Irish racing

The new Each Way Extra Challenge Series, which begins at Gowran Park on October 3, will be sponsored by William Hill. The seven-month series runs until April of next year and is spread across 50 races at 28 meetings and 13 Irish racecourses. The William Hill Each Way Extra Challenge Series will allocate points per race to trainers and jockeys on a first to seventh place finishing basis (10,6,5,4,3,2,1) with an overall table to decide the prize winners at the final fixture on April 24, 2026. The winning trainer will...

Paddy Twomey's squad has been bolstered by the return of one-time leading Derby prospect Deepone (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}), with the trainer hinting at having assembled his strongest-ever team of horses for the year ahead.  Talented sprinter King Cuan (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) is another older horse who is reported to be back training well while Donagh O'Connor has joined the stable as second jockey behind Billy Lee. However, Twomey admitted to becoming increasingly frustrated by what he describes as 'disgraceful' levels of prize-money in Irish racing, and backed up...

Fozzy Stack shares his loathing of the limelight, quest for finding a good horse and more There is a famous quote attributed to Benjamin Disraeli that says, "talk to a man about himself, and he will listen for hours." Poor old Benjamin clearly never spent a morning in the company of Fozzy Stack-a man who is nothing short of allergic to any form of self praise or adulation.  For the best part of 25 years, Fozzy has sent out a raft of high-class winners for some of the biggest names...

Michael O'Sullivan, who was seriously injured in a fall at Thurles on February 6, died on Sunday morning. He was 24. The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) expressed "profound sadness" when releasing a statement on behalf of the O'Sullivan family to confirm the passing of the Cheltenham Festival-winning jockey.  "The Directors and staff of the IHRB wish to extend their sincere condolences to Michael's family, partner, friends, his colleagues in the weigh-room and the wider racing community at this time," it read.  The IHRB's chief medical officer Dr Jennifer Pugh...

I recently finished reading a book called "The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, The World's Greatest Racehorse" by Lawrence Scanlon. Figuring to maybe get a new tidbit or two about the great horse, I was astonished at how it really was more of a pilgrimage of someone becoming a passionate fan. It covered a lot of information about "Big Red" (or "Super Red" if you feel the former belongs to Man o' War), but what was much more interesting was how it provided a look at the...

The 2025 Irish fixture list was published by Horse Racing Ireland on Friday. The number of fixtures is unchanged from 2024 at 395 after the Board of HRI approved the list in their meeting earlier this week. Only four fixtures remain to be allocated, with the remainder retained as floating fixtures to be utilised during the year to deal with time periods when there is very high demand for opportunities to run from the horse population. There is also a contingency fixture list to reassign Tipperary's dates if needed while...

With apologies to Monty Python, we bring you the view from Rathmullan Beach, by the inimitable Patrick Cooper, as he muses country life in an election year for Ireland Imagine the horror of it. The Flat season is almost upon us and you wake up one morning and realise you have misplaced your jockey. You know the routine. Car keys.. I know I just had them in my hand...Raybans...I know I left them beside the keys...cap, raincoat and shoes, I know I left them inside the back door. Ever growing...

There is a new name over the door at Copper Beech Stables, one of the finest training establishments in Ireland, with trainer Cormac Farrell confirming that he has taken over the yard from Michael Halford. It was last February when Halford, who had sent out almost 500 winners from Copper Beech Stables in 16 full seasons, including Group 1 scorer Casamento (Ire), announced that he had taken the decision to combine forces with Tracey Collins under the banner of Conyngham Lodge.  Farrell, a respected trainer in his own right but...

The board of the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation named Gwen Browne and Shane Loughnane as recipients of scholarships, which includes tuition and room and board, for the 2024 National Stud course in county Kildare, Ireland, the organization said in a release Thursday. Studying Stud Management at Kildalton College in county Kilkenny while apprenticing under trainers Mags Mullins and Pat Foley, Browne subsequently worked for leading trainer Jessica Harrington's stables in county Kildare followed by a stint with Segenhoe Stud in the Hunter Valley, Australia. Prior to being accepted onto...

Irish Racing Yearbook 2024, an annual chronicle of horse racing in Ireland, the achievements of Irish people on foreign soil while covering the entire spectrum of the sport of racing and thoroughbred industry in the form of interviews, profiles, analysis and more, is now available for purchase. The collection is a collaboration of the best writers and photographers with the leading protagonists in all spheres from breeding to sales, from point-to-point tracks to the racecourse. The cover story is written by Donn McClean, providing insight from three-time Gold Cup winner...

The 2024 Irish fixture list, which will see the number of meetings rise to 395 while also extending the industry breaks in winter and summer and maintain six blank Sundays, was published by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Thursday. There were 390 fixtures scheduled for 2023. All of the 2024 fixtures have been allocated barring four, and horses-in-training numbers are up 2%. Six turf fixtures have been added to the 2024 fixture list, initially on a one-year basis, and will held at Punchestown (Bank Holiday Monday, Feb. 5), the Curragh...

Horse Racing Ireland boss Suzanne Eade has put attendance figures towards the top of her priority list for the remainder of 2023 and hailed the resilience of owners against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis as the six-month statistics were revealed on Thursday.  Attendances have climbed 7.6% to 544,147 for the first six months of the year while sponsorship rose 4.8% to €4.4m with horses winning overall prize money of €30.6m. That is up 1% on last year's corresponding figures, despite a reduction in the number of race...