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Sport of Kings

LESS THAN APPEALING

January 13, 2022

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) boosted its coffers at the end of 2021 when handing out €6,000 fines to two small-scale trainers,... Read more »

DOUG TAYLOR’S NEW STALLION

December 16, 2021

DOUG TAYLOR has not been afraid to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to horseflesh and the MCR group... Read more »

FROSTY TIMES OFF TRACK

December 16, 2021

THE HIGH-profile Bryony Frost/Robbie Dunne episode has opened a can of worms about a deep-set culture in the sport rather than a personal... Read more »

LONELY FOR HUSBANDS

December 16, 2021

WHEN LEOPARDSTOWN manager Tim Husbands announced he planned to cap the attendance at the four-day Christmas festival to a healthy 10,000 a day,... Read more »

HALF-TERM SCHOOL REPORT

December 16, 2021

WITH THE jumps season well past the halfway point at this stage, the respective tables for leading jockey and trainer prove noteworthy. Rachael... Read more »

ROTHWELL’S REACTION

December 2, 2021

PHILIP ROTHWELL is certainly making an impression with his recent interviews on Racing TV. The Wicklow trainer delivered an emotional performance, after landing... Read more »

MCNALLY DOES IT AGAIN

December 2, 2021

CONTROVERSIAL TRAINER Ronan McNally got one over on the bookies once again when landing a well-executed gamble with All Class at Punchestown. The... Read more »

AFTER THE RAID

December 2, 2021

AS THE dust settles on that raid on a premises near Monasterevin, Co Kildare, the IHRB confirmed that hair and blood tests carried... Read more »

PAPERWORK PREVARICATION

December 2, 2021

IT APPEARS the IHRB has a significant backlog of cases on its books judging by a recent case that came before the referrals... Read more »

SANGRIA AT DUNDALK

November 18, 2021

THERE WAS confusion at Dundalk recently after jockey Mikey Sheehy steered home the Joseph O’Brien-trained Sangria to victory. Sheehy, one of the leading... Read more »

COMER’S BLOODLINES

November 18, 2021

LUKE COMER’S ambitious breeding and training endeavours have finally borne some low-hanging fruit after his homebred four-year-old colt, Bradesco, won at Dundalk last... 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

FITZGERALD’S BAD WEEK

November 18, 2021

AINTREE GRAND National sponsor, diagnostics company Randox, has been in the news for the wrong reasons as a result of landing lucrative Covid... Read more »

HYLAND HOPS INTO SADDLE

November 18, 2021

THE ASSOCIATION of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) held its annual flat awards on the final day of the season at Naas recently, but... Read more »

HEFFERNAN’S WHIP HAND

November 4, 2021

SEAMIE HEFFERNAN’S problems with the whip don’t show ending any time soon, with the Ballydoyle No 2 finding himself in hot water again... Read more »

MICK’S MUNIFICENCE

November 4, 2021

BOLSHY MONEYBAGS Mick O’Leary showed his apparent softer side when he revealed that he had allowed Gordon Elliott to invest in few young... Read more »

MUSICAL CHAIRS AT DOWN ROYAL

November 4, 2021

DOWN ROYAL’S big jumps meeting heralded the return of some of the sports major national hunt heroes, including this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup... Read more »

SLOW OUT THE GATE

November 4, 2021

WHEN THE government announced a further relaxation of Covid-related restrictions on October 22, it was expected that racecourses and Horse Racing Ireland (HRI)... Read more »

FARRELLY’S LIFETIME BAN

October 21, 2021

DUBLIN NATIVE Johnny Farrelly’s training career in the UK has come to a shuddering halt after the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) served him... Read more »

O’BRIEN’S RATING GAME

October 21, 2021

RACING FANS might imagine that Joseph O’Brien has a few more things to worry about than a 2lb differential in the rating of... Read more »

BALLYDOYLE RUES THE RULES

October 21, 2021

FOR SOMEBODY with a reputation for diplomacy, trainer Aidan O’Brien surprisingly used a recent Racing Post interview to get a few things off... Read more »

CALDWELL’S CLARION CALL

October 21, 2021

THE HEAD of the Irish Stable Staff Association, Bernard Caldwell, doesn’t pop his head over the parapet too often, but tends to make... Read more »

DONNACHA’S DIFFICULT SEASON

October 7, 2021

HAVING MADE an explosive start to his training career last year, the pace has slowed somewhat for Donnacha O’Brien this year. Group 1... Read more »

EDDIE SCALLY’S DRAW DEBATE

October 7, 2021

GOWRAN PARK is seen as one of the more progressive and well-run racetracks, with manager Eddie Scally highly regarded. There is, however, some... Read more »

MUST TRY HARDER

October 7, 2021

IT HAS long been whispered that the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board is adept at clamping down on non-trier cases involving small-scale trainers but... Read more »

BYRNES BACK WITH A BANG

October 7, 2021

WHAT BETTER way to celebrate a return from a six-month suspension than to land an old-fashioned gamble in a competitive handicap in the... Read more »

John Magnier has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to a legal dispute over the 750-acre Barne Estate in Tipperary, while Moya Doherty had a problem with her neighbour.

MAGNIER DETHRONED

September 23, 2021

IN WHAT represents a momentous changing of the guard, 2021 looks like being the first year this century that a Coolmore stallion will... Read more »

O’BRIEN’S HEAVY GOING

September 23, 2021

ALTHOUGH VICTORY went his way in the feature event on Champions weekend, when St Mark’s Basilica survived a stewards’ enquiry to win the... Read more »

MICKO’S CLEAR-OUT CONTINUES

September 23, 2021

MICK O’LEARY’S annual clearance sale at Goffs UK in Doncaster takes on more significance nowadays, given that he is not restocking his squad... Read more »

KEEPING UP WITH CHRIS TIMMONS

September 23, 2021

THE PRACTICE of dual licences, whereby a jockey can also hold a trainer’s permit, is not uncommon. Denis Hogan has been successfully riding... Read more »

GORDON ELLIOT’S RETURN

September 9, 2021

THE NAME of Gordon Elliott will make a return to race cards this week after a six-month absence. While the Irish racing community... Read more »

GRASSICK’S TIMING ISSUE

September 9, 2021

IT WILL be interesting to see what stance Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) takes after the underwhelming lobbying efforts of the Irish Racehorse Trainers’... Read more »

ZEROING IN ON CATHAL BYRNES

September 9, 2021

RACECOURSE STEWARDS appear to be paying particular attention to horses trained by the Byrnes boys these days. Certainly, there was a fuss made... Read more »

WEIGHTY ISSUES

September 9, 2021

FLAT RACING is often decided by fine margins including the weight carried, with a couple of pounds differential often the difference between winning... Read more »

ROTHWELL’S HARD GOING

August 26, 2021

TRAINER PHILIP Rothwell has been on something of a crusade all summer to find the perfect ground conditions for his horses — but... Read more »

ABDULAZIZ AT EASE

August 26, 2021

THE ON-GOING involvement in Irish racing of alleged money launderer, Amer Abdulaziz of Phoenix Thoroughreds, came into focus again recently, due to the... Read more »

O’CALLAGHAN’S RISKY PUNT

August 26, 2021

MANY TRAINERS (Jim Bolger is a notable exception) operate on a business model based on investment into horses in training from third parties... Read more »