Article Category: Sport of Kings

MULLINS MAKES HAY

October 5, 2017
SPARE A thought for Harry Kelly and Philip Rothwell, who are the latest trainers to fall victim to the particular skills of Willie Mullins.... Read more »

More millions for Ballylinch’s John Malone

October 5, 2017
AS FANS of Goldhawk are aware, the decade-long standoff between the two superpowers, Coolmore and Godolphin, looks like ancient history and, as predicted, Sheikh... Read more »

CURRAGH DEBATE KEEPS RUMBLING

September 21, 2017
FOR A media savvy, ex-RTÉ employee Jonathan Mullin has certainly made a quiet start to his new role as Director of Communications and Corporate... Read more »

PEACE IN OUR TIME?

September 21, 2017
THE TRADE embargo between Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin racing stable and Coolmore appears well and truly put to bed and it seems the removal of... Read more »

KEVIN BLAKE’S NEW ROLE

September 21, 2017
PROFESSIONAL punter, author, journalist and general racing pundit Kevin Blake may have to scale back on his At The Races TV appearances now that... Read more »

O’LEARY THE TOP SELLER

September 21, 2017
MICHAEL O’LEARY’s Gigginstown House Stud is no stranger to making headlines at bloodstock auctions by splashing out on the top lots but the stud... Read more »

BRYAN COOPER’S DILEMMA

September 7, 2017
BRYAN COOPER is experiencing a bad run of luck that has seen him struggling badly to pick up rides. Will he cross the Irish... Read more »

SEAN MULRYAN’S SECOND ROUND

September 7, 2017
SEAN MULRYAN’S tentative move back into racehorse ownership has got off to a positive start. His City Ballerina, which runs in the colours of... Read more »

BALLYDOYLE’S TROJAN WORKERS

September 7, 2017
WITH ALL the media focus on those overworked hapless grooms in Ballydoyle, it is perhaps surprising that nobody has mentioned any of the horses.... Read more »

SEAN DOYLE’S BIG SPENDING

September 7, 2017
WEXFORD TRAINER Sean “Farmer” Doyle is back in the crosshairs of the Turf Club team of inspectors following a routine inspection carried out in... Read more »

Conor O’Dwyer’s Comeback

August 24, 2017
Conor O’Dwyer CONOR O’DWYER’S training career is clearly experiencing a renaissance this summer as the Curragh-based handler enjoys the most productive spell of his... Read more »

O’Brien Jnr Targets Title

August 24, 2017
Joseph O’Brien LAST YEAR’S race for the title of champion jumps trainer proved riveting and went down to the very last day of the... Read more »

Beckford’s Near Miss

August 24, 2017
GORDON ELLIOTT and his team came agonisingly close to gaining a brilliant Group 1 win at the Curragh recently, when Beckford just failed to... Read more »

OSBORNE MAKES HIS MARK

August 10, 2017
Joe Osborne JOE OSBORNE has wasted little time in making his presence felt in his new role as chief executive of Sheikh Mohammed al... Read more »

CHOOSY RUBY

August 10, 2017
Ruby Walsh JOCKEY EXTRAORDINAIRE Ruby Walsh has become highly selective when choosing his mounts these days and it may be a hint that the... Read more »

Legal Jockeying

August 10, 2017
Brian Kavanagh INTERESTING to see proceedings being lodged in the High Court by one Andrew Thornton against Fairyhouse racecourse and its owner, Brian Kavanagh’s... Read more »

JUSTICE FOR BROOKHOUSE

August 10, 2017
Roger Brookhouse WHEN UK-based owner Roger Brookhouse lodged an appeal with the Turf Club over its decision to void the race in Killarney last... Read more »

HOGAN’S WISHFUL WINNINGS

July 27, 2017
Denis Hogan THE APPEALS and Referrals division of the Turf Club has had a busy month as the robustness of rule 212 has been... Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »