Trainer Tony Martin hit with suspended six-month ban after third winner in four years fails dope test

Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Tony Martin has been slapped with a six-month suspension of his licence that has been suspended for two years after his January Dundalk winner Firstman tested positive for lidocaine. 

An Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board referrals panel that reconvened on November 27 to complete the investigation warned that another anti-doping breach within two years would immediately trigger the suspension. It is the third time in four years a horse trained by Martin has tested positive for a banned substance, after Moonmeister was disqualified from a Curragh win in 2019 after testing positive for a corticosteroid, as was last year's Down Royal bumper winner Patsy's Honour.

As well as his suspended sentence, Martin has been hit with fines totalling €11,000, with the findings against him including one under the rule that covers bringing racing into disrepute. Firstman was disqualified with Adamaris promoted in his stead.

The report noted that 3-Hydroxylidocaine, a metabolite of lidocaine, is a local anaesthetic used to block pain that is prohibited on raceday. Martin proposed that the finding may have come about due to contaminated bedding at the racetrack, which was rejected by the panel, while an unannounced IHRB inspection at his yard on February 1 did not identify the source of the substance.

The hearing also heard that Firstman had been administered Cartrophen – which has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties and was said by the IHRB's head of anti-doping Dr Lynn Hillyer to be "used to treat osteoarthritis in horses" – twice by two separate vets, Edele Gray and Donncha Houlihan, on the day before the race in question. Hillyer concluded that Firstman "must have had an issue that needed treating" but it wasn't established what that issue was.

Houlihan was also reported to have the same day administered Sarablock, which is described variously online as a form of nerve blocker. 

All blood and hair samples taken from the nine horses in the yard on February 1, including Firstman, returned negative, which the IHRB panel felt pointed to it being "unlikely" Firstman was administered the lidocaine on the premises. Hillyer concluded that it would have had to be administered within hours of the sample being taken on raceday. 

However, during the yard inspection it was discovered that Martin's medicines register had not been updated since August 2022 and that "a large number of veterinary medicinal products, including supplements, equine influenza vaccines, needles, syringes and vacutainers for taking blood samples were identified, many of which did not have an accompanying prescription or label".

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