Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

Sean McDermott

Being based in America is quite different than here at home - and sometimes not the easiest when you are a homebird like myself - but it was nice to come home for Christmas with my girlfriend and thanks to Ruaidhrí Tierney I squeezed in a winner at Leopardstown too! 

1.56PM

And The Award Goes To...

At this time of year there are no marks for originality in taking a look back at 2017, just as there are no brownie points for pointing out how Colin Keane is a shoo-in for any 'jockey-of-the-year' award floating about. Aidan O'Brien's Group 1 world record has been amply rewarded at various legitimate ceremonies as well, as has Jessica Harrington's towering achievements with 'Horse of the Year' Sizing John. But there's just enough time to squeeze in a few sham baubles too.

3.17PM

Ten Random Christmas Stocking Fillers

First of all, a rallying call: racing is brilliant. It really is - and not just because its cheerleaders say so. The cheerleading actually does the game no favours. After a while it becomes a drone blotting out any sort of criticism. And the thing with criticism of any merit is that it comes from a basis of enthusiasm. It's rooted in a desire to change things for the better. No one wants to be cribbing all the time but all cheerleading does is maintain the status quo. That's no good to anyone.

8.18PM

Dylan Robinson

After a frustrating summer with injury it’s great to be back amongst the winners and I have my boss, Henry De Bromhead, to thank for that. I’m based with Henry full time now and he has shown plenty of faith in me to put me back up on some good horses and it’s thanks to him that I’ve been able to get five winners since I got back.

3.56PM

Thomas Sherry

To get my first winner on the board at Dundalk last month was really a relief more than anything. I’d be looking at the other 10lbs claimers riding winners and it is very competitive out there but you get the winner and it just gives you something more to look forward to.

8.21PM

Colin Keane

It has been a good few weeks since the season ended and it was a pleasant surprise to have so many people coming up to me in Trim, shaking my hand and congratulating me on winning the championship. It was nice because a lot of the people you wouldn't think follow racing so to have caught their attention and for them to want to come up to me and say ‘well done’ is a nice feeling. It has definitely sunk in now.

7.03PM

M J Doran

Being involved in a Melbourne Cup winner was an incredible experience, an experience of a lifetime, and one that I was quite literally very lucky to have.

8.52PM

Robert Power

This morning Sizing John was the centre of attention in Jessie’s as the racing press were all there to see him ahead of the Betfair Chase at Haydock this weekend and obviously it is a very exciting week to be riding a horse like him in a Grade 1 race like that.

9.14PM

Paul Townend

Riding Next Destination to win at Naas on Saturday is a sharp reminder of how good a position I am in as second jockey to Ruby Walsh. I’d say this is my ninth season being second jockey to Willie Mullins and it is a fantastic position to be in, but I do know that the downside to that job is that I’m only borrowing Next Destination and I’ll be handing him back to Ruby the next day!

7.34PM

David Casey

It’s a little over two years since I retired from race riding and while I don’t miss the day to day lifestyle of going here, there and everywhere, I do miss that adrenalin buzz from a race that you can never replace.

2.18PM

Peter Flood

Everybody knows just how competitive Irish racing is at the moment but I absolutely love being involved in the sport and between training a few myself for point-to-points and working in Gordon Elliott’s five days a week, I probably have the best of both worlds at the moment.

8.45AM

Yes Minister

It's approaching two years since an Anti-Doping Task Force recommended how the Irish bloodstock industry could best preserve its reputation after various steroids controversies. The news the Task Force has been reconvened because one of its central recommendations - a protocol to allow testing on stud farms - still can't be agreed is stark evidence of a stalled process. So in return for state support now is the time for the Minister for Agriculture to demand better standards than this farce.

10.31AM

Oisin Orr

No matter what happens for the last couple of weeks of this season it has been a good year and I’ve had my highest number of winners and achieved my goal at the start of the season. This year I just wanted to get my claim down from 5lbs to 3lbs, that was my only aim and I managed to achieve that so I’m happy enough with that and now I’ll just keep going and see how many more I can get. If we get anything else out of it it would be a bonus.

8.36PM

PJ McDonald

Winning a Group 1 on Laurens last Friday was the culmination of over 20 years of hard work and dreaming and while it has been a long road, it was one worth travelling.

7.51PM

Lock & Load

John Gosden was asked recently to reflect on what is turning into Aidan O'Brien's greatest season. \"I have enormous respect for the quality of the horses and the superb training of them,\" Britain's top trainer said. It was a typically fluent statement. O'Brien receives a couple of hundred of the best bred raw material every year and trains them outstandingly well. It's a combination which makes him a statistical phenomenon. The combination is also inextricably linked.

