Luke Murrell, one of the directors of Australian Bloodstock, has issued a public apology following disparaging comments made in regard to the former connections of the syndicate's recent purchase New Energy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}).
Australian Bloodstock has enjoyed notable success with horses recruited from Europe, which include the Melbourne Cup winners Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}). A video released over the weekend promoting last year's Irish 2,000 Guineas runner-up New Energy as a potential Cox Plate candidate included comments from Murrell which called into question the competence of his former trainer Sheila Lavery and jockey Robbie Colgan. The video sparked widespread outrage from members of the racing community in Ireland and Britain and has subsequently been deleted.
On Tuesday, the syndicate released the following statement from Murrell on its website and social media channels.
“Very recently I was responsible for a promotional video that went online to market a recent purchase we negotiated in Europe in relation to a horse named New Energy,” Murrell said.
“I must admit that my emotions and excitement in relation to the purchase of this horse got the better of me and I used some language in that video which was extremely disparaging, untrue, cruel, malicious and hurtful to the people either mentioned or implied.
“The video and comments by me went online without being edited or checked and I am not going to make any excuses to justify the comments because there is no excuse. None at all.
“But nothing I can say, whether it be emotions or stress or words used to encourage a buyer, nothing at all excuses the comments made by me in the promotional video which were related to some very good people, Sheila Lavery, Robbie Colgan and any person associated with the horse.
“I unreservedly withdraw any comments that have caused harm or distress to those three people, Sheila's staff and any persons connected to them as family, or friends or colleagues in the racing industry.
“Our company has built a wonderful association with our friends and colleagues all over the world but in particular Europe and my comments can only cause damage to those relationships and cause harm to the subjects of those comments. I am aware the video and comments were viewed and heard by many people associated with our industry; trainers, jockeys, breeders, journalists, industry professionals and the racing public and I wish to apologise to you for my comments.
“It is also unfair to our brand and our hard-working staff to be associated with those comments which have the capacity to cause so much undeserved harm.
“Again, I apologise for the harm caused to those involved and to anyone who has been distressed by those comments and trust that my mistake will not damage the work we have done over a long period of time to build professional and personal relationships in this great industry we are involved in.”
New Energy, who also finished a length behind subsequent Group 1 winner Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) when second in the G2 Park S. last season, is to join the stable of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace after a short time in Newmarket with the latter's brother, Harry.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
