Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

Wed 9th Oct 2019

Shane Foley

It would have been hard to call the season disappointing after the amount of winners we had but there definitely would have been a tinge of disappointment had the boss, Jessie Harrington, and I not managed to round off all those two-year-old fillies’ winners especially with a Group 1.

1.09PM

Mon 7th Oct 2019

'Allez France'

If nothing else comes out of yesterday's Arc can it be the putting out to grass of that phrase about a good horse going on any ground. Any horse can go on any ground. It's the velocity at which they go that counts. Enable came up short in her hat-trick attempt simply because of the extreme conditions. They used to be common for the Arc and the odds were they were due. The odds also were that even a supremely versatile talent like Enable would struggle to properly go on them.

9.11AM

Fri 4th Oct 2019

Shane Crosse

To ride two group winners last weekend was deadly. Unreal. You can’t dwell on it too much as you have to kick on again for the next day but to get those opportunities and experience that as an 18-year-old apprentice is almost unbelievable.

10.40AM

Mon 30th Sep 2019

Potential Paris Party Pooper

If the idea of Enable pulling off an unprecedented Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hat-trick can't float your boat then the good ship Romance is scuttled on a very dry beach. Sunday's race at Longchamp promises history. The best horse in the world is odds on to once again win Europe's greatest race. It's perfectly set up for a superb seasonal crescendo. Which is usually when things start to leak.

8.40AM

Fri 27th Sep 2019

Andy Slattery

It has been another good year for us in terms of winners and prizemoney, and to have my son Andrew and nephew Ben Coen thriving as jockeys has been a big part of that.

12.28PM

Mon 23rd Sep 2019

Emperor's New Clothes

Mark Johnston recently made a point that's crucial to the issue of how relevant prizemoney actually is to owners. He said that given a choice of getting two grand for winning a race, or four grand for finishing second, most any owner will opt for the win. It's an Emperor's new clothes observation that's impossible to argue with.

8.48AM

Fri 20th Sep 2019

Matthew Smith

It is a slow, long haul but this season has been our most successful to date, the string is the biggest we have had and we have had more winners than ever before. Once you’re moving in an upward direction you can’t complain, even if you’d love it to happen more quickly maybe.

1.53PM

Mon 16th Sep 2019

Class Wins Out

Racing showed its best side to the world at the Curragh on Sunday and it had nothing to do with the 'Irish Champions Weekend' action. The money-raising effort around Pat Smullen's Champions For Cancer Trials event was carried out with a style synonymous with the man at the centre of it. The only bum note was AP McCoy's after his ill-advised attempt at a flying dismount! Nevertheless, on a notable championship occasion it was this singular event that exuded class.

8.55AM

Fri 13th Sep 2019

Chris Hayes

It has been a good week for me at the Harvest Festival in Listowel and it could get even better if Madhmoon can win the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes tomorrow. And sure you’re always greedy in this game and I will be trying hard to add to my classic CV, and win a second Irish St Leger with Search For a Song on Sunday

1.30PM

Mon 9th Sep 2019

The Big Sell

Japan's absence from the Irish Champion Stakes robs the 'Irish Champions Weekend' feature of some star power. Europe's top star Enable was never going to Leopardstown. Now her greatest three year old rival doesn't look like doing so either. The French Derby hero Sottsass isn't coming, nor it appears are any of Timeform's top ten rated older European horses. It leaves Magical as favourite. Admirable as she is her main claim to fame has been as Enable's punch-bag. So a race that has to be judged by the highest standards has a second-division feel this time.

8.50AM

Fri 6th Sep 2019

Eric McNamara

The Guinness Kerry National has been a very good race for us and we will be returning to Listowel hoping to add to our previous three triumphs in it.

4.12PM

Mon 2nd Sep 2019

Whip Crack Away

Turbine's unfortunate claim to fame is likely to be as the first horse to test positive for an anabolic steroid in Ireland. But seven years after steroids were found at the yard of Philip Fenton, and five years after the former Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector John Hughes was found to have possessed a commercial quantity of an anabolic steroid, the Turbine case also suggests a sport at long last starting to catch up with anti-doping reality.

9.12AM

Fri 30th Aug 2019

Lewis King

There was no connection with horses from family or friends in my life but I can pinpoint exactly when I became in thrall to racing.

10.34AM

Mon 26th Aug 2019

There's Great And There's Great

Dermot Weld has a tiny verbal tic that leads him to sometimes ending sentences with 'if you know what I mean.' Considering the rest of us are mostly playing catch up with the great man it's hardly unreasonable. None of which has anything to do with Enable who is a great champion without being a great great champion - if you know what I mean.

8.53AM

Sun 25th Aug 2019

Sunday's Daily Pointers

After a busy and successful week at York jockey Ryan Moore turns his attention to Yarmouth today, taking rides in six of the seven races on the card. One of those is Mark Johnston’s Fred in the six furlong nursery at 4.00, a horse who came unstuck in a deeper race than this at Glorious Goodwood, but had previously won novice events at both Leicester and Haydock.

