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"The most exciting maiden hurdler we've seen this year"
Who would have thought that an analogy about chaos theory: “If a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian rain forest, it can change the weather half a world away” would resonate so well with the situation horse racing finds itself in today?
Last week the British Government announced a rather modest 5% hike in the tax rate on slot machines. It turns out that this apparently insignificant budget measure is predicted to have a dramatic impact on the future finances of horse racing, not only across Britain, but also in Ireland.
My Racing StorySponsored By Tote
I'm from a town called Randalstown in Co Antrim and I grew up with horses all my life. My dad had horses and then my sister Megan rode when she was younger. She was out in Australia for a few years and was the first female to win a jumps race at the Warrnambool May Racing Carnival aboard Lord Pierro in 2022. I followed in their footsteps - it was hunting and pony club when I was growing up.
I started off at Ian Fergusons yard; he was only 20 minutes away from me and Megan worked in the yard at the time. I started there on Saturday mornings and rode an odd horse, mucked out, and generally learnt about racing. Ian was a great man to learn from, and I even went on to do sales work for him. I saw another side of racing through that. My first point-to-point ride was at Farmacaffley in February 2022 for Jamie Sloan. Jamie worked in Ian's yard when I started there and then took over the yard. I worked alongside him.
By Tom Weekes - High-class DINOBLUE concedes weight but is a cut above today’s rivals. The selection has appeared at five consecutive Cheltenham festivals, winning twice in 2025 and last March, while also finishing second twice, in 2023 and ‘24. She now returns to the course where it all began back in January 2022, and while today’s good ground will be plenty fast enough, should win comfortably. A Snow White Park is no slouch and scored at Grade 3 level in September but will struggle to lay a glove on the selection. Jolie Jewel is declared to run on Tuesday and looks third-best, with black-type up for grabs.
