Article Category: Sport of Kings

CHAMPIONS WEEKEND WOES

October 17, 2024

WHEN REVIEWING the recent Irish Champions weekend, bookmaker Brian Keenan stated: “I was bored at Leopardstown and I love racing.” Keenan’s sentiments were... Read more »

---

JOORABCHIAN FLASHES THE CASH

October 17, 2024

HIGH-PROFILE football agent Kia Joorabchian hit the headlines at Tattersalls when purchasing the second-highest ever priced yearling at the sale for a whopping... Read more »

---

POOR FORM FOR RICH RACES

October 3, 2024

ONLY 14 went to post last weekend for Europe’s most lucrative race for two-year-olds – the Goffs Million – which saw the Joseph... Read more »

---

WATSON’S WOES

October 3, 2024

ARMAGH TRAINER Keith Watson and his son and assistant, Marshall, have questioned the reasoning behind the decision of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA)... Read more »

---

STEVE PARKIN’S MOVES

September 19, 2024

FALLEN ANGEL, the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner and dual Group 1 winner, owned by Steve Parkin, has been sold to continue her racing... Read more »

---

SHARK SLAPPED

September 19, 2024

FANS OF Goldhawk will recall (see The Phoenix 27/6/24) that a video of an uncovered dead horse in an open builder’s trailer, which... Read more »

---

GETTING UP FOR DOWN UNDER

September 5, 2024

RICH RICCI’S rarely seen bonce got an outing at York when the moneybags’s hat took flight in the windy parade ring before the... Read more »

---

ED DUNLOP’S BRIGHTON KNOCK

September 5, 2024

NEWMARKET TRAINER Ed Dunlop has been handed a suspended one-year period of disqualification from racing after his charge, Lucidity, tested positive for a... Read more »

---

BREEZE DOWNS?

August 22, 2024

BRENDAN ‘BLARNEY’ Holland of Grove Stud – the newly elected chairman of the Breeze-Up Consignors Association (BUCA) – has spooked the horses over... Read more »

---

‘AL RIFFA’S’ FRENCH ADVENTURE

August 22, 2024

The Joseph O’Brien-trained Al Riffa was the subject of some bluster on X, courtesy of Kevin Blake, following the nag’s win at Hoppergarten... Read more »

---

DUKE DELIVERS

August 22, 2024

POPULAR CURRAGH trainer Brendan Duke returned from the wilderness earlier this month to saddle the Liam Tougher-owned Ballysax Hank for a win in... Read more »

---

WELD’S GRIM GALWAY

August 8, 2024

SURELY THE biggest surprise in Galway last week was that Dermot Weld failed to have a single winner, despite having been the champion... Read more »

---

DAVID DUNSDON DELIVERS

August 8, 2024

PROPERTY MONEYBAGS David Dunsdon dusted off his riding boots to make a winning return to race riding when landing Galway’s €110,000 Connacht Hotel... Read more »

---

DANNY’S POOR FORM

July 25, 2024

BOLSHY DANNY Dunne made another journey to the offices of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) in relation to his latest bout of... Read more »

---

TONY MARTIN’S CELEBRATIONS

July 25, 2024

AS A result of his OTT celebrations following the win for Alphonse Le Grande at Newcastle last month, the nag’s suspended trainer Tony... Read more »

---

SARAH’S SHOTS

July 11, 2024

SARAH LYNAM, who recently called a premature halt to her own career as a trainer, turned her sights on fellow trainer Paddy Twomey... Read more »

---

REBECCA MAY’S WINNER

July 11, 2024

LIMERICK-BASED corporate events queen Rebecca May finally tasted success as a racehorse owner (and presumably a tasty dividend from the bookies) when the... Read more »

---

CIRCUIT BREAKER

July 11, 2024

RACHAEL BLACKMORE’S riding of the Louise Lyons-trained Lady Rita in a Kilbeggan three-mile hurdle last year was presumably on the minds of the... Read more »

