Murrulla Stud’s Tim Nolan has penalty reduced to 11 months on appeal over horse deaths
Hunter Valley nursery Murrulla Stud has been granted permission to continue to trade bloodstock, but its principal Tim Nolan will not be allowed to attend thoroughbred sales for the next 11 months after the NSW racing appeal panel yesterday handed down its decision relating to the death of two horses last year.
Nolan was disqualified for two years in December by Racing NSW stewards after broodmare Pending Decision (Strada) and a Dissident (Sebring) yearling colt were both sent to Kankool knackery in May or June last year where they were destroyed.
A licensed breeder, Nolan had not sought certification from a veterinarian or written approval from Racing NSW for the horses to be euthanised, which is required under the rules of racing, and he pleaded guilty to two charges as a result. Nolan said at the original hearing that he was unaware of the rule at the time of the offences.
He also pleaded guilty to providing false or misleading evidence to Racing NSW deputy chief steward Wade Birch on October 26 and to chief steward Marc Van Gestel in a phone call two days later, leading to the initial penalty, but he launched an appeal against the severity of the penalty following the December 18-imposed sanctions.
He was initially penalised for two years relating to the death of Pending Decision, 18 months for the death of the Dissident yearling as well as being handed a four-month disqualification for providing false and misleading evidence, to be served concurrently.
At the initial hearing, Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys amended the penalty term, which allows Murrulla Stud to buy and sell bloodstock at various Australian sales and related events during the term of Nolan’s disqualification, but he is not allowed to attend horse sales himself.
Nolan was allowed to attend the recent Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney while he waited for his appeal to be heard, which was conducted on February 12.
In the judgment handed down yesterday by the appeal panel, chaired by Richard Beasley SC accompanied by panel members Judy Foley and Jim Murphy, it took into account evidence tabled at the original hearing, which found Pending Decision had a hoof injury “associated with laminitis in the right hind limb” in a report compiled by Dr Peter Carrigan on November 11. It was an issue which Pending Decision had suffered for four years. She also slipped a foal in April 2020, a consequence Nolan believed was due to the laminitis.
The Panel found: “Clearly, this decision (to send her to the knackery) was not based on the expert judgment of a veterinarian. However, the appellant has long experience with horses, which guided his decision. He felt she ‘didn’t have any quality of life due to her lameness’.”
The Dissident colt, of whom Nolan was a part-owner and breeder of, suffered a “deep foot infection” of the right hand foot, Dr Carrigan found, and the issue was managed from March 19 last year until April 6 when the problem had deteriorated and deemed the horse’s prognosis as “pretty poor”.
Although a veterinarian’s opinion was not sought by Nolan prior to the colt’s death, Racing NSW veterinarian Dr Toby Koenig agreed that euthanising the horse was an option which “would need to be taken into consideration and balanced against the significant invasive procedures that would be required” to treat the horse.
In defending his initial misleading evidence to the stewards – it was corrected about a week later – Nolan said he was “confused and panicked” when receiving the phone call from Birch, in which he claimed Pending Decision had died from colic, a position he repeated to Van Gestel.
On appeal, Nolan was handed a reduced nine-month disqualification for the death of the two horses and a four-month ban – two months of which is to be served concurrently – for providing false or misleading evidence.
The panel said that the breaches of the rules were “towards the lower end of the scale” and kept the alteration of the rules implemented by V’landys in place for the period of the reduced penalties.
“Before setting out our reasons, the panel wishes to make one matter very clear. We understand the importance of (the welfare rules). Its stated objective is ‘to ensure the welfare of thoroughbred horses from birth, during their racing careers and on retirement’,” the judgment read.
“It is a rule that goes to the heart of serious welfare concerns relating to the racing industry. A breach of either (of the rules) has the potential to cause a great deal of damage to the image and integrity of racing. Mr Van Gestel submitted, correctly, that breaches of these rules can have a seriously negative impact on what he described as racing’s ‘social licence’.
“The panel accepts that. We also understand that the purpose of imposing a penalty for breach of these rules is the protection of the image and integrity of the sport, and to send a message to the racing public and the public in general that racing will not tolerate conduct of the kind caught by these rules.
“However, the panel has an obligation to reach what it considers to be a just decision based on all of the relevant facts relating to the breaches of (the rules) here.”
Nolan was contacted by ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday but he did not wish to comment.
The 11-month disqualification is due to expire on January 23 next year.