Ronan McNally hit with massive 12-year disqualification from Irish racing

Trainer Ronan McNally has been hit with a mammoth 12-year disqualification from Irish racing, charged €50,000 in costs and ordered to return over €13,000 in prize-money as the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's referrals committee published swingeing sanctions after finding him guilty of multiple integrity breaches in December.

McNally had also been found culpable of conspiring with fellow trainer David Dunne to conceal his ownership of Full Noise and All Class, and, under the rules that cover bringing racing into disrepute, Dunne has been hit with a two-year suspension of his licence, with the final 18 months of that suspended for two years. He has been handed a €5,000 fine and must also forfeit the prize-money that was deemed to have been won by illicit means. In Dunne's case, that covers an aggregate 36 races in which All Class, Full Noise and Petrol Head ran in his name while McNally's ownership of the horses was concealed.

Under rule 212, which covers improvement in form, Dreal Deal has been disqualified from two of his wins for McNally at Limerick and Navan in the autumn of 2020. The Jam Man has been disqualified from a runner-up position at Limerick under rule 275, which deals with horses who have been the subject of fraudulent practice, taking the prize-money McNally must forfeit to €13,400. The relevant 36 races for the other three include three wins in 2021 for All Class and one for Full Noise, with the prize-money that must be forfeited by Dunne coming to nearly €27,000.

McNally's ban is by some way the longest issued to an Irish licence-holder, exceeding the four-year licence suspension - reduced by six months on appeal - Stephen Mahon received for bringing racing into disrepute as a result of welfare breaches. On Tuesday McNally confirmed his intention to appeal against the findings but declined to comment on the case.

Dreal Deal: has had two wins in 2020 taken awayCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

"The committee regards the findings against Mr McNally as very serious," the report stated. "His offences strike at the integrity and the objective of having a level playing field for all who send horses out to race. They also involved a deception of the public, especially the betting public."

Following a hearing in October, McNally was found by the panel to have caused "serious damage to the interests of horseracing in Ireland" when ten of the 11 wide-ranging charges brought against him were upheld, including using the racecourse as a training ground by running horses insufficiently schooled in order to obtain handicap marks not reflective of their ability. The findings were published in December and the sanctions hearing followed on January 13.

McNally was deemed to have achieved "a pattern of improvement in form of horses at a level previously unfamiliar to experienced and long-serving handicapping officials" and found to have conspired with the County Cork-based point-to-point handler Ciaran Fennessy by passing on inside information for betting purposes.

Under the rules that cover bringing racing into disrepute, Fennessy has also been declared a disqualified person and had his licence suspended for three years, with the final two years suspended for a period of five years. The referrals panel, which was chaired by Mr Justice Brian McGovern and which noted that Fennessy "left school at a young age and is not qualified to do any work other than something involving horses", fined him €5,000 after he was found in breach of three charges including in engaging in conduct prejudicial to the integrity and good reputation of the sport.

Being disqualified precludes Fennessy and McNally from entering any premises, such as racecourses, licensed by the IHRB and prevents them from working for any trainer. It is a considerable sanction for Fennessy, who relies on trading horses, and will almost certainly spell the end of McNally's training career.

Dreal Deal's improvement in form was the subject of much scrutiny during the investigation and it was determined McNally had passed on to Fennessy "information about the condition and wellbeing of Dreal Deal to allow others to profit from betting on the horse with a betting organisation".

Tuesday's report records that McNally bought both Dreal Deal and The Jam Man off Pat Fennessy, and that Ciaran shares his address with his brother Aaron and their father Liam. It states that a Paddy Power Betfair representative gave evidence of Aaron and Liam's Betfair accounts when requested by the IHRB, which were found to show "definite bias towards" McNally's horses.

"He produced spreadsheets showing a consolidated betting history for their accounts," the report says of the contribution from the bookmaker's representative. "The evidence established that in relation to Dreal Deal, Liam Fennessy and Aaron Fennessy backed the horse not to be placed in Clonmel on  March 4, 2020 and March 24, 2020. They also backed Dreal Deal to win on the day it won at Navan on September 19, 2020.

"The evidence showed a definite bias towards horses trained by Mr McNally. The board alleges that they had received inside information from either Mr Ciaran Fennessy or Mr McNally. The evidence of their betting on Dreal Deal shows that they had knowledge of the expectations for the horse on the day. Any other explanation is simply not credible. The evidence established that on a number of occasions Mr McNally discussed the training and performance of Dreal Deal with Mr Ciaran Fennessy, although there was no good reason to do so since Mr Fennessy was not the owner."

The referrals panel established that he had intentionally concealed his ownership of horses in Dunne's training yard and orchestrated a "manipulation of their official handicap ratings". All Class and Full Noise landed notable gambles under Dunne's name but both were found to be owned by McNally and have since run in his name.

The Jam Man: showed remarkable improvement in his formCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Dunne, who was retrospectively found guilty of supplying misleading information and/or false information to an official at a stewards' inquiry at Navan in March 2021, will be eligible to work in racing during his suspension but this is another major blot on his copybook.

He has already earned a degree of notoriety after being fined €1,500 for leaving Vodka Society overnight at the 2018 Galway races in a stable that was described in an IHRB report as being in "deplorable condition".

He also lost his licence for four months in 2020 after appealing against a €2,000 fine that was triggered when Drum Samhraidh tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone following a Ballinrobe bumper victory.

Amateur jockey Eoin O'Brien was banned for 21 days in relation to his ride on Dreal Deal at Navan in July 2020 as he was found to have prevented the horse from running on its merits by intentionally not allowing him to exit the stalls in a timely manner, and for not reporting an issue that may have impacted the horse's performance to the stewards. There were no concerns raised by the stewards on duty at Navan on the day, but O'Brien has now been retrospectively suspended.

Grade 1-winning rider Darragh O'Keeffe and Galway Plate-winning jockey Mark Enright were both cautioned as they were each found in breach of one of four charges relating to rides on Dreal Deal. They were found to have failed to report to the stewards the horse's slow starts, O'Keeffe's charge relating to his run at Gowran Park in June 2020 and Enright's a month later at the Curragh.

All those sanctioned have leave to appeal before the respective suspensions kick in on March 1.

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