THE Irish Racehorse Trainers Association [IRTA] has lost its appeal against a High Court judgement ordering the Association to pay €300,000 in damages to Chris Gordon, head of security with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board [IHRB].

In March 2020 Gordon won a High Court case against the IRTA, successfully arguing that the IRTA had run a campaign to damage his name and reputation in racing. That 30-day case revolved around allegations made on behalf of the Trainers Association to the effect that Gordon had deliberately tried to entrap trainer Liz Doyle into admitting wrongdoing by knowingly showing her doctored documents with her initials on them.

The jury took the view that an innocent error made by Gordon had been maliciously misinterpreted by the IRTA with the intention of preventing Gordon from carrying out any further inspections or dealing with trainers.

Faced with a seven-figure legal bill on top of the awarded damages, the IRTA lodged an appeal but the verdict returned this week did not go in its favour.

In his judgement Justice Brian Murray said: “The grounds relied upon by the defendant [IRTA] in this appeal against the findings and awards made by the jury are without foundation ... the defendant has not established that the award of €200,000 in general damages was either unreasonable or disproportionate, and the jury award of €50,000 for aggravated and of €50,000 for exemplary damages should not be interfered with.”

The full 140-page verdict can be found in the judgements section of the courts.ie website.