TRAINER John Feane was fined €3,000 by the stewards at Killarney on Saturday after it emerged that he mistakenly ran a four-year-old in a three-year-old only handicap.

Ano Manna was Feane's intended runner in the 3.05 race and punters made her the 7/2 favourite. However, the horse sent to post was in fact stable companion Indigo Five, a four-year-old filly who was due to run later in the day. With Leigh Roche on board, the older filly won the one-mile handicap for three-year-olds comfortably but the error was picked up immediately by raceday officials when the 'winner' had her microchip scanned on returning to the parade ring.

A stewards' enquiry was called and the first past the post was disqualified. The race was awarded to runner-up Bang Po, trained by Ross O'Sullivan.

As Ano Manna had not run in the race, all bets on her were declared void.

The incident was similar to one at Galway in July 2021 which saw the older filly Aurora Princess 'win' a two-year-old maiden for trainer Jessica Harrington. When it was discovered that the winner was not the two-year-old Alizarine, the stewards disqualified Alizarine rather than deeming her a non-runner, meaning that bets on Alizarine were treated as losers. However, most bookmakers issued refunds or paid out on both Alizarine and the promoted winner, Twinkle.

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OFFICIAL STEWARDS' REPORT

296C Tote.ie H'cap

Following the running of this race, the Raceday Stewards met to consider an objection by the IHRB Veterinary Officer Ms Nicola O'Connor under the provisions of Rule 262(iv)(c) into the identity of the first past the post in

this race which was believed to be Ano Manna trained by John James Feane. Ms O'Connor stated that the filly's microchip number was read by Michael King, IHRB Security Officer, under Rule 90(viii) and he raised concerns

immediately that he was unable to establish the identity of the animal based on the reading on his scanner. Ms O'Connor subsequently carried out an identity check on the filly and found that the microchip number on her escanner

did not correspond to that of Ano Manna. Ms O'Connor identified the microchip number as being that of Indigo Five, a runner in the seventh race, also trained by John James Feane. She confirmed that Ano Manna was

identified in her stable when this error was established and had not run in the third race. In his evidence, John James Feane accepted the full facts as given by the IHRB Veterinary Officer and informed the Stewards that he

was delayed in getting to the races and only found out the error when he was informed upon his arrival. He added that Fergus Gallagher was responsible for the saddling of Ano Manna and while he is familiar with both Anajocke

Manna and Indigo Five, both fillies are similar in colour and size. John James Feane did accept the error was fully his and apologised for the mistake. Having considered all the evidence, the Raceday Stewards upheld the objection.

As the horse Ano Manna did not run in this race, that horse was deemed to be non runner under the provisions of Rule 17 and the horse presented to be Ano Manna was disqualified. The Raceday Stewards also ordered the

withdrawal of Indigo Five from race seven. The amended result now reads.

1st - Bang Po

2nd - Beauparc

3rd - Nituna

4th - Tiktok Time

5th - Great Blasket

Furthermore the Raceday Stewards using their powers under Rule 14, and having considered his record in this regard, imposed a fine of €3000 on John James Feane.