of no relevance to us in January 2014 for the simple reason that he was unlicensed and we could not inspect his yard as such,” Egan said. The case continues in the High Court on Thursday morning at 11am.

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