10.47AM

Sat 24th Aug 2019

Rab Havlin - York Ebor blog

FansBet’s man in the saddle, Rab Havlin, reflects on a nigh-on perfect week for the John Gosden team at York, unveils his fourth and final Racing Welfare Ebor Festival charity selection, plus reveals how he sees the feature Ebor Handicap being played out.

10.14AM

Fri 23rd Aug 2019

Daily Pointers - York Saturday

Run over a mile and a furlong at 1.55, the Group 3 Strensall Stakes is a good introduction to Ebor day at York, the fourth and final day of a festival which has given us memorable displays from the likes of Logician, Japan, Mums Tipple and Enable. Sir Michael Stoute found himself denied in a photo finish when Crystal Ocean was edged out by the narrowest of margins in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International, but he could be set for a winning start here with his Zaaki the mount of Ryan Moore.

4.50PM

Darragh O'Keeffe

12.36PM

Rab Havlin Blog - York Day Three

9.34AM

Thu 22nd Aug 2019

Daily Pointers for York Friday

After a superb couple of opening cards we’re at the half way mark of the Ebor Festival, where York’s 20-runner 1.55 race gets us up and running on Nunthorpe day, a mile and a half handicap worth in excess of £43,000 to the winner and attracting plenty of quality. Jockey Oisin Murphy could barely be in better form of late, regularly attracting the attention of the FansBet Daily Racing Report when partnering winners on 13 consecutive riding days.

4.20PM

Enable is the star attraction on day two at York

The Rab Havlin Blog - York Day Two

9.34AM

Wed 21st Aug 2019

Thursday's York horses to watch and Daily Pointers

A really classy renewal of the Group 2 Lowther Stakes eases us in to day two at York’s Ebor Festival. Run at 1.55, this 10-runner fillies’ event features some seriously promising talent, not least in-form James Tate’s Under The Stars. Unbeaten in two starts including a 25/1 Group 3 stunner at Ascot last time out, she holds two future Group 1 entries and is one of a number of these for whom the sky could be the limit.

5.17PM

Rab Havlin's York Day 1 Blog

8.20AM

Tue 20th Aug 2019

The FansBet guide to the York Ebor Meeting

In a nutshell, York’s prestigious and keenly awaited Ebor Meeting is four days of the best Flat racing you’ll come across pretty much anywhere on the planet, the high summer watermark, a bastion of equine talent, human brilliance in the saddle, prize money, sunshine, famously affordable champagne, great betting opportunities, style, glamour and excitement, all wrapped up into a four-day blitz on the beautiful Knavesmire.

11.14AM

Mon 19th Aug 2019

Sunday Blank

The question of whether or not blank Sundays are an industry indulgence or an acknowledgement of declining spectator appeal could arise again when the 2020 fixture list is announced next month. Informed sources suggest consideration is being given to reducing the number of blank Sundays to perhaps just a couple. Inevitably such a prospect is either good or bad depending on your opinion.

8.38AM

Wed 14th Aug 2019

Robbie Dolan

It was nice to get home for two weeks after such a successful season in Australia where I won the two New South Wales apprentice titles— the one for the provincial tracks but most importantly, the Metropolitan championship in Sydney, where all the top racing is. The likes of Hugh Bowman and Tommy Berry have won that and jockeys generally go on to have a good career afterwards.

11.10AM

Mon 12th Aug 2019

A Day At The Races

I brought two friends racing on the Wednesday of Galway. Neither had an interest in racing and only one had been to a race meeting before.

9.05AM

Thu 8th Aug 2019

Donie McInerney

It was great to ride out my claim on Nibblers Charm for Ray Hackett at Cork on Monday. I went there thinking Fred The Foot was my best chance but he was a non-runner so I didn’t think anything more about the rest after that. But Ray said Nibblers Charm wouldn’t be far away and fair play to him, he was dead right. So it was great to do it.

10.15AM

Mon 5th Aug 2019

That Friday Feeling

Disappointing attendances have been just one stick used to beat the new Curragh in the last incident-packed three months. Less than 12,000 was the official Derby day crowd. A 4,295 attendance for the Oaks has been described as not good enough. But in some ways it will be crowd-size during the coming four 'Awesome August' Friday evening fixtures at HQ that prove most critical.

9.20AM

Fri 2nd Aug 2019

Jody Townend

What unfolded in Galway on Monday evening, when I won the Connacht Hotel Handicap on Great White Shark, still hasn’t sunk in properly yet. I don’t think it will hit me until I get home and sit on my own bed to think about it, and meet the rest of the family.

10.11AM

Mon 29th Jul 2019

No Excuses Required

It's been a given for as long as a lot of us can remember that Galway's summer festival is Irish racing's most popular fixture of the year. John B Keane famously described it as a state of mind. Galway's crossover appeal means even those who don't know their Plate from their elbow go to Ballybrit. But this week's 150th celebration renewal sees popularity presumptions under threat.

9.10AM

Fri 26th Jul 2019

Mark Enright

It’s great to be back after a long time out with injury and to return with two winners in my first three rides was just what the doctor ordered, heading into Galway, where I had such a great time last year by winning the Plate on Clarcam for Gordon Elliott and Gigginstown.

