Luke Comer has been banned from training for three years after 12 of his horses tested positive for anabolic steroids. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
Latest This week, an illiterate Yorkshireman was found guilty of cruelty to cockerels and hens that were injured in brutal «cockfights». He was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also banned from keeping cockerels and hens for 12 months.
Have you ever heard of such absurdity? Why on earth should he be allowed to keep poultry again?
If this were an isolated incident of stupidity, one might dismiss it as an anomaly. But this is not the case. A quick scan of any search engine will reveal cases of pets being kept in disgusting and cruel conditions. What about the punishment for their owner? A fairly standard response from the courts is to ban them from keeping animals for five years. But why will these people be allowed to keep any animal again?
What does this possibly have to do with horse racing? Well, a lot actually. Because the racing authorities in England and Ireland are as naive as the courts.
Doping cases in both countries are few and far between, but when they do arise from time to time, they seem to be treated with undue leniency.< /p>
Last week, a “racehorse trainer” named Luke Comer was banned from training horses in Ireland for three years.
The reason I use quotes is because Comer is no more a trainer than I am a fighter pilot. In fact, he is a very rich businessman living in Monaco. But unfortunately for him, 12 of his horses tested positive for anabolic steroids.
As I understand it, Comer's defense was that, firstly, it was not his fault because he was spending in Ireland only three months a year, and, secondly, that there was environmental pollution with pig manure.
After the ruling, Comer told the Irish Independent: “I am 1,000 per cent innocent. I've never been more right-wing in my life.”
His first line of defense raises two questions. Why on earth did the Irish authorities allow him to keep his license given his lack of riding? And why did he even want to keep him?
Perhaps he wanted to take all the credit for himself and deprive the person who actually trained the horses of due credit? Or, as it turns out, blame.
In any case, it is absurd to suggest that he should not be punished for not giving the attention that a coach should give. It's also hard to understand how he can blame it on the pig slurry from his deck chair in Monaco.
All this would be completely irrelevant if the Irish authorities had banned Comer from training and owning racehorses for life. But no. He was told his license would only be suspended for three years. And not even right away. He can now continue to “train” his horses and race until January 1, 2024. It's simply impossible to make this up.
But Comer's case is not unique to Ireland. A few years ago, a promising young trainer, Philip Fenton, was caught with anabolic steroids in his yard. Was he considered unsuitable for future horse training? No. He was only temporarily banned for three years.
The British authorities are equally guilty. In 2013, Mahmoud al-Zaruni was caught doping Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's horses in Newmarket. He admitted to giving steroids to 15 horses. This was blatant and cynical, but Zarooni was not banned from training horses for life and was subsequently granted a license to train in the UAE. This would allow him to manage horses in the UK.
That same year, fellow trainer Gerard Butler was banned for five years for administering steroids intended for human use to some of his horses. But not for life.
The defense of a lifetime ban may seem merciless. But if the sport of racing is to survive in an increasingly critical public opinion, it needs to take a decisive crack at doping.
American racing authorities have made a real mess of it. As a result, every headline on the racing pages is negative. Influenced by the huge amounts of drugs continually found in US racehorse stables, the anti-racing lobby is sharpening its knives.
European governing bodies cannot afford to make the same mistakes.
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