THE racing authorities have made some significant changes to the regulations relating to claiming races in an apparent bid to make the claiming process more transparent.

Among the changes are a number of regulations which are likely to deter claimants for submitting multiple claims. Previously all claims for a particular horse were placed in a draw and the winning claim selected at random. On occasion there have been suspicions that several claims originated from the same owner or trainer though different names were used.

The new rules forbid duplicate claims including “any form of collusion with any other person.” More significantly claimants must provide the name of the designated trainer with their claim. Should there be more than one claim for the same horse with the same pre-designated trainer the Turf Club will put those claims into a separate draw and only one will be considered valid.

A Horse Racing Ireland spokesman indicated that those found to be abusing the new regulations would be referred on to the Turf Club for investigation.

A further amendment requires trainers who run fillies in claiming races have a duty to inform Horse Racing Ireland if she has been covered by a stallion or is in foal. The aim here is to reduce the risk of a subsequent dispute over foal shares or stallion nomination payments.

Asked if this requirement could be extended to all races, HRI said this would be a matter for the Turf Club.

Horse Racing Ireland scheduled approximately 30 claimers in 2016, up from 10 the previous year, in response to demand from smaller owners and trainers. The Irish Racehorse Claiming Association was formed last June and is lobbying for even more claimers to be programmed in the future.