IHRB refuses to explain why Homer Scott was able to surrender licence without a hearing for welfare allegations

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has said there "were particular circumstances that warranted a specific approach" when asked to explain why trainer Homer Scott was allowed to surrender his licence without a full independent referral hearing after the regulator became aware of significant welfare allegations relating to horses in his care.

However, the IHRB declined to clarify why such a policy was adopted, why it has not published the sanction and whether there have been other incidents of licensed individuals who have agreed to surrender their licence. It supplied a statement in response to Racing Post queries without addressing various aspects individually.

In an article that appeared in the Sunday Independent, Michelle Shannon, who worked for Scott for seven years, and David Mooney, who had been his main owner in recent years, made allegations of mistreatment of mares at Scott's Lisheen Stud in County Kildare.

Shannon claimed that she had protested to Scott about one, Imitation, being covered too soon after the mare had lost a foal and that repeated attempts to cover her with the stud's resident sire Rajj led to her collapsing. She then alleged that the mare was dragged across the yard by a mini-digger before being hung from a sling in a failed attempt to save her.

The article presented a picture of widespread neglect and an associated high fatality rate among Scott's mares, along with allegations of carcasses being buried on the land instead of being disposed of correctly.

On the back of tip-offs, Department of Agriculture officials inspected the premises in March and May of 2022 before serving Scott with an Animal Health and Welfare notice, with the various stipulations of the notice to be enacted before July 1.

The article went on to state that a day before the deadline, the IHRB's chief veterinary officer Dr Lynn Hillyer led an unannounced IHRB visit to the yard, ordering all of the mares to be scanned and addressing other issues. Shannon claimed that she showed Hillyer a video of a carcass that had been left on the yard for ten days and was reportedly told by Hillyer: "This isn’t a once-off visit, Michelle. This is going to be a regular occurrence now that he’s on our radar."

The article claimed that Scott quietly surrendered his licence to the IHRB in the weeks that followed but that he still keeps around 50 horses on his land. The department's investigation is ongoing but there is no public record of any charges brought against him by the IHRB, which says it has been liaising with the department in relation to the matter.

The Racing Post's efforts to contact Scott, a Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer with Omerta and Rhythm Section, have been unsuccessful. We also put a number of questions to the IHRB addressing the apparent lack of due process and transparency, and if it could stand over the current welfare of horses in Scott's care.

In response it pointed to the case being department-led and no further comment was forthcoming.

Its statement read: "The IHRB deals with every case on the basis of the circumstances, facts and evidence in that case. In the case referred to, there were particular circumstances that warranted a specific approach. One of the most severe sanctions that can be imposed on any trainer by the IHRB is removal of their licence. In this case, the IHRB believed that swift removal of the trainer's licence would be appropriate and was satisfied to secure the surrender of Mr Scott's licence.

"Enforcement of the Animal Health and Welfare Notice served on Mr Scott by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and any actions to be taken under the Animal Health and Welfare Act are a matter for the department and not the IHRB. The IHRB will continue to assist the department with their ongoing investigation as and when required."

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