Latest Irish sports news headlines | The Phoenix Magazine

Sport of Kings

O’BRIEN’S GIGS

June 4, 2026

BIG NEWS for trainer Joseph O’Brien, whose speedy rise to the top continues courtesy of Barry Mahon and the team in the minted... Read more »

Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

IRTA V IHRB

June 4, 2026

THERE WERE fun and games at the Curragh last month when the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) took aim at the Irish Horseracing... Read more »

DAIRY QUEEN FAIRY TALE

May 21, 2026

THERE WAS no little reaction this month when Local News struck at 100-1 for local trainer Richard Hennessy at Cork. The debutante nag... Read more »

IVAN YATES’S HEAVY GOING

May 21, 2026

There was a stewards’ enquiry called at Leopardstown on Derby Trial Stakes day earlier this month but it did not involve an incident... Read more »

PAUL BYRNE’S PALE BLUE

May 7, 2026

LAST MONTH, in a Racing Post interview conducted by David Jennings, it was pointed out by Emmet Mullins: “We both get a good... Read more »

PETER KEATLEY’S TAX TROUBLE

May 7, 2026

READERS MAY recall the high-profile 2023 ‘Eviction Stakes’ featuring the ousting from his Fenway House property in Co Kildare of trainer Brendan Duke... Read more »

COMING FOR COMER

April 23, 2026

HAVING INITIATED legal proceedings against billionaire Monaco resident Luke Comer, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has now taken the next legal step... Read more »

DARRAGH O’LOUGHLIN’S MORALE

April 23, 2026

“MORALE IS good.” That was the assessment of IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin in a recent interview in the Irish Field in the... Read more »

DOWN AND OUT IN DUBAI

April 9, 2026

NOT A great outing for the boys in green last week at the Dubai World Cup meet, which proved about as unrewarding as... Read more »

O’LOUGHLIN’S BET BLUES

April 9, 2026

STILL NO sign of the contract being awarded for the all-important role of monitoring betting patterns for Irish racing. The gig had previously... Read more »

SOFTLY DOES IT

March 26, 2026

JP McMANUS and Willie Mullins were both highly critical about ground conditions at the recent Cheltenham festival. The apparent lack of watering prompted... Read more »

DECLAN QUEALLY’S ROUGH RIDE

March 26, 2026

DECLAN QUEALLY generated plenty of Cheltenham headlines at the recent racing showpiece. The Waterford amateur rider, who assists his father, Declan Queally Sr,... Read more »

MULLINS V SKELTON

March 26, 2026

WHILE TOP trainer Willie Mullins had another excellent Cheltenham, he somehow still ended the week trailing Dan Skelton in the British National Hunt... Read more »

CONNELL’S HUMBLE PIE

March 12, 2026

BARRY CONNELL, the ever-bullish stockbroker-turned-racehorse trainer, has been enjoying a diet of humble pie recently. Having seen his stable star, Marine Nationale, narrowly... Read more »

KHAN WHIPPED

March 12, 2026

JIM BOLGER’S 55-year-old apprentice, Ikbal Khan, found himself in more trouble with Dundalk’s Bowler Hat Brigade following the recent running of the Bar... Read more »

LUKE COMER’S TROUBLE

March 12, 2026

BILLIONAIRE LUKE Comer has once again found himself in trouble with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB). On this occasion the former trainer,... Read more »

BRAMLEY’S HOT TRANSFERS

February 26, 2026

PATRICK MULLINS recently returned to Fakenham, the scene of his two January long odds-on flops, to partner the Faye Bramley-trained Stattler in the... Read more »

KEATLEY’S NEAR MISS

February 26, 2026

CLASSIC WINNING trainer Adrian Keatley narrowly failed in his recent attempt to set the outright modern-day record for nine consecutive handicap wins with... Read more »

CLEARING THE BYRNES BOYS

February 12, 2026

IT IS unclear if there are any real winners from last week’s ruling of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s (IHRB) referrals committee on... Read more »

DONNELLYS’ FALLOW PERIOD

February 12, 2026

THE DISMAL season for owners Joe and Marie Donnelly continued last month when their Champion Hurdle favourite, Sir Gino, suffered serious injury in... Read more »

TARGETING COBDEN

January 29, 2026

HARRY COBDEN, the newly retained jockey for JP McManus, had an inauspicious beginning to the new partnership when he missed out through injury... Read more »

MULLINS MISSES OUT

January 29, 2026

PATRICK MULLINS’S quest to ride a winner at every UK racecourse suffered another setback at Fakenham earlier this month where he was legged... Read more »

TALK THE PR TALK

January 15, 2026

THE MUCH-HYPED Talk The Talk, owned by Isaac Souede and Simon Munir, has been the subject of chat and PR bluster since his... Read more »

SAM EWING’S SUCCESS

January 15, 2026

LAST MONTH Barry Connell’s Marine Nationale ran a most impressive race, albeit ending in defeat, in Leopardstown’s Grade 1 Paddy´s Rewards Club Steeplechase... Read more »

DONNELLYS’ HOLLOW SEASON

December 11, 2025

LOADED OWNERS Joe and Marie Donnelly watched on last season as their horses suffered numerous setbacks and some bad luck. Now their focus... Read more »

TATTERSALLS TALES

December 11, 2025

DESPITE SPENDING over £11m for four mares at the recent Tattersalls Newmarket Mare Sale, Coolmore’s MV Magnier failed to secure the top lot.... Read more »

SKELTON’S SQUAD DEPTH

November 27, 2025

THE PURSUIT by Willie Mullins of a third straight UK National Hunt Trainers Championship is being met with stern opposition from Dan Skelton,... Read more »

BYRNES’S ‘PORSCHE’ GAMBLE

November 27, 2025

CHARLES BYRNES is no stranger to making racing headlines and did so again when landing another sizeable gamble at Dundalk earlier this month.... Read more »

KIA KEEPS SPENDING

November 12, 2025

KIA JOORABCHIAN’S Amo Racing failed to hit the headlines with its runners at the various big end-of-season meetings this year but it has... Read more »

BYRNES FRIGHT

November 12, 2025

Limerick trainer Charles Byrnes and his son, Philip, are to face an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals committee hearing next month over... Read more »

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

November 12, 2025

THE IRISH headline maker at the recent Breeders’ Cup Meeting was the Willie Mullins-trained Ethical Diamond at 28/1, which marked another red-letter day... Read more »

‘LIKE A BIG SISSY’

November 12, 2025

NEWLY CROWNED UK champion jockey Oisin Murphy recently found himself on the receiving end of criticism from Newmarket trainer Willie Haggas, who acknowledged... Read more »

RICHARD FAHEY’S SHOCK GLORY

October 30, 2025

YORKSHIRE-BASED Richard Fahey caused the biggest shock in European Group 1 history when his 200/1 outsider, Powerful Glory, powered home under Jamie Spencer... Read more »

STUMPTOWN’S BIG CZECH

October 30, 2025

STUMPTOWN SURVIVED quite the blunder to land the Czech Republic’s most prestigious race, the four-and-a-half-mile Velka Pardubicka cross-country run at Pardubice. Trained by... Read more »

ERIC McCARTHY’S FORM

October 30, 2025

UNLIKE 2024 when returning five winners, Eric McNamara had a quiet time at the Listowel Harvest Festival, with this year’s accolades going instead... Read more »

JP McMANUS’S COMPO

October 16, 2025

JP McMANUS and veteran light-weight jockey Niall McCullagh recently teamed up to land quite a punt in the valuable Friends of the Curragh... Read more »