DEATH OF A RACING MAN

Huge pressure had been building on Paddy Dunican in the months before his tragic death, writes Maeve Sheehan

Farmers, jump jockeys, well-heeled representatives of the sport of kings, the President Michael D Higgins’s aide-de-camp and many more besides; they came in their hundreds from all ranks of Ireland’s horse racing industry to pack the Church of St James for the funeral of Paddy Dunican on Wednesday.

The veteran manager of Kilbeggan racecourse was not a household name but in the world of jump racing he was a near legendary figure and not just in his home county of Westmeath. His passion for the sport captured horse racing’s beating heart.

Fr Brendan Corrigan, one of several priests to preside over his funeral mass, looked out over the congregation at “all the people here who Paddy could have talked to, who could have helped him, and who could have relieved the pain and pressure he felt”.

He was a proud man who had achieved great things in his years managing Kilbeggan, but behind that “was a man who felt isolated and alone”, Fr Corrigan said.

“Suicide happens when our pain exceeds our ability to cope and this pain can have multiple and interconnected sources. Death is not a choice, it is more a succumbing to internal pressure. That is why it is so important that people speak and people share,” he added.

At the end of the mass a member of the congregation thanked the priest and assured those present that they would find justice for Paddy. Many in the congregation applauded.

The comment captured the sadness but also the anger felt by many friends at the untimely passing of a giant of racing, a man whose popularity was evident in the wide nature of friends who came to see him off.

Afterwards his good friend, Leo Powell, editor of the Irish Field, delivered a eulogy at his graveside in Relic Cemetery: “Ireland is home to 26 racecourses, well run by good people. I know of only one where the managing director is known by the name of the racecourse.”

Paddy Dunican was Mr Kilbeggan, who “lived and breathed racing”. He “gave it his life”, he said.

The manner of his passing was “tragic” and the effect it has had is “catastrophic”, he said, but the graveside in Kilbeggan on a fine April day was “not the time or place to question why it happened”.

Since then, Mr Dunican’s friends have expressed anger and concern at the pressure he was under in recent months, struggling to comply with a list of regulatory requirements in a horse racing industry subject to ever greater scrutiny and regulation.

The Sunday Independent has seen correspondence that sets out some of the pressures that had been building up on Mr Dunican in the months before his death.

Mr Dunican (61) had proven his abilities. As well as managing the midlands track, he was a race day steward for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), an auctioneer and secretary of United Irish Racecourses where he made his mark.

It was Paddy Dunican who led the United Irish Racecourses’ challenge against the “inequitable” media rights deal negotiated by Horse Racing Ireland. The group represents the smaller racecourses at Kilbeggan, Thurles, Limerick, Sligo and Roscommon, and faced down the deal on offer because of the “inequitable” distribution of funding to the smaller racecourses.

As manager of Kilbeggan since 1988, he had steered the midlands track from a country course to a unique and intimate provincial racecourse with 10 fixtures lined up for the season this year.

But recently, the tide turned on Mr Dunican and the struggle became too much.

Like all racetracks, Kilbeggan had to meet certain standards before it was licenced, and there were ongoing issues with the IHRB. According to the correspondence, Mr Dunican had been dealing with serious corporate governance issues within the board of the racetrack company, Kilbeggan Race Committee CLG.

However, a catalyst in the latest chapter of his difficulties with the IHRB appeared to be an issue that arose last year about how ambulances, medical personnel and vets follow horses and jockeys around the racetrack.

Just inside the circular racetrack is a circular safety road along which the safety vehicles can travel. At Kilbeggan, as with some other tracks, the safety road crossed through part of the main public road into the racecourse.

There had been a collision and a “number of near misses” involving both pedestrians and vehicles”, according to correspondence from Mr Dunican. Gardaí had advised it was “way too dangerous” to allow vehicles follow horses “full circle” during a race.

Instead, the racecourse effectively placed an ambulance and doctor on either side of this public entrance — one ambulance/doctor team on the far side of the racetrack and another from the main crossover to the winning post area. Vehicles drove full circle around the track in the event of an emergency.

According to correspondence seen by the Sunday Independent, Kilbeggan was insured on this basis, and health and safety experts had advised that this was a much safer system, and other racecourses operated a similar system.

In August last year, Mr Dunican wrote to IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin to say the practice had been changed, without consultation, and now ambulances were being directed to proceed around the track “full circle”. He had protested but had been overruled. He had been instructed by his board to write to the CEO to raise concern about this practice that was a “serious” risk to the public.

There were other issues, such as irrigating the racecourse, which “may” be carried out on the advice of the clerks of the course, to keep the racecourses from drying out. Mr Dunican had ignored the advice from the clerk of the course to water a track, believing it was already soft, rain was forecast, and to water the track would have left it “dangerous and unraceable”.

