A possible return to action for horses that used to race under the Supreme Racing Club banner looks to have got closer after one of them was successfully re-registered with Horse Racing Ireland on Friday.
The solicitor engaged by a significant number of the up to 500 clients involved in the Supreme string said the new ownership of one horse has been approved by HRI.
Earlier this month HRI barred Supreme Racing from racing horses after failing to supply ownership details.
That put the careers of reportedly up to 30 horses in limbo, including the current favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Kemboy.
Thurles-based solicitor Patrick Kennedy has been involved in teasing out who owns how much of each of the horses after high-profile accusations by some Supreme members of shares being oversold.
Efforts to ensure that horses such as Kemboy will be able to continue their careers revolve around the formation of new syndicates for each of them.
“One horse has been approved by HRI. Four more applications have gone in and a couple more are nearly ready. You would have to be cautiously optimistic,” Kennedy said on Friday night.
For client confidentiality reasons he couldn’t identify the name of the horse whose registration has been approved. However, it is understood not to be Kemboy.
Kennedy described the first registration as something of a test-case that has had a positive outcome.
“It was the first, to see how it would work. It has all gone through and they [HRI] are satisfied.
“This is registered for racing purposes. The ownership issues have yet to be resolved. But significant progress has been made with the syndicates themselves on that front,” he said.
Other horses that raced under the Supreme banner include the Topham winner Cadmium and the Grade One winning hurdler Aramon.
They are among 14 horses that champion trainer Willie Mullins formerly trained for Supreme.
HRI officials were unavailable for comment on Friday night.