11.11AM

Mon 22nd Jul 2019

The Lone Ranger

Leopardstown's chief executive Pat Keogh is to be given the task of lifting the siege at the Curragh. His precise role has yet to be defined although it probably means juggling roles for a while at Ireland's two premier flat racetracks. But in many ways he's in an enviable position. Expectations are so low at the Curragh that most anything he does will look like he's riding to the rescue.

8.49AM

Fri 19th Jul 2019

Conor McNamara

Killarney is a place I have fond memories of, having ridden my first winner there for my dad Eric last August, so it was great to boot home a winner around there again yesterday (Thursday) on Lucky Road for Gavin Cromwell, who has been so good to me.

10.43AM

Mon 15th Jul 2019

Logic Must Apply

The announcement by Curragh chief executive Derek McGrath that he's leaving the post in October sees a lightning rod figure depart the equation at Irish racing's controversial HQ. Many, it seems, within racing won't weep at his departure, just as one suspects few tears will be shed by McGrath himself. What remains though is the quandary of getting people to engage with the Curragh.

9.23AM

Fri 12th Jul 2019

Jack Davison

The vibes are good from the camp ahead of Black Magic Woman taking in the Group 3 Brownstown Stakes at Fairyhouse on Sunday. I think a course and distance winner is worth a few pounds and she’s just had a nice four-week break since her win at Fairyhouse the last day. We put her out for a week and then tuned her back up again, the break’s been good. It’s a big day, she does need to progress and step up but she’s given every indication that she has.

4.36PM

Mon 8th Jul 2019

The Money Hose

Behind the sound of unease within Irish racing about the apparently bleak outlook for UK betting shops it's possible to hear chickens coming home to roost. The media rights deal negotiated last year was fundamentally rooted in betting shop demand for pictures. Now betting shops are closing. Uncertain financial times look to be ahead for a sport which has profited from a cross-channel business model that ultimately had little or nothing to do with sport.

9.13AM

Wed 3rd Jul 2019

Niall McCullagh

Racing is a funny old game. It is great to have been on the run I have been on lately and to be getting a bit of attention for it, though having turned 50 this year, it’s hardly going to go to my head! But it isn’t too long ago that I was wondering if it might be time to hang up the boots.

1.04PM

Mon 1st Jul 2019

Upstairs Downstairs

The black and white bottom line is that Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby pulled a crowd of 11,957. That's less than half the official attendance returned just four years ago. On the face of it, after an €81 million revamp - €36 million of which was state money - that's a dire outcome on an occasion the redevelopment was mostly designed for. Curiously though it didn't feel that bad.

9.07AM

Wed 26th Jun 2019

Johnny Murtagh

The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby was always special for me and I have been very lucky to win it four times as a jockey.

11.31AM

Mon 24th Jun 2019

Any Resemblance Is Purely Coincidental

It's ironic how part of the rationale for the new Curragh was as an international showpiece and yet the country's biggest race, this Saturday's Irish Derby, looks like being a distinctly local affair. So local in fact that perhaps the most important runner will be from a couple of miles down the road.

9.07AM

Fri 21st Jun 2019

Jarlath Fahey

We have our sights trained on the weather round the clock at the moment and seeing the rain cascading down at Royal Ascot has not had us jumping with joy.

8.58AM

Mon 17th Jun 2019

The Trump Diplomatic Playbook

Given the firepower he's bringing to Royal Ascot Aidan O'Brien might be accused of bringing a howitzer to a gun fight. Only O'Brien and the legendary Henry Cecil have ever trained seven winners at a single Royal Ascot. Come Saturday evening it would be no surprise to see the Irishman hold that particular record on his own.

9.25AM

Thu 13th Jun 2019

Tom Madden

It was a nice thing for the family when Niall and I both rode winners at Roscommon on Tuesday, me on Pipers Bomb for Ado McGuinness, and him on De Name Escapes Me for Noel Meade. A lot of people wouldn’t know it but Willie McCreery is my mother’s first cousin and he trained a winner too, Faerie Laws, making it a momentous occasion for the clan.

10.06AM

Mon 10th Jun 2019

The Twilight Zone

A focus on Friday evening racing is perhaps the most notable feature of this year's programme at the new Curragh. The first Friday evening fixture was held last week. According to some who were there the attendance was unremarkable. Those who've already written this off as a bad idea will feel vindicated. But Friday evening programmes are still a punt worth taking if targeted correctly.

11.47AM

Fri 7th Jun 2019

Robert 'Nuggy' Rusk

The positive reaction to my announcement that I would be conducting my duties as a jockeys’ valet for the last time at the Curragh on Friday has taken me by great surprise. It has been very humbling and lovely and has come from all different parts of racing. I appreciate it so much.

9.33AM

Mon 3rd Jun 2019

Clicking With The Crowd

Just imagine the Derby post-mortem had Madhmoon not lined up. Yes it's a bit 'if my aunt had balls.' But only Madhmoon's gallant runner up effort to Anthony Van Dyck stopped Aidan O'Brien having the first five. That's Michael Dickinson - Cheltenham Gold Cup stuff in the world's greatest flat race. A lot of lotion would have been required for all the handwringing.