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Sport of Kings

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 »

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

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 »

O’LOUGHLIN’S IHRB PRESCRIPTION

May 19, 2022

USUALLY WHEN an outsider is appointed to a high-profile position in horseracing, there is a mention or two about how he or she... Read more »

THIRTY-FIRST TIME LUCKY

May 5, 2022

WHEN THE Ado McGuinness-trained Lariat won a low-grade handicap at Bellewstown recently, it was the horse’s first victory in a two-year period during... Read more »

SHARK ATTACK

May 5, 2022

KILKENNY TRAINER John ‘Shark’ Hanlon has already achieved the remarkable feat by winning a Grade 1 race with a Willie Mullins-trained cast-off when... Read more »

MULLINS RIDES ON

May 5, 2022

PUNCHESTOWN CLEARLY hasn’t lost its appeal from a social point of view, with more than 40,000 racegoers cramming the enclosures last Friday and... Read more »

MAGNIER VS MAKTOUM

May 5, 2022

LAST WEEKEND’S Guineas Festival at Newmarket signalled the return in force of the European flat season and judged on the brilliant one-two in... Read more »

GORDON ELLIOTT’S TV SNUB

April 20, 2022

WHEN GORDON ELLIOTT trained a Grade 1 double at Aintree recently, with JP McManus’s Three Strip Life and Sire Du Berlais, there were... Read more »

NO MONEY NO HONEY

April 20, 2022

WHEN THE Nicky Henderson-trained Constitution Hill stormed to victory in the opening race at Cheltenham last month, his owner Michael Buckley suggested he... Read more »

THE DRIVE FOR FIVE

April 20, 2022

THE TALK of Cheltenham possibly adding on a fifth day to the annual March shindig has been rumbling on for some time now... Read more »

TOLERATING TITAN JACK

April 20, 2022

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board has put a lot of effort in recent times into discouraging non-triers and rooting out doping offenders. One... Read more »

Quevega Cheltenham Winners Willie Mullins

UNFINISHED BUSINESS FOR WILLIE

April 7, 2022

NOT SINCE the 1950s when Vincent O’Brien was crowned champion jumps trainer in Britain has an Irish trainer achieved this feat but Willie... Read more »

HARRINGTON’S WRIST SLAP

April 7, 2022

WHEN THE Co Kildare premises used by the now high-profile equine therapist John Warwick were raided by Department of Agriculture officials in tandem... Read more »