Article Category: Sport of Kings

TOM TAAFFE’S TRIBULATIONS

March 7, 2019

TOM TAAFFE’S form-filling skills – or lack thereof – have been put under the spotlight recently. The trainer brought one of his horses,... Read more »

JESSICA HARRINGTON’S FIRST CHOICE

March 7, 2019

AFTER SUCH a successful beginning to their association, it was a surprise when Jessica Harrington announced recently that she had appointed Shane Foley... Read more »

COOPER CUT LOOSE

February 21, 2019

BRYAN COOPER’S stint as first jockey to Chris Jones was certainly short-lived, with the association coming to an end just before the Dublin... Read more »

MULRYAN TARGETS BALLYMORE

February 21, 2019

COMEBACK KID Sean Mulryan – once again a major player in the national hunt owners’ league – took another step forward recently when... Read more »

ANDREW HUGHES’S HICCUP

February 21, 2019

THE BRITISH Horseracing Authority (BHA) offered little room for manoeuvre to a nonplussed Andrew Hughes when he made the trip to Scotland recently.... Read more »

AUBREY McMAHON’S APPEALING BEHAVIOUR

February 7, 2019

AMATEUR JOCKEY Aubrey McMahon obviously felt aggrieved over a five-day ban handed down by the race-day stewards at Tramore following his ride aboard... Read more »

SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S WEIGHT WATCHERS

February 7, 2019

GOLDOLPHIN, the racing entity of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, has had a change of heart over its heavy-handed approach to work riders. Early... Read more »

TROUBLE AT THE TOTE

February 7, 2019

HORSE RACING Ireland (HRI) recently announced the industry statistics for 2018 and, as expected, the figures pertaining to the betting sector made for... Read more »

NICK RUST’S ROUGH RIDE

February 7, 2019

IS THE British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – where Nick Rust cracks the whip – actually managing to bring the sport it is charged... Read more »

McNAMARA DROPS THE BALL

January 24, 2019

FORMER JOCKEY Andrew McNamara, who combines training with his role on the RTÉ racing team, was recently a guest on Off The Ball’s... Read more »

UPS AND DOWNS FOR COMER

January 24, 2019

IT’S BEEN a mixed start to the year for Luke Comer. The trainer enjoyed an early New Year winner when Mystique Heights won... Read more »

RICHARD FITZGERALD’S PRIORITIES

January 24, 2019

THE SWITCH of live Irish racing from At The Races (ATR) to Racing TV has generated plenty of negative commentary since the beginning... Read more »

SOFTLY DOES IT AT LEOPARDSTOWN

January 24, 2019

WITH LITTLE rain forecast for February’s Dublin Racing Festival and with almost unprecedented firm ground conditions for jumps horses at this time of... Read more »

ACCIDENTAL BY NAME…

January 10, 2019

THERE WAS no fairytale ending to the amusing story of Accidental, the Patrick Mullins-owned gelding that made his racecourse debut at Limerick over... Read more »

PHILIP FENTON’S RETURN

January 10, 2019

NEW YEAR’S Day at Tramore was a significant occasion for trainer Philip Fenton. It saw him register his first success since resuming his... Read more »

TED TALKS AT TRAMORE

January 10, 2019

TED WALSH had to be at his diplomatic best recently when he was interviewed by the race-day stewards at Tramore over the running... Read more »

LEOPARDSTOWN’S TOUGH GOING

January 10, 2019

LEOPARDSTOWN’S Christmas Festival was by and large a very successful four days with unseasonally kind weather helping to draw good crowds to witness... Read more »

MARK WALSH’S MISTAKE

December 13, 2018

MARK WALSH, the expected heir to the throne as number one jockey to JP McManus, was not the darling of punters recently after... Read more »

MICK O’LEARY’S CLEAN SWEEP

December 13, 2018

GIGGINSTOWN HOUSE Stud has taken more steps towards total domination of the jumps game in recent weeks. This was particularly evident when Michael... Read more »

JOHN BUTLER’S BANJAXED HORSE

December 13, 2018

NEWMARKET-BASED Irish trainer John Butler has found himself in hot water with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), which has suspended his trainer’s licence... Read more »

GOING GETS TOUGH AT GOFFS

November 29, 2018

THESE ARE testing times for a lot of people in the bloodstock industry and breeders were recently reminded that there is no demand... Read more »

BRYAN COOPER’S LATEST CHANCE

November 29, 2018

BRYAN COOPER’S career as a jockey is sometimes compared to a rollercoaster ride and the Kerryman could find himself on the way back... Read more »

CRISTINA PATINO’S NINE NAGS

November 29, 2018

WHEN A flat yearling is sold at public auction, it qualifies for a programme of two-year-old maiden races the following year, restricted to... Read more »

ELLIOTT IS WELL OFF THE PACE

November 1, 2018

IT SEEMS Gordon Elliott may already have accepted defeat in this season’s leading trainer title race. A slow start to the current season... Read more »

GER LYONS HITS OUT

November 1, 2018

THE DRY autumn is taking its toll on jumps tracks at the moment as they cannot risk watering the ground at this time... Read more »

O’BRIEN’S REDUNDANT REFERRAL

November 1, 2018

JOSEPH O’BRIEN found himself at the centre of one of the most pointless enquiries in the recent history of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory... Read more »

BHA CRACKS THE WHIP

October 18, 2018

PATRICK MULLINS found himself the subject of some unwanted attention recently, when his winning ride aboard his father’s Rathvinden in the National Hunt... Read more »

MELISSA MARGOLIS MAKES WAVES

October 18, 2018

WHEN THE Gordon Elliott-trained Kuiper Belt landed the valuable Lartigue Hurdle at Listowel last month, it gave fledgling owner Melissa Margolis her biggest... Read more »