---

HASSETT’S ALLOWANCE

June 27, 2024

PUNTERS WHO backed John ‘Minella’ Nallen’s Pinball Wizard in Sligo’s Web The Tool Company Handicap on May 15 can feel a little hard... Read more »

---

PHILIP BYRNES’S APPEAL

June 27, 2024

HAVING HAD a recent four-day Navan ban for careless riding overturned on appeal, jockey Philip Byrnes again returned to the IHRB to appeal... Read more »

---

ABANDONING ADO

June 27, 2024

LUSK TRAINER Ado McGuinness, who has been having a quiet season, delivering a 6% strike rate, was dealt a further blow with the... Read more »

---

DENIS HOGAN HITS OUT

June 13, 2024

AS FANS of Goldhawk are aware, trainer Denis Hogan is no stranger to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) stewards and he made... Read more »

---

EOIN O’BRIEN’S DOUBLE TROUBLE

June 13, 2024

ANOTHER POOR reflection on the regulatory standards in Irish racing was evident when the same appeals body subsequently sat to consider the case... Read more »

---

KIA’S CHANGING ROSTER

May 30, 2024

OWNED IN partnership by Amo Racing and Giselle De Aguiar, Bucanero Fuerto galloped to success in the Naas Group 3 Goffs Lacken Stakes... Read more »

---

MICHAEL H BURKE’S BLOODSTOCK

May 30, 2024

MICHAEL JAMES Burke, son of Chanelle Pharma founder Michael Hilary Burke and brother-in-law of Tony (Sir Anthony) McCoy, has been accused, in an... Read more »

---

COOLMORE BOYS’ BLUES

May 16, 2024

BALLYDOYLE’S WONDER horse, City of Troy, went off odds-on favourite for the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket but failed to justify his starting... Read more »

---

AINE O’CONNOR’S WHIP HAND

May 16, 2024

BOOKMAKERS AND punters might have been excused for diving for cover as the wayward Familiar Dreams carted a whipless Aine O’Connor to victory... Read more »

---

PADDY BRENNAN’S TIMELY DISMOUNT

May 2, 2024

THE CLUNKILY titled Weatherite Air Conditioning Handicap Chase at Cheltenham will be remembered as the race in which Paddy Brennan brought the curtain... Read more »

---

DANIEL O’RAHILLY’S BIG CHEQUE

May 2, 2024

THIS YEAR’S Aintree Grand National winner, I Am Maximus (trained by newly crowned British champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins), and the 2021 winner,... Read more »

---

TONY’S FAILED APPEAL

April 18, 2024

THE RECENT overturning by the IHRB appeals panel of the referral committee’s findings on trainer Tony Martin is not the first significant setback... Read more »

---

O’BRIEN’S OBSTACLES

April 18, 2024

While trainer Aidan O’Brien supplied three of the five runners in Leopardstown’s Group 3 PW McGrath Ballysax Stakes, it was Adrian Murray who... Read more »

---

APPEALING BEHAVIOUR

April 4, 2024

THE REVELATION last month that the IHRB had been described by consultants in 2021 as “not fit for purpose” was dismissed by the... Read more »

---

SEAMIE HEFFERNAN DISMOUNTS

April 4, 2024

MEYDAN RACECOURSE Dubai was the location on Saturday afternoon where the spotlight really shone on Rebels Romance. Ballydoyle’s champion, Auguste Rodin, who had... Read more »

---

MULLINS’S ROUGH DIAMOND

March 21, 2024

While Patrick Mullins’s victory aboard Jasmine De Vaux provided his father, Willie, with his 100th Cheltenham success, his faith in Ashroe Diamond in... Read more »

---

WRECKING BALLS-UP

March 21, 2024

BARRY CONNELL’S short-priced ante-post favourite for Cheltenham’s Arkle Chase, Marine Nationale, was ruled out of Cheltenham following his flop at the Dublin Racing... Read more »

---

ANTI-DOPING INITIATIVE

March 21, 2024

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) recently joined forces in an anti-doping initiative. Citing “out-of-competition testing” as a... Read more »

---