Billionaire businessman’s appeal over training ban is dismissed

Billionaire businessman Luke Comer’s appeal against the suspension of his horse training license has been dismissed.

Comer had his license suspended for three years after anabolic steroids – methandienone (MD) and methyltestosterone (MT) – were found in 12 of his horses when tested in November 2021.

One of the horses to test positive was He Knows No Fear, who became the longest-priced winner in Ireland or Britain when landing a Leopardstown maiden at 300-1 in 2020.

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In one of the biggest doping scandals in racing history, the Galway man was also ordered to pay €840,754 in fines.

But Comer and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) were unhappy with the findings of last September’s referring committee for contrasting reasons.

The IHRB believed that Comer’s punishment was too lenient, given the severity of the referral committee’s findings.

Comer, in contrast, saw 38 grounds for appeal against the committee’s findings, including their penalties for multiple breaches of the rules on adverse analytical findings, for accusing him of bringing the sport into disrepute and for supplying misleading information.

The highly successful property developer had admitted to the presence of traces of prohibited substances in his horses, but he denied that he or any of his staff were involved in doping the animals.

Instead Comer argued that “environmental contamination” through pig slurry could have been to blame for the test results.

This argument was dismissed by the appeals body, though, who said that this theory was “difficult” to evaluate.

The appeal body, chaired by Justice Peter Kelly, largely dismissed Comer’s grounds of appeals and ruled that his fine must be paid on or before 15 July 2024, when Comer’s three-year training ban will also take effect.

The appeals board also dismissed the IHRB’s counter-appeal that Comer’s suspension was too lenient.

Comer was ordered to pay 75% of the costs of the appeal to the IHRB.

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