Latest Irish sports news headlines | The Phoenix Magazine

Sport of Kings

HUSBANDS’S HANDICAP

September 22, 2022

IRISH CHAMPIONS Weekend may have been a success from a racing point of view, with top-quality action over the two days at Leopardstown... Read more »

Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

EMPTY SADDLE AT AIR

September 22, 2022

ANOTHER SENIOR racing administrator has announced that he is to dismount. Paddy Walsh, chief executive of the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR), has... Read more »

O’LEARY SHAKING UP OWNERS’ CONTEST

September 22, 2022

AS HE does every year, Michael O’Leary offloaded a good few of his lesser-performing horses at a Goffs UK sale recently. The Ryanair... Read more »

RYAN McELLIGOTT’S NEW JOB?

September 8, 2022

AFTER 10 years as head of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA), Michael Grassick is set to dismount. Although there has been no... Read more »

COAKLEY COMES A CROPPER

September 8, 2022

YOUNG IRISH jockey Ross Coakley’s career has been on an upward curve since he relocated to England last year but the rider’s momentum... Read more »

MURPHY’S LAW

September 8, 2022

IT HAS been reported that Cork trainer John Joseph Murphy was recently fined €4,000 by the referrals committee of Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board... Read more »

RYAN OUT OF AMO

September 8, 2022

IT HAS been an eventful week for Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing. The increasingly familiar ownership group, run by the UK-based football investor, has... Read more »

SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S IRISH EXIT

August 25, 2022

THE DECISION by Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum’s Godolphin racing operation to cease having horses trained in Ireland from the end of this year... Read more »

O’GORMAN’S GOOD CALL

August 25, 2022

TRAINERS ARE often quick to criticise the handicapper when they feel their horses are unfairly penalised by the ratings. More often than not,... Read more »

GOING GOOD FOR HUSBANDS

August 25, 2022

A MONTH ago, the Irish Champion Stakes was in poor enough shape, without a sponsor and potentially lacking a marquee horse, either domestic... Read more »

MCNALLY’S FINE RESULT

August 25, 2022

WHEN TRAINER Ronan McNally and jockey Kevin Sexton got into trouble with the stewards at Limerick over the running and riding of Ithaka... Read more »

CALDWELL’S HEAVY GOING

August 11, 2022

WITH THE Irish Stable Staff Association (ISSA) having generated headlines last month by delaying racing at Kilbeggan racecourse due to a protest over... Read more »

TOM KELLY’S SECOND CHANCE

August 11, 2022

HERE WAS good news for jockey Tom Joseph Kelly last month when his appeal against a further three years of suspension proved successful.... Read more »

Homer Scott Daniel Dunne Darragh O’Loughlin

DANIEL DUNNE’S ROUGH RIDING

July 28, 2022

DANIEL DUNNE, who was representing Katy Brown at Dundalk earlier this summer, may not be a household name when it comes to racing,... Read more »

O’BRIENS QUALIFY FOR PRIZE POT

July 28, 2022

READERS OF ‘Sport of Kings’ will recall questions being raised here about the use of auctions essentially to qualify horses for restricted races,... Read more »

DUNICAN VERSUS CALDWELL

July 28, 2022

THE HEAT wave took its toll at Kilbeggan recently, as tempers flared among stable staff with track manager Paddy Dunican and his failure... Read more »

GOING GOOD IN GALWAY

July 28, 2022

THE BUZZ will be back for the Ballybrit 2022 races as punters are allowed to attend the festival for the first time in... Read more »

O’BRIEN’S AMERICAN DREAM

July 14, 2022

HAVING PLUNDERED some major international Group 1 prizes in Australia and America last year, Joseph O’Brien‘s horses are on the up. Now the... Read more »

MICK BAILEY BACK ON TRACK

July 14, 2022

AN INTERESTING recent returnee to racehorse ownership in Ireland is one Mick Bailey of Bovale Developments. A prominent owner during the Celtic Tiger... Read more »

RONAN MCNALLY’S FORM

July 14, 2022

THE TRAINER Ronan McNally has had his fair share of setbacks when he trains a winner. Some wins have coincided with either a... Read more »

A HEADACHE FOR TIM HUSBANDS

July 14, 2022

IT APPEARS that for the third year in a row the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown – arguably Ireland’s premier flat race –... Read more »

O’CALLAGHAN’S MIXED WEEK

June 30, 2022

CURRAGH TRAINER Michael O’Callaghan certainly endured the highs and lows of Royal Ascot week and despite the majority of his horses running below... Read more »

FAMILY FORTUNES

June 30, 2022

COULD THIS be the year when Aidan O’Brien loses his grip on the Irish trainers’ championship? For the past 15 years, O’Brien has... Read more »

KAVANAGH’S CURRAGH COVER PRICE

June 30, 2022

BRIAN KAVANAGH’S decision to charge €50 for a ticket into the Curragh on Derby Day last weekend was predictably not well received in... Read more »

JOHN HALLEY’S DOG

June 30, 2022

COOLMORE VET John Halley’s embarrassing doping case involving the family dog – understandably raised plenty of eyebrows. While cynics may find the excuse... Read more »

KEVIN DOYLE’S OWN GOAL

June 16, 2022

THERE WAS a twist in the tale of ex-footie star Kevin Doyle’s ballsy bloodstock investment when it transpired that Doyle’s half-brother to Altior... Read more »

JOE KEELING’S CRITICS

June 16, 2022

NO MATTER the apparent PR value of any gesture especially one of real scale, there will always be a critic or two waiting... Read more »

BALLYDOYLE’S YOUNG GUNS

June 16, 2022

AIDAN O’BRIEN will be banking on some big performances from his squad of two-year-olds at Royal Ascot this week to boost morale in... Read more »

PADDY TWOMEY’S TOP FORM

June 16, 2022

TIPPERARY TRAINER Paddy Twomey’s business has been on a steep upward curve this past couple of years and the progress has been amplified... Read more »

COTTER’S SETBACK

June 2, 2022

KIERAN COTTER’S progress as an upwardly mobile trainer has been halted for a while after he was the recipient of one of the... Read more »

ADDING UP AT MYRACEHORSE

June 2, 2022

THE MICRO-SHARE ownership vehicle Myracehorse.com got off to a great start when its part-owned Authentic won the Kentucky Derby in 2020 and the... Read more »

CANTILLONS IN CLOVER

June 2, 2022

DERMOT CANTILLON and his wife, former IHRB senior steward Meta Osborne hit the jackpot recently when selling one of their broodmares to the... Read more »

GORDON ELLIOTT’S SURPRISE

June 2, 2022

THERE WAS an interesting Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board referral from Punchestown in April involving trainer Gordon Elliott. The agency noted the late withdrawal... Read more »

TED WALSH’S RTÉ RIDE

May 19, 2022

PUNTERS WILL be interested to see if Ted Walsh’s latest blunder on RTÉ’s racing coverage of Punchestown has any repercussions for his long-held... Read more »

KEVIN DOYLE’S PUNT

May 19, 2022

FORMER IRISH international footballer Kevin Doyle caused something of a stir two-and-a-half years ago, when he paid €155,000 for a colt foal at... Read more »

TYNER’S TIMING

May 19, 2022

WHEN CORK trainer Robert Tyner recently announced his intention to begin winding down his business after a successful 30-year career, citing the constant... Read more »