For the second year in a row the Epsom Derby winner will attempt to double up in the Irish Derby which is great news for the Curragh. Even better news for the Irish Derby’s prestige is that a case can be made for Ruler Of The World having a battle on his hands. And not just from opposition he gets to meet every day of the week at home. (more…)

Anyone think the world’s ideal? In particular, the racing world? Didn’t think so. In an ideal world, for instance, there would be no need for a debate about whether or not the Turf Club should be subsumed into HRI. Ideally it wouldn’t. But it’s only a matter of time before it is, and the result will be…probably nothing much different. (more…)

Official policy might be to plan and budget for increased attendances at Ireland’s racecourses but the on-the-ground trend appears to be remorselessly pointing towards a future where most fixtures will be viewed as little more than television fodder. (more…)

Banging on about the same thing when knowing it is futile in terms of change might be insanity but sometimes it remains necessary to simply keep shouting when racing can’t be bothered to wear even the flimsiest fig-leaf of concern for punters. (more…)

The success of the Galway festival in attracting massive crowds is really the definitive proof of how quality on the track doesn’t reflect in numbers in the stands. But it will still be interesting to see the crowd patterns during the course of Leopardstown this week. (more…)

An acquaintance who gets into a sweat about ratings and the pattern and such like opined at the weekend that calling the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle a top class race because it is “Grade 1” is like calling Sligo Rovers top class because the word “Premier” is in the League of Ireland title. Which is very unfair – on the Hatton’s Grace. (more…)

Funny how it’s always France: first Fallon, now it looks like Dettori. There was Dean Gallagher too. Maybe it’s just coincidence, maybe. A peep at the testing regime here and in Britain might be no harm. But right now the focus is resolutely on Frankie and France-Galop. (more…)

It will be fascinating if Camelot is given a green light to run in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe but not fascinating enough to shake the conviction that Nathaniel increasingly looks the one with the best credentials for success in Europe’s most prestigious race. (more…)

Hindsight is an exact science, which makes it dirty pool to employ it too rigorously on such an inexact pursuit as racing. But even so there appear to be an awful lot of after-the-race merchants willing to put Joseph O’Brien’s Camelot ride in the Leger under the microscope and come up with a negative verdict. And you have to ask why? (more…)

They get enough flak when getting it wrong so the least the Leopardstown stewards deserve is a ‘thumbs-up’ for getting it right when the pressure was on in the Matron Stakes. (more…)

There is nothing like a losing docket to make a punter believe in “no-try” conspiracies. There are after all occasions when it is a case of “can’t try” rather than “won’t try.” But anyone who believes every dubious case can be dismissed as a talking-through-the-pocket job is being naïve in the extreme. (more…)

Since there are odds available on damn near everything now, what price there will be a controversial steward’s enquiry at some stage of the upcoming seven-day festival? Because if ever there is a place built for controversy it is Galway. (more…)

You don’t have to buy into a grand Orwellian conspiracy theory to recognise the truth in old Eric’s line about some being more equal than others. Sometimes it can happen in a little corner of anywhere, say Roscommon on a mundane Tuesday evening. (more…)

Simon Coveney must love this bloodstock lark. The Cork based Minister for Agriculture knew little about it before entering cabinet but has quickly learned it is the file that keeps giving, especially in terms of unfortunate headlines.

Michael O’Hagan’s resignation last week from Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and the new post of Director of Communications was as quick as it was unexpected. (more…)

Put ten racing people in a room to discuss a subject and you’ll get twenty opinions. But surely one thing everyone should be able to agree on is the right to fight your corner. (more…)

As the Turf Club threatens to internally combust, it might be a good idea for both sides to remember that an essential pillar of logic is an absence of certainty. But what’s really required is for HRI to remember it too. (more…)