Affairs, Racing, 19 March 2021
FIANNA FÁÍŁ TD, Jackie Cahill, is calling on Tipperary County Council to host a civic reception for jockey Rachael Blackmore when Covid restrictions allow, following her victories at Cheltenham. The festival and sport in general attracts criticism for the toll it takes on horses, with the latest casualty, Kings Temptation, being the 69th horse to… Read more »
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IN WHAT has been a most turbulent week for racing, support and sympathy for amateur jockey Rob James is going to be in short supply. There is no doubt the Cheltenham Festival winning jockey will pay a hefty price over his idiotic actions that were caught on video, but he has been spared the brunt… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 15 February 2021
THE LISTOWEL race committee members face an anxious time as they assess their battle with the Revenue Commissioners over the company’s status in relation to Corporation Tax. With the odds now favouring the taxman after the appeals commissioner ruled in its favour, the Listowl committee – chaired by top racing photographer and Listowel native Pat… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 19 January 2021
AFTER A two-year long investigation dating back to October 2018, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has sent a strong message by suspending Charles Byrnes’s training license for six months and fining him €1,000. The case arose after the Byrnes-trained Viking Hoard, which pulled up affer four hurdles at Tramore, tested positive for a sedative… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 31 December 2020
EVER SINCE Jim Bolger claimed in an Irish Field interview a few months back that racing had a doping problem and nothing was being done about it, there was an expectation that the story would grow legs. It didn’t take David Walsh of the Sunday Times long to get the bit between his teeth and gallop… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 14 August 2020
BILLIONAIRE property developer Luke Comer – currently behind high profile developments in Ballsbridge and elsewhere – wrote his name into racing’s history books when his horse, He Knows No Fear, became the longest-priced winner on record ever in Ireland and Britain, when scoring at odds of 300/1 at Leopardstown. The long odds will have come… Read more »
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JIMMY GOUGH has been in the headlines for different reasons over the past twelve months, originally from his role in an acrimonious court case against the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners that proved rather expensive for the latter. Gough is, however, currently revelling in the publicity being generated by the brilliant sprinter Sceptical, owned in… Read more »
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THE ISSUE of team tactics in racing was touched upon recently when the Ger Lyons-trained Siskin overcame a six-strong Ballydoyle battalion to win the Irish 2000 Guineas. While on that occasion it was more a case of pre-race concerns from the connections of Siskin over how any tactics might unfold, the focus was sharper at… Read more »
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THE STRIAGHT talking Ger Lyons has never been one to mince his words but for once the master of Glenburnie Stables was left speechless after landing his first Classic with Siskin in the Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh last Friday. Lyons was visibly emotional after the win and despite repeated claims from the trainer in… Read more »
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PAUL HENSEY, former manager of the Curragh racecourse, has been unveiled as the new chief operating officer of Al Shaqab Racing. Hensey – who was a casualty of the Curragh refurbishment programme that saw Derek McGrath drafted in above him as CEO – soon after parted company with the racecourse after 15 years at HQ…. Read more »
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THE ASSISTANT to Joseph O’Brien – former jockey Brendan Powell – made headlines for the wrong reasons this week after the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) handed him a £2,500 fine over a matter dating back almost three years to when he was a trainer in Lambourn in England. This is not the first time he… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 19 April 2020
FANS OF The Phoenix may not have been too surprised to see the ante being upped in relation to a horseracing scandal involving a US champion colt and performance enhancing drugs (see The Phoenix 27/3/20). Although not involved in any wrongdoing, John Magnier and his Coolmore Stud partners now face a tense few weeks as… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 21 February 2020
The fascinating case between the security chief at the Irish Horseracing Regulator Board (previously the Turf Club) Chris Gordon and the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) continues down at the Four Courts and shines a light onto various riders in the Irish racing game. The current High Court case (see The Phoenix 14/2/20) relates to claims… Read more »
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Racing, 14 November 2019
There appears to have been a juggling of the ranks by the Gigginstown team of Mick and Eddie O’Leary, with Davy Russell losing out. While never officially reappointed as number one rider, Russell was the favoured pilot in a squad that included the likes of Jack Kennedy, Rachael Blackmore, Sean Flanagan and Keith Donoghue among… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 7 November 2019
AIDAN O’BRIEN’S quest to win Australia’s richest race will have to wait another year after his crack sprinter, Ten Sovereigns, trailed in last of the 12 runners in The Everest – the €8.5m race recently run at Randwick in Sydney. It was far from doom and gloom for John Magnier’s Coolmore operation, however. With Ryan… Read more »
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Affairs, Racing, 29 October 2019
SPARE A thought for Goldhawk’s favourite ex-employee of John Magnier’s all-powerful Coolmore Stud operation – the irrepressible William Jones. Having set out to challenge the global bloodstock giant, he has ended up in very heavy ground and it looks like his race could now be run. Fans of Goldhawk will recall (see The Phoenix, 4/12/15)… Read more »
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Racing, 10 October 2019
It’s not unusual for some of the world’s top flat jockeys, like Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori, to be riding in different parts of the world on consecutive days. They would be no strangers to being jetted between Ireland, France, America and the southern hemisphere as their employers dictate. However, such a situation for a… Read more »
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Racing, 25 July 2019
FLAMBOYANT OWNER Rich Ricci had an up-and-down year last year and there were times when people were predicting his days as a free-spending owner were limited, especially after business setbacks, such as the Betbright voided bets debacle. Instead, he came out of the Betbright story with his reputation intact and finished his racing season on… Read more »
