Article Category: Sport of Kings

SLOW START FOR LYONS

June 15, 2023

THE IRISH flat season is in full swing and one of the main talking points has been the absence of Ger Lyons-trained horses... Read more »

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WHELAN’S WHIP WOES

June 15, 2023

KILDARE JOCKEY Ronan Whelan has enjoyed a fine start to the flat season but his momentum has been stalled after racking up a... Read more »

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MEDIA STRUCK DUMB BY NORTH RESULTS

June 1, 2023

The results of May’s council elections in the north confirmed, as expected, SF’s political dominance, which it displayed in last year’s assembly election.... Read more »

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KEVIN DOYLE’S MISS-HIT

June 1, 2023

IT HAS been interesting to follow the progress, or indeed lack thereof, of a horse now named Montecam. Readers may recall that former... Read more »

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AIDAN O’BRIEN’S HANDICAP

June 1, 2023

THE DEATH of Galileo two years ago was a seismic day for the international bloodstock industry and it is now becoming apparent just... Read more »

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JP’S ‘MYSTICAL POWER’

June 1, 2023

JP McManus recently marked a milestone at his Martinstown Stud with the 31st birthday of his triple champion hurdle winner Istabraq. The former... Read more »

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TIME FOR A STEWARDS’ INQUIRY?

June 1, 2023

A FEW weekends ago there were some stewarding decisions that left punters wondering if the acting stewards were watching the same races as... Read more »

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BLACKMORE’S TACTICS

May 18, 2023

STAR JOCKEY Rachael Blackmore is clearly the leading lady of Irish racing but she fluffed her lines at Kilbeggan last week. Blackmore was... Read more »

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EDDIE AHERN’S COMEBACK

May 18, 2023

EDDIE AHERN, the champion apprentice jockey in Ireland in 1997, who has been banned from riding for the last 10 years, is set... Read more »

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UNDER STARTER’S ORDERS

May 18, 2023

BEING A national hunt race starter can be an unenviable position, given that trying to get upwards of 25 adrenaline-fuelled horses and jockeys... Read more »

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JESSICA HANDICAPS THE HANDICAPPERS

May 18, 2023

IT WAS the handicappers rather than the starters who featured at an appeal hearing last week chaired by barrister Ian Whelan, which resulted... Read more »

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MICHAEL O’CALLAGHAN’S MISHAP

May 3, 2023

SPARE A thought for Kildare trainer Michael O’Callaghan, who has just moved into his new purpose-built training complex, which cost a fair few... Read more »

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ELLIOTT’S SADDLES

May 3, 2023

HOT ON the hooves of his recent cock-up at Navan (see The Phoenix 21/4/23), Gordon Elliott fell foul at Punchestown when putting the... Read more »

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DANNY’S WHIP HAND

May 3, 2023

ANOTHER EXAMPLE of the disparity of racing rules between Irish and British jurisdictions (see ‘Bradley Gibbs’s Gripes’) was evident last week. At Punchestown,... Read more »

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BRADLEY GIBBS’S GRIPES

May 3, 2023

PUNCHESTOWN IS often referred to as Ireland’s version of Cheltenham and many UK owners and trainers try to beat the Irish on home... Read more »

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MAGNIER’S COSTLY FILLY

April 19, 2023

THE OLD adage of breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best is as good a guide as any to... Read more »

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DEVELOPERS’ WINNING WAYS

April 19, 2023

PROPERTY DEVELOPERS Sean Deane and Ger O’Brien have experienced highs and low in their business careers but have rarely enjoyed anything but good... Read more »

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ELLIOTT’S ID FARCE

April 19, 2023

GORDON ELLIOTT was summoned before an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals committee recently to explain how a significant mix-up in his yard... Read more »

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NOEL MEADE’S PARTNER

April 19, 2023

THE PAST 10 years have seen a number of predominantly Wexford-based point-to-point trainers revolutionise the point-to-point game from what was an amateur discipline... Read more »

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AINTREE’S GREEN TINGE

April 6, 2023

IRISH-TRAINED horses have won the last four runnings of the Aintree Grand National and it looks short odds that they will make it... Read more »

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NO LIFE IN THE PARK

April 6, 2023

THE INCONSISTENCY of race-day stewards was evident again recently after a valuable Grade 3 novice chase in Limerick. The race in question was... Read more »

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ITHAKA’S GAMBLE

April 6, 2023

WITH RONAN McNally’s imminent appeal hearing over his 12-year suspension, an ex-horse of his, Ithaka, landed a tidy gamble in England recently. The... Read more »

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O’LEARY’S NAMING GAME

April 6, 2023

MICK O’LEARY performed a U-turn last year by investing in some young national hunt horses to be trained by Willie Mullins, one of... Read more »

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ELLMARIE’S STRONG MEDICINE

March 23, 2023

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has made it very clear in recent years that maintaining up-to-date records of all medications administered to... Read more »

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DAVY’S DAY TO FORGET

March 23, 2023

PLENTY OF people were surprised when Davy Russell announced his intention to temporarily return to race riding less than three weeks after retiring... Read more »

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GLEESON HAS HIS CAKE…

March 23, 2023

RTÉ AND ITV racing presenter Brian Gleeson knows how to strike a deal and they probably don’t come any sweeter than the one... Read more »

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SURPRISE RESULT FOR MULLINS

March 23, 2023

TATTERSALLS CASHED in on Cheltenham fever by holding a select auction of Irish point-to-point winners in the winners’ enclosure following racing on the... Read more »

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THE MORANS CROSS THEIR FINGERS

March 8, 2023

WITH CHELTENHAM kicking off next week, all those big-spending owners will again battle it out to bag even the one winner that might... Read more »

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DENIS HOGAN’S GAMBLE

March 8, 2023

IT IS three years since that controversial race in Dundalk in 2020 when the Denis Hogan-trained stable mates Tony the Gent and Yuften... Read more »

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REUBEN BROTHERS CLOSING IN

March 8, 2023

THE NEWS that UK outfit Arena Racing Company (ARC) is in advanced negotiations to buy Dundalk racecourse could have interesting implications for the... Read more »

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O’BRIEN’S AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE

March 8, 2023

HAVING PLUNDERED two of Australia’s most iconic races – the Melbourne Cup and the Cox Plate – in recent years, Joseph O’Brien has... Read more »

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SUZANNE EADE’S MONEY TREE

February 22, 2023

IRISH HORSE racing bodies are quick to champion the hefty prize money on offer here, particularly when the figures are compared with those... Read more »

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WILL COOLMORE CASH IN?

February 22, 2023

GOFFS BOSS Henry Beeby is shedding no light on the issue of whether the buyer of the sale topper from last year’s Orby... Read more »

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HOMER SCOTT’S SOFT RIDE

February 22, 2023

IRISH RACING took another battering in the Sindo earlier this month when Paul Kimmage exposed an upsetting welfare case involving former trainer Homer... Read more »

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OISIN MURPHY’S COMEBACK

February 22, 2023

KILLARNEY NATIVE Oisin Murphy made his comeback last week after over a year on the sidelines following a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) ban... Read more »

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ELLIOTT’S STRATEGY

February 9, 2023

MICK O’LEARY’S re-engagement as an owner of national hunt horses has been welcomed by trainers and breeders and, given the significant clear out... Read more »

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