Article Category: Sport of Kings

TIM HIGGINS’S TWO HORSES

February 25, 2016

IN THE gloomy 2015 Irish thoroughbred industry statistics released by Horse Racing Ireland’s Brian Kavanagh last month, a sector that seems to be... Read more »

RUBY WALSH’S ROUGH RIDES

February 25, 2016

CHAMPION National Hunt jockey Ruby Walsh has come in for plenty of criticism after a number of high profile exits on board Willie... Read more »

BETFAIR BLUES

February 25, 2016

AFTER THE Isolde Goggin-chaired Competition and Consumer Protection Commission approved the €10bn Paddy Power merger with Betfair two months ahead of schedule, the... Read more »

CUTTING OFF SIMON COVENEY

February 11, 2016

WHILE Simon Coveney is regarded by followers of the sport of kings as a fairly shrewd operator, his attempt to pull a fast... Read more »

Free Lunch

February 11, 2016

THEY SAY there is no such thing as a free lunch, but Joe Keeling’s Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is handing out complimentary meals... Read more »

META OSBORNE’S DRUGS PRESCRIPTION

February 11, 2016

OVER A YEAR in the making, the long awaited report by the Irish Thoroughbred Industry Anti-Doping Task Force, chaired by Senior Steward Meta... Read more »

THE MULLINS FACTOR

February 11, 2016

SPEAKING in the Dáil during the debate on the Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015, which was passed on January 20, Labour’s Willie Penrose... Read more »

GROUP 1 JOB AT THE CURRAGH

January 28, 2016

NO LESS THAN 19 runners have declared in the race to win the lucrative prize of first place in the state sponsored ‘Irish... Read more »

JOHN MALONE’S EXPANSION

January 28, 2016

CASTLEMARTIN STUD – the 750-acre spread formerly owned by Tony O’Reilly, which was controversially disposed of by AIB bank to land loving American... Read more »

HUGO PALMER’S MUSCLE PROBLEM

January 28, 2016

EARLIER THIS month at Bowler Hat HQ, Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan had the red carpet, cucumber sandwiches and Ferrero Rocher out... Read more »

RUBY WALSH WANTS THE MONEY

January 28, 2016

WITHIN the tight circle of Irish Horse Racing, the Walsh family are not known for their meek personality. The adjective ‘outspoken’ tends to... Read more »

LOOKING UP DOWN UNDER

January 14, 2016

IT’S NOT very often that Coolmore don’t publicise news of a major victory, but that was the case recently when John Magnier’s Australian... Read more »

CILLIAN RYAN DISMOUNTS

January 14, 2016

SWORDLESTOWN STUD, which was purchased by the late Cathal Ryan in 1999 and bequeathed to his son, Cillian Ryan, in 2007, has ceased... Read more »

LUCINDA VS THE BOOKIES

January 14, 2016

RENUA LEADER Lucinda Creighton has been making waves in the racing industry lately with her party’s manifesto, which plays to the horsey set... Read more »

RTÉ’S RIVALS ENTER THE GATE

January 14, 2016

THE SEISMIC uprooting of Channel 4 Racing as the broadcaster of UK racing’s terrestrial TV rights for more than 30 years, may have... Read more »

SADDLING UP FOR CURRAGH TOP JOB

December 17, 2015

ADVERTS have appeared for the position of chief executive of Curragh Racecourse Ltd, the private company set up with the assistance of Minister... Read more »

FAUGHEEN FORCED TO SHARE AWARD

December 17, 2015

THE ANNUAL Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) awards were dished out at Leopardstown last week, with junior minister Tom Hayes in attendance at the... Read more »

STABLESTAFF UNDER SCRUTINY

December 17, 2015

THE Irish Stablestaff Association (ISA), which represents the interests of staff working in the thoroughbred racing industry, is currently reviewing its policy as... Read more »

TURF CLUB GRABS CONCESSIONS

December 17, 2015

SINN FÉIN spokesman on Agriculture Martin Ferris was successful in his amendment to remove a contentious clause in Simon Coveney’s Horse Racing Ireland... Read more »

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOUR-HOOD

December 4, 2015

THE IRISH Harness Racing Association (IHRA) and its chairman, Mark Flanagan, who recently won the battle to stage a trial meeting of its... Read more »

META OSBORNE’S NEW REGIME

December 4, 2015

AN UNUSUAL clause inserted into Simon Coveney’s disputed Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015, is the one that permits the Bowler Hats to form... Read more »

FOXROCK’S RETURN RIDE

December 4, 2015

FOXROCK, the Barry Connell-owned handicapper at the centre of the high-profile Punchestown missing shoes enquiry last May, made his seasonal reappearance at Navan... Read more »

DERMOT WELD’S NEW NEIGHBOURS

November 20, 2015

RACEHORSE trainer and Curragh resident Dermot Weld, whose Rosewell House yard borders the proposed €55m redevelopment of the Pádraig McManus-managed Curragh racecourse, is... Read more »

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S TWEETS

November 20, 2015

IN A BID to “clear things up a bit” amid the speculation surrounding his future plans, ex-Champion Jockey, Joseph O’Brien, recently released a... Read more »

JOE KEELING’S MEDIA MOVE

November 20, 2015

THE ASSOCIATION Of Irish Racecourses (AIR) and Galway racecourse supremo John Moloney have lost the battle to retain control of the all-important media... Read more »

GETTING TO THE POINT

November 20, 2015

THERE WAS very little cheer for the Bowler Hats in Simon Coveney’s new Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015, but one battle they did... Read more »

WILLIE MULLINS’S SMART MOVE

November 6, 2015

CHAMPION trainer Willie Mullins is now operating out of a stable he runs near Irish racing HQ at the Curragh. The remarkably successful... Read more »

AIDAN O’BRIEN’S ‘DUCKS’

November 6, 2015

“THE DUCKS are not in a row.” Aidan O’Brien’s words before unwrapping the thick layers of cotton wool from his star miler, Gleneagles,... Read more »

BLUE DAY FOR BOWLER HATS

November 6, 2015

THE FINE PRINT of Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney’s new Horse Racing Bill 2015 was unveiled to the public earlier this month and... Read more »

WINNER ALL RIGHT

November 6, 2015

ONE OF the big winners of Simon Coveney’s new Horse Racing Ireland Bill 2015 is Joe Keeling’s Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), which sees... Read more »