We talk a lot on this platform about the stuff that surrounds the business of racing horses but no one would give a fiddlers about that if the animals themselves – and betting on them – weren’t so fascinating so let the last one of 2010 be about deciding our “Horse Of The Year.” (more…)

An American businessman once defined integrity as what we do, what we say, and what we say we do. A more famous explanation is that integrity isn’t a ninety per cent thing or a ninety five per cent thing; you either have it or you don’t. So what then does a seven per cent slash of the Turf Club’s integrity service budget say about Irish racing? (more…)

A happy bookmaker is a sure sign that the racing industry has got the rough end of whatever political stick might be being passed around and so it is again after a budget that emphasised once more what an inept and gutless government we will all soon be waving goodbye to. (more…)

The perpetuating beauty of conspiracy theories is that a complete lack of evidence can be construed as proof positive that the conspiracy is working perfectly, a reality that bit the Turf Club in relation to Joseph O’Brien’s successful whip appeal last week. (more…)