WALSH DEFENDS RACING’S INTEGRITY AFTER BYRNES BAN

TED WALSH is adamant that horse racing is no different to any other aspect of life when it comes to rule-breakers, with the legendary trainer insisting that “there’s plenty being done” to preserve Irish racing’s integrity.

Walsh’s comments come in the wake of the high-profile case which saw wellknown trainer Charles Byrnes lose his licence for six months, a ruling which he is appealing, after Viking Hoard was found to have been “nobbled” before racing at Tramore in 2018.

The explosive details around the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) case left many questioning the reputational damage which Irish racing’s image may suffer as a result.

However, Walsh is quick to note that “nothing is completely foolproof” and racing is “no different than anything else”.

“It’s like the integrity of anything (and) racing is no different. Nothing is foolproof, nothing is whiter than white, there’s always an element in every walk of life,” Walsh (above) told the Irish Independent.

“There’s always somebody who’s prepared to cross the white line. If you think in life that everything is as it seems, then you’re living in cuckoo land.

“There’s no system completely foolproof, you see that with the phones and the banks and everything else. No matter what you do or don’t do, there’s always someone that will come up with something to interfere with that system anyway.” Social media was awash with commentary around the Viking Hoard case as many people highlighted the lack of trust which they perceive to exist around racing. However, the Grand National-winning trainer has little interest in pandering to those with “a negative outlook”.

Walsh insists that “you can’t change the minds” of those who view the sport of horse racing negatively, and the 70-year-old believes Irish racing authorities have always governed “pretty fair and correct”, with little change over the past half-century.

“Racing hasn’t changed a bit in the last 50 years, fellas are still getting up at six in the morning and working their backsides off,” Walsh said.

“Some fellas get a few quid and some fellas don’t. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it now that wasn’t there before.

“I see no changes in 50 years, only red tape and bureaucracy.

“If you have a negative outlook, some people think that the fellas in racing know who’s going to win and know who’s going to get beaten, and some people think, ‘oh, that race was fixed’, but you’re not going to change those fellas.

“Those people want to believe that. Some people want to believe in God and some people don’t, so you’re not going change their minds.”