Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Governance Issues: Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (Resumed)
Dr. Lynn Hillyer:
We do both. I like to use the analogy of a roadside breath test. We do the equivalent of a roadside breathalyser test to screen the horse. That gives us an indication of whether a further full regulatory sample is indicated. If it is, we take it, ideally pre-race. If it cannot be taken pre-race because of what we are measuring, it has to be taken post race. That is where the absolute number of samples taken is different compared with the analysis that is done. There is more analysis done per sample, if that makes sense.