The Disciplinary Panel of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has suspended trainer Ian McInnes for three years in connection with running a horse nine times after it had undergone a type of surgery that is banned for racehorses.

According to the June 21 ruling, McInnes will be suspended from June 22, 2013, until June 21, 2016, for violating three rules of racing. He was given until Monday, June 24, for his owners to remove the horses in his care and transfer to other trainers.

The panel concluded after a June 10 hearing that the horse Commando Scott, trained by McInnes for Mrs. Ann Morris, had raced nine times after undergoing a biaxial neurectomy (essentially, a permanent nerve block) to his right plantar digital nerve on July 29, 2008. Horses that have undergone that type of surgery are precluded from racing again because the de-nerving could post a risk of injury to the horse and to other horses and riders in races in which it competed.

During the BHA’s investigation, according to the disciplinary panel report, it was determined that the veterinarian who performed the neurectomy had told the trainer that it was a banned procedure for a racehorse