Horse racing and Olympic sports are different Like most people I sat down each evening over the last few weeks to watch the Olympics. It was wonderful entertainment and the Irish successes were an unexpected bonus ..read more

I grew up in a small village called the Naul in north County Dublin. My grandfather, who is originally from south County Dublin, moved up and he started training racehorses in the 1980s. He trained all the way up until the early 2000s. There was always an interest there. My dad rode a bit as an amateur - he maybe had 10 or 12 rides, but he did a lot of hunting. I kind of got into it from that. Once I got older and strong enough, I started riding racehorses and it went from there. I used to go racing a lot when I was younger and kind of fell in love with it then. It was all I kind of wanted to ..read more

Reports that Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Henry De Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell are threatening a legal challenge to Horse Racing Ireland’s (HRI) new series of 60 National Hunt races that specifically precludes these four trainers from competing is somewhat unexpected ..read more

Last Thursday shortly after 12 o’clock my dreams were dashed when I saw a red line through the name of Petrol Head in the list of runners for the Guinness Galway Hurdle ..read more

I'm from Kilmacow in Co Kilkenny. We bred National Hunt and Flat horses on the home farm and there were jockeys throughout my family - my great-grandfather and grandfather were jockeys. I would have grown up watching a lot of racing. For me, it wasn't until my early teens that I got into racing. Up until then, I would have done showjumping for a small bit. When I was younger, athletics was my main thing. I did quite okay at the athletics and it was a decision whether to pursue a career at the athletics or not. Horses took over then. I went to Dick Brabazon on the Curragh and that's where my ra ..read more

Racing is about more than just winners and losers The vast majority of people that turn up at racing Festivals like Galway at the end of this month go for the craic. A couple of drinks, a few bets, a bite to eat, maybe a couple more drinks and a good day is generally had by all ..read more

HRI moves to address National Hunt imbalance Last week Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) announced a new series of National Hunt races beginning in January that specifically precludes horses trained by Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Henry De Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell from competing ..read more

I’ve always loved the story of Ireland’s first Gold medallist at the Olympics Games, Dubliner John Pius Boland, who competed at the inaugural modern games in 1896. He had travelled to Athens on holidays to simply watch the events, but upon hearing of poor numbers of entries for the Tennis he put his name down. He borrowed a racket, but couldn’t find tennis shoes to fit and played in leather shoes before going on to win gold medals in both the singles and doubles ..read more

No winners at Comer case Appeal Last week the Appeals Body published their verdicts on the appeals made by Trainer Luke Comer and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) into the sanctions imposed on Comer at the original Referral Hearings ..read more

I live in Dromore, Co Down and I was born and reared in Downpatrick. From I was three years of age, I had my first pony - a wee Shetland called Crocus. My eldest sister would have show jumped. I jumped ponies until I was about 16 - I wouldn't have been hugely successful, to be honest, but I had a great interest. Then boys and life took over, and after a number of years my daughter Kayleigh came along. My parents still stayed involved with show jumping ponies and would have had people riding for them. My daughter immediately showed an interest in ponies. She got her first one at two and a-half ..read more