Scandal brings scrutiny - and McNally case may have big implications for Irish racing

Scandal, scrutiny; those were among half a dozen words I jotted down on Tuesday morning as I began to think about writing this column.

Perhaps it was in the back of my mind that it was almost time for the IHRB to release the full text of its deliberation in the case of Ronan McNally and others, but that wasn't what I was thinking about.

Instead I intended to comment on turbulence in the Irish political arena, and how the prospect of a future government led by Sinn Fein – becoming increasingly probable owing to a series of scandals and controversies involving the current coalition government parties – may have implications for the country's racing and breeding industries.