Article Category: Sport of Kings

PAUL HENSEY’S NEW GIG

May 3, 2018
FORMER CURRAGH Racecourse manager Paul Hensey has bounced back with a new gig after being squeezed out of his previous role when current chief... Read more »

MARK FLOOD’S FITZWILLIAM FANS

April 19, 2018
FITZWILLIAM RACING was a name that cropped up a few times in the winner’s enclosure last year and the investment syndicate, set up by... Read more »

PHILIP FENTON’S RETURN?

April 19, 2018
COULD Philip Fenton be planning a return to the training ranks? The former champion amateur jockey and multiple Grade 1 winning trainer was handed... Read more »

BREEZE UPS AND DOWNS

April 19, 2018
BRYAN COOPER’S new venture as a seller of breeze up horses has gotten off to a stuttering start. Cooper – in partnership with his... Read more »

JOHN MAGNIER’S KENTUCKY CHANCES

April 19, 2018
DESPITE HIS glut of accolades and achievements on the turf, Saturday, May 5 in Churchill Downs could see Aidan O’Brien and John Magnier raise... Read more »

KEN CONDON SEEKS WINX CHINKS

April 5, 2018
WITH ALL that ‘will she or won’t she’ speculation surrounding Australian superstar Winx’s potential Royal Ascot challenge now over and done, it’s good to... Read more »

PAUL NOLAN’S COMEBACK

April 5, 2018
TWO FORMER leading lights of the Irish jumps scene – Bryan Cooper and Paul Nolan – have joined forces and are beginning to help... Read more »

Handicapping tyro trainers

April 5, 2018
AT A time when the number of active Irish trainers is reducing, it is ironic that the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has cancelled... Read more »

DÉJA VU FOR MULLINS AND ELLIOTT

April 5, 2018
THIS TIME last year Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins were locked in a duel for the champion Irish jumps trainer’s title and this time... Read more »

KERRI RADCLIFFE’S SUDDEN EXIT

March 22, 2018
READERS WILL recall (see The Phoenix 9/3/18) that Goldhawk was impressed by the size of the wedge chucked about by bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe... Read more »

GER LYONS LETS LOOSE

March 22, 2018
DUNDALK RACECOURSE hosted the most valuable race held at the track recently but the €75,000 Patton Stakes – part of a new European road... Read more »

CHELTENHAM’S MELON FLAVOUR

March 22, 2018
WHILE TRAINER Gordon Elliott will always be the golden boy as far as Mick O’Leary is concerned, Davy Russell and Henry De Bromhead surely... Read more »

PETER BRANT JOINS THE COOLMORE BOYS

March 22, 2018
THE FALL from grace of South African tycoon Marcus Jooste left a gap in the market for an investor to join the Coolmore triumvirate... Read more »

PASSPORT PROBLEMS

March 8, 2018
THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) released its 2017 integrity statistics recently, some of which made for interesting if concerning reading. Goldhawk has previously... Read more »

DORAN SWITCHES STABLES

March 8, 2018
IT’S NOT often that Gordon Elliott has horses removed from his yard to be sent to another trainer but London-based builder Tom Doran obviously... Read more »

PHOENIX RISING SLOWLY

March 8, 2018
PHOENIX THOROUGHBREDS has been a name on a lot of bloodstock players’ lips this past year and the emerging force in world bloodstock is... Read more »

CHELTENHAM’S GREEN GLOSS

March 8, 2018
IRISH PUNTERS will flock to Cheltenham this year high on confidence following last year’s phenomenal results. Irish trainers were responsible for more winners than... Read more »

AFTER AT THE RACES

February 22, 2018
THE FALLOUT following the recent shock news that At The Races will cease to broadcast Irish racing on its channel is continuing to have... Read more »

BRYAN COOPER’S RARE RIDES

February 22, 2018
BRYAN COOPER’S latest retainer looks to have come to an end after a very brief association. In November last year, Cooper got drafted in... Read more »

DENIS EGAN’S LATE LATE SHOW

February 22, 2018
THE ACTING stewards at the Dublin Racing Festival came in for quite a bit of flak over their failure to investigate the poor performance... Read more »

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S MOOLAH

February 8, 2018
SPARE A thought for the hard-up Joseph O’Brien who got fined “half a week’s wages” for speeding offences recently. The Melbourne Cup winning trainer... Read more »

HARD GOING AT GOWRAN

February 8, 2018
UK-BASED teenage prodigy James Bowen didn’t cover himself in glory on his first trip to Ireland as a fully fledged jockey at Gowran Park... Read more »

KAVANAGH’S PR EXERCISE

February 8, 2018
THE CHIEF executive of Horse Racing Ireland, Brian Kavanagh, took the opportunity to build some bridges recently when he made mollifying comments on the... Read more »

AL SHAQAB’S NEXT MOVE?

February 8, 2018
FRANKIE DETTORI has had his wings clipped slightly by his retained stable, Al Shaqab Racing. The Qatari outfit’s major reduction in their UK-based string... Read more »

DONNACHA O’BRIEN’S HEAVY GOING

January 25, 2018
IT WOULD appear jockey Donnacha O’Brien is beginning to lose his battle with the scales if a steward’s inquiry at Dundalk recently is anything... Read more »

MULLINS RUNNING OUT OF TRACK

January 25, 2018
WILLIE MULLINS finds himself in a tricky situation at the moment regarding the defence of his Irish trainer’s title. With the upcoming Dublin Racing... Read more »

HUGHIE MORRISON’S SOFT HANDLING

January 25, 2018
HORSERACING’S ongoing efforts to portray the sport’s clean image and to maintain a zero tolerance policy on the use of steroids has hit a... Read more »

FOGGY STYLE

January 25, 2018
IT APPEARED fairly straightforward that when Devine Star got lost in the fog at Clonmel a few weeks back, resulting in her rivals setting... Read more »

BIG MONEY MISTAKES

January 11, 2018
GIVEN THE eye-watering sums being lashed out at auction houses in Ireland and England for the perceived cream of the racing crop, it can... Read more »

BAD NEWS FOR THE DOYLE BOYS

January 11, 2018
THE PUBLIC fall from grace of South African business tycoon Markus Jooste was bad news for many of his countrymen who had their pension... Read more »

SHORT ODDS AT THE TOTE

January 11, 2018
WHEN Killahara Castle popped up at 200/1 in a mares hurdle at Thurles before Christmas, her connections – the Burke family (trained, ridden and... Read more »

RICCI’S LEOPARDSTOWN WOES

January 11, 2018
LEOPARDSTOWN’S 2017 Christmas Festival will be remembered for many of the wrong reasons. The four-day festival threw up some downright bizarre results and provided... Read more »

FINING MICHAEL WINTERS

December 14, 2017
WHEN THE Michael Winters trained Churchtown Glen ran at Cork last month, finishing a never nearer seventh under tender handling from jockey Barry John... Read more »

REPLACING LEXUS?

December 14, 2017
WITH THE Leopardstown Christmas Festival on the horizon, it is disappointing to learn that Lexus has withdrawn its sponsorship of the Day Three feature... Read more »

DUKE LOSES OUT

December 14, 2017
HAVING ENDURED a frustrating end to the flat season as he waved goodbye to two of his best prospects – Warm The Voice and... Read more »

DECLAN McDONAGH DOWNSIZED

November 30, 2017
JOHN OXX’S decision not to retain a jockey for next season has left Declan McDonagh without a first jockey position at any yard but... Read more »