Jim Bolger wanted a captive audience and now he has one - we're all ears

Eight years have passed since the then Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan declared that “there is no evidence whatsoever that anabolic steroids are in use in Irish racing”.

Vet John Hughes had just pleaded guilty to possessing the equivalent of 1,500 doses of Nitrotain, the Rolls Royce of anabolics that can go undetected 48 hours after administration. This came hot on the heels of the Mahmood Al Zarooni scandal, so Egan’s assertion that more than 3,000 tests taken in 2012 had shown up nothing to suggest steroids were being used rang hollow.

The following year, the Philip Fenton saga emerged on the back of another raid by Ireland's Department of Agriculture, laying waste to the Turf Club’s conviction.