Article Category: Sport of Kings

RONNIE WOODS’S NEXT HIT?

July 27, 2017
ALL ROADS lead to Ballybrit this week as the seven-day bonanza for the Galway Races. It will be interesting to see how Dermot Weld... Read more »

DRAMA AT KILLARNEY

July 27, 2017
Henry de Bromhead KILLARNEY’S summer festival provided its share of drama, with the penultimate race declared void after Stars Over The Sea was deemed... Read more »

EVEREST TOO STEEP FOR ‘CARAVAGGIO’?

July 27, 2017
Caravaggio JOHN MAGNIER has gone on public record over Coolmore’s great white hope, Caravaggio, potentially serving as a much needed breeding outcross to the... Read more »

COLIN KEANE’S CHANCES

July 13, 2017
LOOKING AHEAD from the flat season’s mid-point, it looks as if there could be a surprise in store at the end of the year,... Read more »

Lambe’s Loss

July 13, 2017
DUNGANNON trainer James Lambe is back in the courts. The handler found himself in a spot of financial bother back in 2015, having lost... Read more »

LUKE COMER’S TRAINER

July 13, 2017
IT WILL be interesting to follow the latest instalment in the Luke Comer training saga, the story that just keeps on giving. Comer has... Read more »

JOHN MAGNIER’S TACTICS

July 13, 2017
MUCH HAS been written of the Curragh this year and the hullaballoo over the board’s decision to run the Irish Derby and day two... Read more »

JUMPING THE QUEUE

June 29, 2017
THE RACE planning division of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has been under fire from some of Ireland’s leading flat trainers. Ger Lyons, Jim Bolger... Read more »

FRAN BERRY’S TOUGH TASK

June 29, 2017
IRISH JOCKEY Fran Berry faces an uphill challenge to reinvigorate his riding career with news that his brief tenure as stable jockey to trainer... Read more »

Philip Reynolds’s Roster

June 29, 2017
CHELTENHAM Festival winning owner Philip Reynolds has consolidated his roster of trainers with Curragh trainer Eddie Harty the major victim of the streamlining process.... Read more »

VICHAI’S DEEP POCKETS

June 29, 2017
GOFFS hosted international racing’s plutocrats at The Orangery in Kensington Palace on the eve of Royal Ascot last week, when the firm offered around... Read more »

ELLIOTT’S NEW GAME

June 15, 2017
NOT CONTENT with equalling the record for the number of jumps winners trained in a season, Gordon Elliott has set his sights on the... Read more »

AL THANI’S HYDROGEN PROBLEM

June 15, 2017
WHEN SHEIKH Fahad Al Thani forked out the sale-topping sum of 2.5m guineas for a Galileo yearling half-brother to Epsom Derby winner Authorized at... Read more »

BOLGER’S BARK

June 15, 2017
JIM BOLGER has never been a man to mince his words and he didn’t hold back recently when describing Pat Smullen’s performance in the... Read more »

HEAVY GOING AT GODOLPHIN

June 15, 2017
THE GODOLPHIN racing and breeding operation of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum has been playing second fiddle to John Magnier’s Coolmore and Ballydoyle enterprises for... Read more »

ENGLISH LESSON

June 2, 2017
UP AND COMING young Dublin trainer, Damien English, has carved out a well-earned reputation for buying cheap cast-offs from other trainers and developing them... Read more »

MOOLAH FOR McCARTAN

June 2, 2017
JIM McCARTAN has been having a stellar season at the breeze up sales (see The Phoenix 5/5/17) and he landed another almighty touch in... Read more »

Tatts v Goffs

June 2, 2017
With two strong Irish companies operating in the small market of Irish bloodstock sales there is always going to be attempts to get ‘one... Read more »

COMER CASE CLOSED?

June 2, 2017
THE TURF CLUB certainly finds itself in an awkward position with moneybags Luke Comer these days. After handing out another €2,500 fine plus €5,000... Read more »

DAVID WACHMAN’S ‘WINNERS’

May 17, 2017
WHEN TRAINER David Wachman announced his plan to retire from training last year, a lot of eyebrows were raised among the horsey set who... Read more »

CATHAL BEALE’S BIG JOB

May 17, 2017
CATHAL BEALE would not have been a name at the top of many people’s lists when it came to the chief executive vacancy at... Read more »

GOFFS GETs its MAN

May 17, 2017
THERE HAS always been a healthy rivalry between the two Irish sales companies, Goffs and Tattersalls Ireland, but Henry Beeby and his team at... Read more »

JESSICA’s SYNDICATE

May 17, 2017
THERE WERE celebrations in Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) when the Jessica Harrington-trained Tilly’s Chilli toughed out a game success at Roscommon recently, the filly’s... Read more »

WHAT BREXIT?

May 3, 2017
THE IMPENDING Brexit hasn’t had much negative impact on bloodstock trade in Britain thus far, if prices at recent auctions are anything to go... Read more »

JUMPING FOR JOY

May 3, 2017
WHILE THE flat breeze up market is no doubt underpinned to a certain extent by Arab money, there are no such resources fuelling the... Read more »

JOHN OSBORNE’s STEPPING STONE

May 3, 2017
HRI HAS strengthened its management team with the recent appointment of both Jonathan Mullin and John Osborne. The latter looks to have bigger fish... Read more »

TAKING ON WILLIE MULLINS

May 3, 2017
THE Punchestown Festival coincided with the culmination of the epic battle for the champion jumps trainer award between young pretender (and eventual runner-up) Gordon... Read more »

LUKE COMER’S PROBATION

April 19, 2017
LUKE COMER SNR’S plan to develop a state-of-the-art training centre at his property in Kilternan had a setback recently and the jury is out... Read more »

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS FOR JAMIE CODD

April 19, 2017
AS TRAINERS Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott continue their high profile battle for the Irish trainers championship, there is another contest going on in... Read more »

BIG YEAR FOR JOHN OXX

April 19, 2017
IT WAS good to see John Oxx start off the flat season with a nice winner but he is facing a tough season to... Read more »

AIDAN O’BRIEN’S PRIORITIES

April 19, 2017
IT HAS been a less than impressive start to the flat season for Aidan O’Brien but he is getting ready for the first big... Read more »

MAGNIER AND SHEIKH MOHAMMED

April 5, 2017
THE LONG-RUNNING and entertaining coolness between the Coolmore and Godolphin powerhouses looks to be finally fizzling out. For many years there has been a... Read more »

PAT DOYLE’S LATE CALL

April 5, 2017
AN INTERESTING scenario was revealed at Cork races recently after the Pat Doyle-trained Kaiser Black won a five-runner maiden hurdle in effortless fashion. His... Read more »

BLUEBLOODS AT NAAS

April 5, 2017
NAAS RACECOURSE manager Tom Ryan was no doubt excited to have hosted the opening day of the flat season recently, after the curtain-raiser was... Read more »

Wayne Jordan’s Rough Ride

April 5, 2017
ON JUST his second ride for Aidan O’Brien since joining the Ballydoyle squad of jockeys, Wayne Lordon found himself in hot water with the... Read more »

KIERAN FALLON’S FUTURE

April 5, 2017
FORMER MULTIPLE champion jockey and all round troubled soul, Kieran Fallon, is seriously considering a training career. Fallon has spent the winter in Dubai... Read more »