If you’re going to be a hostage to fortune then it’s best to get the manacles on good and tight so here goes – is Frankel the most overrated horse in ages? And will wiping the floor with Excelebration again in this weekend’s Lockinge prove anything different? (more…)

Irish racing’s international image got another high-profile boost at Newmarket, something the industry’s administrators will no doubt use as another example to government of how its financial assistance pays off in headline-making success stories. But not everyone makes headlines, and not everyone it seems is sharing in the glory. (more…)

Look up a definition of Camelot in its Arthurian guise and at some stage the word idealised will appear. The equine Camelot may be a red-hot favourite for this Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas but it’s hard not to suspect the same word could be employed for his Guineas claims too. (more…)

Yes, it’s about the Turf Club – again. But don’t worry. It’s for the last time – probably. After all, the Turf Club isn’t going to be around for much longer – probably. That’s 212 years disappearing over the horizon, baby. And it seems no one is going to particularly miss it either. Which is a pity. (more…)

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Sometimes you wonder if it is worth the trouble. The Easter Sunday feature at Cork was the Grade 3 Imperial Call Chase, a three mile chase worth E27,500. Four runners turned up on perfect jumping ground. The top-rated amongst the quartet was Give Us A Hand on a mark of 107: Which is pretty pathetic. (more…)

Let’s be straight: if the stewards on duty at Limerick last Thursday hadn’t thrown the “non-trier” book at Denis Hogan over his effort on Norah Starr, then it would have been a dereliction of duty. So, credit where it is due. And now let’s be just as straight again. Put the colours of one of Irish racing’s big guns on Norah Starr and do you believe duty would have been done? (more…)

Cheltenham, eh? Once you start going on about how many of the winning jockeys are Irish, and how many of the winners are bred here, then you know it’s been pretty crap. (more…)

As the Cranberries sang, everyone is else is doing it, so why not me. By now everyone is inundated with tips but on the basis that Cheltenham without tips is rather like Christmas without heartburn, here are six of the, ahem, best for the week ahead. (more…)

In this business you quickly realise returning to old subjects is far from verboten so it remains legitimate to point out – yet again – how Day Three of Cheltenham continues to be the rocky leg of the four day festival stool. (more…)

That sound you hear of relieved jockeys praising the latest “commonsense” move on the whip in Britain is actually the hollow echo of the BHA’s credibility continuing to swirl down the plughole. (more…)

Here’s Irish racing’s problem. I have a pal – I know, hard to believe – who likes the gee-gees. But what he really loves is a bet. His idea of bliss is to sit down in front of the telly and bet on the exchanges. And here’s the thing. He will bet on whatever you like: But not Irish racing. And the reason is simple – he doesn’t trust it. (more…)

The countdown to Cheltenham will dominate the next month but burbling underneath that feverish festival anticipation will be some frantic domestic lobbying as the reality of Simon Coveney’s review into Irish racing starts to take hold within the industry here. (more…)

Sunday’s Hennessy Gold Cup is the last-chance-saloon in terms of identifying a genuine Irish prospect for the Cheltenham Gold Cup but it’s the English based horse Synchronised that could be the most important runner in the race. (more…)

When this corner started out, it was the issue of racecourse attendances that slapped it in the arse and got it roaring. Any number of grievances got aired and plenty doom-laden forecasts were made about Ireland’s racecourses becoming deserted. And all of it remains relevant. But are things bottoming out? (more…)

Not unreasonably, Horse Racing Ireland put the best side out last week when announcing their 2011 statistics. And in the circumstances a rise in overall attendance figures is something worth plugging. But putting that at the top couldn’t disguise some mostly grisly reading underneath. (more…)

Some professions should not be entered into if you like popularity. Nobody for instance likes a clamper, or a tax official, or a lawyer, or indeed a reporter. In racing terms, it’s the bookie who’s the easy-fit bad guy. But there’s one role guaranteed to trump even bookie in terms of unpopularity and that’s steward. Or at least it should be. (more…)

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As an exercise in futility the indignation generated by Betfair’s “in-running” cock-up takes a helluva lot more beating than Voler La Vedette did. But what it has done is reinforce some age-old punting realities that have damn all to do with ‘apps’ or ‘bots’ or any amount of modern gambling gadgetry. (more…)