Suicide happens when our pain exceeds our ability to cope

On Saturday morning Paddy’s body was found in the heart of the racecourse he loved so well

Mr O’Loughlin initially replied to say that, following consultation, he was not aware of any recent change to “the procedures involving ambulances having been implemented”. In further correspondence, Mr O’Loughlin told Mr Dunican that a “thorough inspection and assessment of the facilities and procedures will be required to ensure the “safety of horse racing fixtures”.

Over the following months, protracted correspondence issued between the regulator and Kilbeggan.

Mr Dunican commissioned expert health and safety consultants who supported the ambulance practice as it was.

A report commissioned from a retired senior member of An Garda Síochána, also concluded: “Having reviewed the car parking arrangements on the day of the meetings, coupled with the location of the spectators, I would be of the opinion that the practice of vehicles following the horses full circle during races, and in doing so driving through the parts of the main entrance road for public access into the racecourse, where pedestrians are walking to and from the car parks, is dangerous and must be avoided to implement a safe system of work.”

By December, according to the correspondence, this and a cascade of other issues had escalated into a clash of positions between the regulator and Kilbeggan. The IHRB’s head of compliance, Cliodhna Guy, sent a letter that month setting out the “outstanding issues with the intention of working with you and your team to achieve a satisfactory resolution”.

These included Mr Dunican’s dual role as racecourse manager and foreman, and the water issue which it said was a “flagrant disregard” of a direction of the clerk of the course, and “a breach of trust for the IHRB”.

There were numerous other issues — reconfiguring part of the stable yard, damp in the canteen and inappropriate accommodation for IHRB staff.

The IHRB noted that unless there was positive engagement, the IHRB would have to consider the appropriateness of its staff working at Kilbeggan “with the obvious implications for race fixtures in the future”.

The letter concluded that the IHRB wanted and intended to work with Mr Dunican and his team to make progress on the issues and it was in nobody’s interest for there not to be a “satisfactory resolution”.

Four days after that letter, Horse Racing Ireland, the sport’s governing body, told Mr Dunican that Kilbeggan was no longer “an authorised racecourse”. It had effectively lost its licence and was not allowed to run horse races until it was “reauthorised”.

Lawyers for Kilbeggan Racecourse robustly challenged the regulator on many of these issues. They questioned its understanding of the course watering policy, and that Mr Dunican took a decision in the “best interests of riders and horses” and pushed abandoning the “full circle” ambulance policy to prevent harm to the “race-going public”.

They insisted that while the regulator had said plans to upgrade stable yard facilities were outstanding, Kilbeggan had submitted plans to the authorities but got no response.

By March, the regulator and the racecourse were in correspondence trying to set a date for an assessment with a view to renewing Kilbeggan’s licence. Attempts were made to set up an assessment of the track.

Mr Dunican wanted his expert advisers present for the assessment, but they could not attend on the date requested by the regulator.

The date for the meeting was finally fixed for Tuesday, April 9, according to sources.

The directors of Kilbeggan Race Committee held a board meeting the Thursday before this meeting was due to take place, according to the sources.

The meeting resulted in a decision that Mr Dunican was to be excluded from the racecourse assessment the following Tuesday.

On Saturday morning, his body was found in the heart of the racecourse he loved so well, close to the weighroom.

He had left his affairs “organised”, including a note with words to the effect that he “couldn’t take it anymore,” said a friend who asked not to be named.

Paddy Dunican enjoyed life and he lived it well, his friends said. From his sartorial elegance, that his friend Leo Powell alluded to in his eulogy, to the trips and social functions he enjoyed, always pushing Kilbeggan.

He had been invited to Monaco to do a charity auction later this month and was delighted to get the invitation. In his last weeks and days, he continued to visit his friends, having coffee, going for breakfast and catching up as he always did.

“But he had been under pressure since Christmas,” said one friend. All his friends were aware of this, he said, but Paddy had “great professional advice” and support from the large number of professional people in his friendship group.

However, ultimately, he was “fighting this battle alone,” he said.

“All his friends are very sad and they are very angry. Kilbeggan really was his life,” he said. “He loved pushing Kilbeggan and maybe when he thought that was gone, he didn’t see a future after 35 years.”

A statement said the directors and staff of the IHRB were saddened to learn of the death of MrDunican earlier this week. “As well as being manager of Kilbeggan Racecourse, Paddy was one of our valued race day stewards and we extend our deepest condolences to the Dunican family, his colleagues and his friends on their tragic loss,” it said.

“The IHRB is responsible for licensing all participants in horseracing in Ireland including trainers, jockeys, jockeys’ agents and valets, as well as for licensing racecourses. The IHRB does not comment publicly on the licensing processes as they apply to individual licensees or applicants,” it continued.

Paddy Dunican was not married and was predeceased by his parents, Paul and Crissie. He is fondly remembered by his siblings Rosemary, Gemma, Gráinne, Nicholas, Peter and Aoife and by his nieces, nephews, relatives, colleagues and his many friends.