Article Category: Sport of Kings

WINNERS AND LOSERS AT PUNCHESTOWN

May 3, 2018

THE PUNCHESTOWN festival was always going to be exciting this year with the Willie Mullins/Gordon Elliott head-to-head dominating the build-up but Paul Townend... Read more »

CON MARNANE’S BREEZE DOWN

May 3, 2018

FANS OF Goldhawk know of the trials and tribulations of the breeze up sales season and the perils of this sector were evident... Read more »

INGE D’HAESE’S ROUGH RIDE

May 3, 2018

VETERINARY officer of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) Inge D’Haese has ruffled feathers among the training ranks, in particular with a couple... Read more »

PAUL HENSEY’S NEW GIG

May 3, 2018

FORMER CURRAGH Racecourse manager Paul Hensey has bounced back with a new gig after being squeezed out of his previous role when current... Read more »

MARK FLOOD’S FITZWILLIAM FANS

April 19, 2018

FITZWILLIAM RACING was a name that cropped up a few times in the winner’s enclosure last year and the investment syndicate, set up... Read more »

PHILIP FENTON’S RETURN?

April 19, 2018

COULD Philip Fenton be planning a return to the training ranks? The former champion amateur jockey and multiple Grade 1 winning trainer was... Read more »

BREEZE UPS AND DOWNS

April 19, 2018

BRYAN COOPER’S new venture as a seller of breeze up horses has gotten off to a stuttering start. Cooper – in partnership with... Read more »

JOHN MAGNIER’S KENTUCKY CHANCES

April 19, 2018

DESPITE HIS glut of accolades and achievements on the turf, Saturday, May 5 in Churchill Downs could see Aidan O’Brien and John Magnier... Read more »

Handicapping tyro trainers

April 5, 2018

AT A time when the number of active Irish trainers is reducing, it is ironic that the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has... Read more »

KEN CONDON SEEKS WINX CHINKS

April 5, 2018

WITH ALL that ‘will she or won’t she’ speculation surrounding Australian superstar Winx’s potential Royal Ascot challenge now over and done, it’s good... Read more »

PAUL NOLAN’S COMEBACK

April 5, 2018

TWO FORMER leading lights of the Irish jumps scene – Bryan Cooper and Paul Nolan – have joined forces and are beginning to... Read more »

DÉJA VU FOR MULLINS AND ELLIOTT

April 5, 2018

THIS TIME last year Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins were locked in a duel for the champion Irish jumps trainer’s title and this... Read more »

KERRI RADCLIFFE’S SUDDEN EXIT

March 22, 2018

READERS WILL recall (see The Phoenix 9/3/18) that Goldhawk was impressed by the size of the wedge chucked about by bloodstock agent Kerri... Read more »

GER LYONS LETS LOOSE

March 22, 2018

DUNDALK RACECOURSE hosted the most valuable race held at the track recently but the €75,000 Patton Stakes – part of a new European... Read more »

CHELTENHAM’S MELON FLAVOUR

March 22, 2018

WHILE TRAINER Gordon Elliott will always be the golden boy as far as Mick O’Leary is concerned, Davy Russell and Henry De Bromhead... Read more »

PETER BRANT JOINS THE COOLMORE BOYS

March 22, 2018

THE FALL from grace of South African tycoon Marcus Jooste left a gap in the market for an investor to join the Coolmore... Read more »

PASSPORT PROBLEMS

March 8, 2018

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) released its 2017 integrity statistics recently, some of which made for interesting if concerning reading. Goldhawk has... Read more »

DORAN SWITCHES STABLES

March 8, 2018

IT’S NOT often that Gordon Elliott has horses removed from his yard to be sent to another trainer but London-based builder Tom Doran... Read more »

PHOENIX RISING SLOWLY

March 8, 2018

PHOENIX THOROUGHBREDS has been a name on a lot of bloodstock players’ lips this past year and the emerging force in world bloodstock... Read more »

CHELTENHAM’S GREEN GLOSS

March 8, 2018

IRISH PUNTERS will flock to Cheltenham this year high on confidence following last year’s phenomenal results. Irish trainers were responsible for more winners... Read more »

AFTER AT THE RACES

February 22, 2018

THE FALLOUT following the recent shock news that At The Races will cease to broadcast Irish racing on its channel is continuing to... Read more »

BRYAN COOPER’S RARE RIDES

February 22, 2018

BRYAN COOPER’S latest retainer looks to have come to an end after a very brief association. In November last year, Cooper got drafted... Read more »

DENIS EGAN’S LATE LATE SHOW

February 22, 2018

THE ACTING stewards at the Dublin Racing Festival came in for quite a bit of flak over their failure to investigate the poor... Read more »

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S MOOLAH

February 8, 2018

SPARE A thought for the hard-up Joseph O’Brien who got fined “half a week’s wages” for speeding offences recently. The Melbourne Cup winning... Read more »

KAVANAGH’S PR EXERCISE

February 8, 2018

THE CHIEF executive of Horse Racing Ireland, Brian Kavanagh, took the opportunity to build some bridges recently when he made mollifying comments on... Read more »

HARD GOING AT GOWRAN

February 8, 2018

UK-BASED teenage prodigy James Bowen didn’t cover himself in glory on his first trip to Ireland as a fully fledged jockey at Gowran... Read more »

AL SHAQAB’S NEXT MOVE?

February 8, 2018

FRANKIE DETTORI has had his wings clipped slightly by his retained stable, Al Shaqab Racing. The Qatari outfit’s major reduction in their UK-based... Read more »

DONNACHA O’BRIEN’S HEAVY GOING

January 25, 2018

IT WOULD appear jockey Donnacha O’Brien is beginning to lose his battle with the scales if a steward’s inquiry at Dundalk recently is... Read more »

MULLINS RUNNING OUT OF TRACK

January 25, 2018

WILLIE MULLINS finds himself in a tricky situation at the moment regarding the defence of his Irish trainer’s title. With the upcoming Dublin... Read more »

FOGGY STYLE

January 25, 2018

IT APPEARED fairly straightforward that when Devine Star got lost in the fog at Clonmel a few weeks back, resulting in her rivals... Read more »

HUGHIE MORRISON’S SOFT HANDLING

January 25, 2018

HORSERACING’S ongoing efforts to portray the sport’s clean image and to maintain a zero tolerance policy on the use of steroids has hit... Read more »

BIG MONEY MISTAKES

January 11, 2018

GIVEN THE eye-watering sums being lashed out at auction houses in Ireland and England for the perceived cream of the racing crop, it... Read more »

BAD NEWS FOR THE DOYLE BOYS

January 11, 2018

THE PUBLIC fall from grace of South African business tycoon Markus Jooste was bad news for many of his countrymen who had their... Read more »

SHORT ODDS AT THE TOTE

January 11, 2018

WHEN Killahara Castle popped up at 200/1 in a mares hurdle at Thurles before Christmas, her connections – the Burke family (trained, ridden... Read more »

RICCI’S LEOPARDSTOWN WOES

January 11, 2018

LEOPARDSTOWN’S 2017 Christmas Festival will be remembered for many of the wrong reasons. The four-day festival threw up some downright bizarre results and... Read more »

FINING MICHAEL WINTERS

December 14, 2017

WHEN THE Michael Winters trained Churchtown Glen ran at Cork last month, finishing a never nearer seventh under tender handling from jockey Barry... Read more »