9.04AM

Katie O'Farrell

Growing up around horses it was probably inevitable that it would be a route that I’d go down but two years ago I made the decision to leave the amateur ranks and turn professional as a 7lbs conditional rider and after a rough six months on the sidelines through injury, now I’m hoping to kick start things as the winter approaches.

4.06PM

Kevin Brouder

Since riding my first winner on the track at Listowel last month I couldn't have really dreamed that things would go how they have in the last couple of weeks but long may it continue I suppose.

7.34PM

Nina Carberry

When I drove into Ballinrobe last week I knew it was good to be back but the winner certainly made it even better and to have three winners from my first four rides back is great and I’m just very grateful to Noel Meade, who has always been very good to me, and to Gordon who is also going to support me.

8.21PM

Killian McCarthy

Saturday at Gowran Park was the realisation of a very long term goal for me. After over 10 years of trying, over €40,000 raised for various charities, and a few sacrifices along the way, I managed to live the experience of what it is like to ride a winner on the track in leg two of the 2017 Corinthian Challenge. It didn’t disappoint.

9.52PM

Brendan Duke

It is an absolute pleasure to train Warm The Voice for Jim and Jackie Bolger and we had another terrific day at Listowel on Monday. It’s a stark reality within the yard that this is a multi-talented, very high class colt that has loads of improvement left in him.

9.35PM

Brendan Sheridan

When I was still riding a position to join the Turf Club was advertised and I took a chance in applying for the role and I was fortunate enough to get the job - that was 21 years ago - and on Tuesday I will officiate at Ireland’s most unique fixture at Laytown.

7.44PM

Takashi Kodama

Surviving as a trainer is so hard in Ireland and it is very hard to win races but winning the Irish Cambridgeshire at the Curragh Racecourse was my best ever result as a trainer and I would say it is unbelievable. Our mission when running in the race was to finish in the first 10… that was my mission, so to win the race makes me very, very happy.

5.12PM

Derek McGrath Curragh CEO

Racing is not something that I grew up around or was actively involved in when I was growing up but since making the move into the industry I have continued to learn an awful lot about it and am really enjoying it.

3.42PM

It's Silly Season

When people argue for 'culture change' it's often safe to assume they're bluffing for the sake of saying something. It's the same with phrases such as 'mindset.' They're helpfully vague and can be unaccompanied by detail. They've certainly helped yours truly out more than once. But when it comes to helping the lot of female jockeys there really does need to be a change of culture and mindset. And if that seems too wishy-washy then early detail of the impact of French racing's allowance for female riders indicates such change can be tangible sometimes.

9.13AM

Peter Fahey

Thankfully we’ve enjoyed a great start to the new season and things have been going well this summer but we’re just lucky to have the nice horses to train.

5.02PM

Aubrey McMahon

Winning the big amateur race at the Galway Festival is certainly a feeling I haven't had too often. When I crossed the line on Whiskey Sour, Patrick Mullins and Katie Walsh were roaring at me saying well done and I just said “I can’t believe it’s after happening”, it was a feeling I can’t really describe.

10.15PM

Shark Hanlon

When you are a neighbour of a star man like I was to Paddy Mullins, you have to develop some interest in horses and growing up so close to Paddy always had me intrigued and eventually I got out of the cattle dealing and went in to training horses and we are happy out there now with the horses.

12.00PM

Sooner Rather Than Later

British racing is taking its first steps towards replacing amateur stewards with professional panels. Racing is too big for its regulation to be seen left in the hands of well-meaning volunteers. It's inevitable here too. The perception of a state-subsidised industry aspiring towards €2 billion in value being policed by well-intentioned amateurs regulating their own isn't sustainable. Yet it still appears to be very much a case of later rather than sooner when it comes to acknowledging this.

8.59AM

Jody McGarvey

One man’s misfortune can often be another man’s gain and with both Barry Geraghty and Mark Walsh out through injury recently, I’ve been lucky enough to get a lot of opportunities for JP McManus and things have been going great.

4.56PM

Don't Believe All Of The Hype

We're endlessly reminded how racing is a game of opinions. And there is no subject to conjure firmer opinions than jockeys. That's common to everywhere. What's fascinating is how divergent such opinions can get either side of the Irish Sea. Ryan Moore gets routinely referred to in Britain as the world's leading jockey and is near-venerated by a media he affects to despise with his position as Coolmore's No.1 widely regarded as little more than his due. Yet in Ireland he seems to provoke a more lukewarm response.

9.06AM