The Irish racing industry finds itself at the centre of mainstream media attention again after unauthorised equine medicines were seized from Ballintogher Stud near Monasterevin, Co Kildare, in a raid carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) last week.

John Warwick, a 74-year-old British native and an equine therapist who operates on the premises, has insisted that there were no doping products in his possession but has accepted that some of the substances seized are illegal to use in this country and that he had “contravened the rules”.

Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) officials, led by chief veterinary officer Dr Lynn Hillyer, also attended the raid. At the time, trainers Ted Walsh and Liam Burke were on site.

Walsh explained on RTÉ’s coverage of Punchestown on Sunday that the reason he was on the site was to have “a horse lasered, a horse that had a tendon injury”, while Burke asserted that he was delivering a horse to the site as a favour for someone he knew while he was on the way to run a horse at Fairyhouse on the same day.

Warwick is said to be a reputable therapist, specifically dealing with back problems and tendon injuries and has been used by multiple trainers. He was credited with helping the high profile multiple Group 1-winning filly Snow Fairy with a tendon problem during her career.

Coolmore

On Sunday, in an article written by Paul Kimmage in the Sunday Independent, Warwick was quoted from a phone call with an unidentified person as saying that he “was in Ireland for many years courtesy of Coolmore” and that he still did work for Coolmore on their yearlings every April.

In the same conversation he was quoted saying that he administered an American product “that lowers neuroblasts”, and that the product “passes all dope tests”, before he added: “Whether it is illegal to use in the UK is another story.”

The same article also revealed that Ballintogher Stud Ltd, the registered owner of that named stud where Warwick operates from, was owned by Aidan O’Brien’s head lad TJ Comerford and his partner Stephanie Ockso-Moore.

Speaking to The Racing Post on Sunday, a Coolmore spokesperson rejected the suggestion that Warwick had routinely done work on yearlings at the stud and had any ties to Ballydoyle, the training arm of the organisation.

A representative for Coolmore, Richard Henry, said: “None of our people who have been in Coolmore for a long time have any recollection of John Warwick treating yearlings in here.

“We believe John Warwick treated a kid’s pony way back and while the pony yard is on Coolmore it is a completely different entity and run by separate staff. This was more than 20 years ago. That’s the extent of his link to Coolmore as far as we can ascertain.”

On Sunday, it was also revealed in The Sunday Times, that a private investigator was hired by a group of British trainers to stake out Ballintogher Stud and photograph horseboxes that arrived on the site.

Ironically, this whole episode came to light on the same day a report from the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee concluded that there was no evidence anti-doping measures in this country fall below international standards.

The report was initiated after high profile trainer Jim Bolger alleged that drugs were the number one problem in Irish racing which led to the Committee speaking to a number of industry stakeholders during the summer.

Eleven recommendations were made in the report, including a call for the favourite and first five home in every race to be routinely tested and a call to consider if the IHRB should be reclassified as a semi-state body.