Johnson Charged

I am a little shocked by the news that Howard Johnson has been charged by the BHA with running a horse that had undergone a neurectomy and also administering anabolic steroids to three other horses in his care. The trainer has reportedly admitted to running Striking Article in eight races after the horse had undergone the neurectomy procedure, known as being ‘de-nerved’ and described as ‘the severing of nervous connection to the lower leg to cause numbness’. The neurectomy procedure is banned on welfare grounds as in the simplest of terms, as I understand it, it allows horses to continue running through pain which they would normally feel due to the severing of the nerves.
Johnson could face a variety of bans and fines if found guilty of the charges reportedly up to £3,000 and a year ban for "neglect and very poor husbandry". If the trainer is found guilty of the more serious‘wilful neglect’ the maximum ban could be imposed of up to ten years. A provisional date of 10th February has been scheduled for the BHA disciplinary panel to hear the case.
This is a story that will run and run for the next few weeks and will no doubt have the anti-racing brigade up in arms. Hopefully the case will be dealt with swiftly and fairly with justice being seen to be done and minimising the bad publicity for the sport.