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Racing, 1 July 2019
THE FIRST barometer of how the national hunt sales market is to cope with life after Gigginstown House Stud was measured at Henry Beeby’s Goffs Land Rover Sale. And, while the top few lots may well have generated bigger prices if there had been another heavy hitter in the ring to trade bids, the overall… Read more »
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Racing, 17 June 2019
AN INTERESTING ownership alliance has emerged involving a little-known horse named Piece of Paradise. The two-year-old filly was bred by property developer Michael O’Flynn’s Rockfield Farm and, despite being listed as being sold as a yearling for £45,000 last year, the horse remains in O’Flynn’s colours. O’Flynn, however, has drafted in both Coolmore boss John… Read more »
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Racing, 11 June 2019
WITH THREE Group 1 races on the card, the Irish Guineas Festival is of the highest class, but the newly refurbished Curragh is in danger of one of those Group 1 races – the Tattersalls Gold Cup – losing its top-level status and being demoted to a Group 2 contest. The European Pattern Committee sets… Read more »
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Racing, 10 June 2019
BALLYDOYLE stalwart Seamie Heffernan is having quite a lean season by his standards, having yet to get to double-figure winners, but there was definitely a case of one result that just might have gone his way recently if the circumstances had been different. Heffernan was aboard Harpo Marx for his boss Aidan O’Brien at Leopardstown… Read more »
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Racing, 5 June 2019
MONEYBAGS Luke Comer enjoyed probably his finest moment as a trainer when Raa Atoll pulled off a well-executed plan in winning a Group 2 race in Berlin recently. There are many elements that add significance to this event for Comer, among them the fact the 2-mile Oleaner Rennen outing at Hoppegarten racecourse was sponsored by… Read more »
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Racing, 4 June 2019
NOEL HAYES must be one of the luckiest owners in the game and has struck gold again through his Sunday Racing Club with the sale of the two-year-old Sunday Sovereign. The Paddy Twomey-trained colt holds the distinction of winning the first race staged at the newly opened Curragh and, such was the impression that he… Read more »
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Racing, 30 May 2019
MEMBERS OF the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) must be wondering if a missive from Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed this week is set to land the organisation with a hefty legal bill. The matter will be adjudicated on tomorrow (May 31) and the odds on a setback for AIRO have been shortening. It… Read more »
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Racing, 21 May 2019
The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) introduced more stringent whip rules recently and jockeys, especially those riding on the flat have been finding it tough to adapt to the new regime. Since the first week of April, the maximum number of strikes permitted has been reduced to eight. If a rider exceeds that number, a… Read more »
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Racing, 20 May 2019
WITH CURRENT Naas Racecourse manager Tom Ryan about to head off to the Middle East to take up an advisory role within Saudi Arabia’s racing industry, the next Naas manager will be faced with an increasingly thorny issue when he or she takes up the baton. Find out why in the latest issue of The… Read more »
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Racing, 18 May 2019
DESPITE BEING crowned leading jumps owners for the fifth year in a row, Mick O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud had a rather poor Punchestown Festival, welcoming back just two winners from 42 runners over the five days. Could that have something to do with his decision? After all, ‘It’s the Money, Stupid.’
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Racing, 17 May 2019
ONE JUMPS owner whose enthusiasm has been tested in the latest season is Barry Connell. After a disastrous performance that yielded only seven winners – his worst in 10 years – Connell seems undeterred, having just invested heavily in new blood at the Goffs Punchestown Sale. Read more about Connell’s new nags in the latest… Read more »
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Racing, 15 May 2019
IT IS almost 18 years exactly since Mick O’Leary landed his first significant race as an owner, when the David Wachman (John Magnier’s son-in-law) trained Tuco won the Goffs Land Rover Bumper at Fairyhouse and since then O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud has scooped almost every race worth winning over jumps, even some, such as the… Read more »
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Racing, 15 May 2019
THE TRAINER Mouse Morris has had one of the longest serving relationships with Gigginstown and Mick O’Leary, but that relationship looks like it’s being put to the test following a twitter outburst by Morris’s son, Jamie. Mouse’s Beyond The Law won a chase at Cork on Easter Sunday, relegating the Gigginstown-owned Rathure Rebel to second…. Read more »
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Racing, 15 May 2019
WITH THE news that Michael O’Leary has decided to bow out from National Hunt racing over the next five years, Goldhawk has been busy perusing his archives and spotted this profile of the Gigginstown supremo from back in 2011. You can view it below for free.
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Racing, 14 May 2019
PERHAPS IT should not come as a surprise that the manager of Dundalk’s racing track is set to lash out circa €3m to provide a replacement running surface. The question is, will it be in place for the autumn/winter season when alternatives are very thin on the ground. Find out more in the latest issue… Read more »
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Racing, 13 May 2019
THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has decided to up its communications strategy, announcing the Herald’s former racing corr, Niall Cronin, as its new communications manager. Read more about Cronin in the latest issue.
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Racing, 5 May 2019
THIS SEASON has seen Scottish bookmaking supremo Kenny Alexander emerge as a growing force among the Irish jumps ownership ranks. Read more about the Great Alexander in the latest issue.
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Racing, 3 May 2019
So what next for the greatest jump jockey of all time, Ruby Walsh? The silver fox is also a wily fox and he has been expanding his extra-curricular activities over the last few years as he prepares for a life out of the saddle. Walsh has taken after his father, Ted, by going down the… Read more »
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