Grand National

I Am Maximus (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}) produced one of the most impressive Grand National-winning performances in some time to propel Willie Mullins to the head of the British Trainers' Championship. Owned by JP McManus and ridden by Paul Townend, last year's Irish Grand National hero represented winner number two in the Aintree showpiece for Mullins, who sent out Hedgehunter (Ire) (Montelimar) to success in 2005. Returned the 7-1 co-favourite, I Am Maximus stormed clear of Delta Work (Fr) (Network {Ger}) in second with former Gold Cup winner Minella Indo (Ire)...

Legendary jumps jockey Davy Russell says he hasn't thought about emulating Nina Carberry's achievements in flying the flag for racing by winning Ireland's version of Dancing With The Stars and revealed that riding in the Grand National or the Gold Cup does not compare to the nerves that come with competing on the show.  Russell, who bowed out from the saddle in December 2022 before briefly returning to race-riding for his long-time ally Gordon Elliott after Jack Kennedy broke his leg the following January, has heaped praise on his dancing...

Last year was a big one for John McConnell. He fulfilled a lifelong ambition when Seddon won a race at the Cheltenham festival. That bargain buy went on to win at the Punchestown festival before bringing the trainer to the American Grand National at Far Hills.  Fennor Cross was another horse to fly the flag for the stable with great distinction. Again, a cheaply-bought recruit, Fennor Cross won races at the Punchestown and Aintree festivals.  However, in what came as a bitter blow to all associated with the horse, Fennor...

Capital Stud boss Ger O'Neill has revealed that Authorized (Ire) will stand for a similar fee to dominant National Hunt stallion Walk In The Park (Ire) and outlined his hopes that the new recruit to the County Kilkenny operation will help raise the relatively new outfit's profile amongst Irish breeders.  O'Neill's perseverance paid off in securing the 20-year-old Derby winner and sire of Tiger Roll (Ire), one of the most famous jumps horses of the modern era, from the Jockey Club of Turkey for what he described as "a frightening"...

Authorized (Ire), the brilliant Derby-winning son of Montjeu (Ire) who has made his name as a leading jumps sire through the exploits of Tiger Roll (Ire), Nichols Canyon (GB) and I Am Maximus (Fr), is set to return to Ireland where he will stand at Ger O'Neill's Capital Stud in County Kilkenny.  O'Neill revealed on Thursday that a deal has been struck with the Jockey Club of Turkey, where Authorized has stood since 2020, to bring the 19-year-old back to a jurisdiction where his stock is in most demand.  Dual...

As part of a "relentless focus on welfare", the Jockey Club has announced a number of changes to the Randox Grand National, including reducing the maximum number of starters from 40 to 34. Having canvassed the views of a wide range of racing industry stake-holders as well as World Horse Welfare, the Jockey Club has settled upon five key changes to the Aintree showcase, which will be run next year on Saturday, April 13. Last year's race was delayed by 15 minutes after protestors invaded the track. One of the...

History-making jockey Rachael Blackmore, who in 2021 became the first woman to ride the winner of the Grand National, has been made an honorary MBE for services to sport. After landing Aintree's famous race aboard Minella Times (Ire), Blackmore, 33, also won the following season's Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard (Fr). The Irish jockey was crowned leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021, the same year she won the BBC Sports Personality's World Sport Star of the Year award. Notably, she forged a famous partnership with the...

The headline to this piece is deliberately binary. That is, after all, what heated debates on social media or even more traditional media platforms, usually come down to: love or hate. And, let's face it, in this clickbait age, that's often deliberately so, to inflame the debate. The art of reasonable and nuanced argument is all but lost. It was with wearying predictability in the countdown to Saturday's Grand National that we witnessed the pink t-shirted protestors attempting to scale the perimeter fences of Aintree. A few glued themselves to...

British Horseracing Authority [BHA] chief executive Julie Harrington has condemned the actions of protestors who delayed the Grand National and also announced a "painstaking" analysis will take place in a bid to  try and understand what caused three fatalities over the three days of the meeting. The Sandy Thomson-trained Hill Sixteen suffered a fatal fall at the first fence in the race that was delayed by around 15 minutes after animal activists stormed the track. Two more horses were killed at the meeting. In a statement released on Sunday, Harrington...

Corach Rambler provided trainer Lucinda Russell and jockey Derek Fox with their second Grand National triumph at Aintree on Saturday after the race was delayed due to a number of animal rights activists storming the track. Successful in 2017 with One For Arthur, Russell and Fox repeated the trick with Corach Rambler, who had enough in reserve to hold off the fast-finishing Vanillier in a race where Sandy Thompson's Hill Sixteen suffered a fatal fall at the first fence.  A winner at the past two Cheltenham Festivals, Corach Rambler was...

In light of criticism from animal rights activists in the build-up to the Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, Stand Up For Racing, a gathering of passionate horse racing professionals that will seek to represent the racing and breeding industries, has been formed.  The concept arose out of a widely-held frustration that the racing and breeding industries are not always well represented when questioned in the mainstream media and on social media, often allowing damaging misinformation and misconceptions to prevail. The aim of the group is to unite all of...

Jessica Harrington is the most successful female trainer that Ireland has ever produced. The 76-year-old has sent out multiple Cheltenham Festival winners, including the legendary Champion Chaser Moscow Flyer (Ire), as well as Classic winners Alpha Centauri (Ire) and Magical Lagoon (Ire) from her Moone-based stables in County Kildare. Plans are now afoot to take home more big-race riches this season and, despite the fact that Harrington is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, there is only one topic of conversation at the breakfast table at this time of year....