Luke Comer Jnr.© Photo Healy Racing
Trainer Luke Comer Jnr has been successful in his Appeal against the severity of the sanctions imposed on him by the Referral Committee back in August.
At the original Referral Hearing Comer had his restricted licence withdrawn for 12 months having pleaded guilty to a breach of Rule 272(i) as a result of animal remains being discovered on land owned by a company of which he is a director.
The Appeal Body determined that the Referral Committee had made assumptions that were not supported by evidence when deciding on the appropriate penalty for Comer.
According to the Appeal Body: "The Referrals Committee had said that out of a cohort of some 70 horses or so on the premises, it found it hard to understand how Mr Comer could not notice many horses were missing and then discovered in the inspection. It follows from this that the Referrals Committee must have concluded that the dead horses, when alive, belonged to, or were under the control of Mr Comer. There is no evidential basis to support that contention, nor was it ever alleged by the IHRB."
Luke Comer is now ordered to pay a fine of €15,000 to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) before 1 December 2024 and on doing so will have a 3-month removal of his licence suspended for a period of 12 months. In other words if Comer pays the fine on time he will not serve any portion of the ban unless there is a futher breach of the rules during the next year.
A cross-Appeal made by the IHRB into the leniency of the original Referral Committee's penalties was dismissed by the Appeal Body.
