As the racing world reels from the suspension of trainer Charles Byrne's racing licence, Richard Forristal of the Racing Post joined us to discuss doping in racing.

Byrnes had his licence suspended for six months by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board after one of his horses tested positive for a banned substance.

Viking Hoard was pulled up in a handicap hurdle at Tramore in October 2018 and was found to have tested positive for a sedative.

So does racing have an endemic problem?

"I don't think so," Forristal said when asked if the sport is 'filthy'.

"I genuinely believe that, I don't think so. Where there is money involved - and it is a competitive business - there will always be a percentage that will look to gain an illegitimate edge.

"The point I make about this all the time about this is, until that is transparently seen - that we can can stand over the product and say our testing procedures are thorough - it is very hard to say it.

"My point about the regulator is that they have allowed too many questions to be left unanswered about all this. There has been criticism from David Walsh and Paul Kimmage lately; a lot of those cases were historic.

"When you have the likes of those guys digging, you are always concerned that they might unravel something. As someone involved in the industry, to an extent you would be fearful of them unravelling something.

"What they were dealing with was historic stuff. Another element that came out of their criticism was the lack of transparency in the reports. Today's report is 14 pages long.

"Every single report should be going into the same sort of detail. They have not done that for a long while; their modus operandi has been to give as little as they have to."

Doping regulation

So what next from a regulation perspective?

"There are still questions from [today's report] but you look at it and say 'could they have done any more?' I would suggest possibly not. But at least we can read it and make that interpretation.

"Their hands are tied in relation to the exchange movements [but] they appear to have done the best they can with it and you have to say fair enough.

"We have to see that routinely, and not every now and then."

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