Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

Interference Is Interference

Special Tiara’s connections are considering an appeal against the Tingle Creek result. Sad to say the consensus is their chances of getting it reversed are slim to none. If Simple Verse managed to secure the Leger after her jockey admitting to a cold and calculated piece of interference, then the cross-channel rulebook is unlikely to reverse a result on the basis of Sire De Grugy taking out his Irish rival in midair over the final fence. All of which only emphasises — again — how the British rulebook should have been taken out and burned long ago.

9.06AM

Dirty Harry's Spine Donor

The bit of wind that briefly caused furrowed brows at the Winter Festival’s Sunday meeting was nothing compared to the gust of change apparently sweeping through Fairyhouse’s stewards room a day before. The talk at the front of the shop was about Grade 1’s: all anyone at the back could talk about was the sudden frenzy of policing vigour which saw two horses ‘done’ under the non-trier rules and a few other cases ‘noted.’

8.57AM

Next Big Thing

Racing loves the Next Big Thing. There are few things more seductive than the emergence of a potentially outstanding new talent. That many fail to live up to such billing doesn't dilute the excitement. That the sense of expectation around potential is often unfair doesn't matter either: if there's a bandwagon to jump on there's never a shortage of jumpers. All the cautious qualifications in the world however can't prevent many believing Jack Kennedy could be just such an 'NBT.'

9.21AM

It's Simple - Talent Is Talent

I spoke to Pat Eddery face-to-face only once, in the old press room at the Curragh where jockeys used to come and watch racing on the telly. It was just a casual, meaningless conversation about whatever we were looking at. He was very pleasant and relaxed, and I was very tongue-tied: after all it's hard to know what to say to your childhood idols.

9.47AM

The Phoney War Is Over

Faugheen is back this Sunday and those who treasure every appearance by this unbeaten superstar with his agricultural looks and stellar ability won't care if he winds up 1-100 against the clerk of the course's pet dog. Outrageous talent should be treasured whatever the circumstances. But on the back of Don Cossack's recent 2-11 jaunt against just three opponents in the first Grade 1 of the season, another likely solo by Faugheen in the second will probably provoke more anxious cries about a lack of competition in Ireland's top events.

8.54AM

Curragh Calculations

American Pharoah was described as the horse to save US racing but now that he's packed off to stud he will be increasingly seen as a mere sticking plaster - albeit a wonderfully evocative plaster - to an industry which appears resolutely unwilling to save itself. The Water, Hay & Oats Alliance is crying WHOA when it comes to medication: most everyone else in America seems determined to kick on regardless.

8.45AM

Forward To The Past

The 30th anniversary of Back To The Future has made a few recent headlines but it appears a case of Forward To The Past in regard to the Breeders Cup, a shop window to the world for American racing which highlights a resolutely parochial store stuffed to the brim with the same seedy baggage it had all the way back in 1984.

10.01AM

Mullins To The Max In Melbourne

With the flat and jumps seasons blurring at this time of year it is perhaps timely to point how quite a few shrewd punters out there reckon the flat trainer most rigorously worth keeping onside is actually the jumping maestro Willie Mullins. So it will be fascinating to see if Max Dynamite can make it third time lucky for Mullins in the upcoming Melbourne Cup and what, if anything, it might mean should Mullins win one of the world's great Group 1 races on the level.

9.18AM

When Two Tribes Go To War?

Tuesday is budget day when racing can reportedly look forward to a significant finance boost. Compared to that, a Turf Club meeting on the same day looks small beer. There certainly won't be any big figures emerging from it. Nothing at all might emerge publicly. But with government determined to press ahead with their Horse Racing Ireland Bill the mood and tone at the regulatory body meeting could be potentially much more significant in the long term than another short-term slice of state largesse.

9.27AM

Rounding The Horn

Flagships are essentially exercises in vanity. But that doesn't mean they're wrong. Vanity mightn't be particularly attractive but it's interesting to ponder how much achievement there would be without it. So news that plans for the Curragh redevelopment - Irish racing's new flagship - are shortly to be announced is good news. Maybe it is a vanity thing but God alone knows the Curragh could do with being tarted up. Right now HQ isn't so much luxury liner as leaky punt.

8.28AM

The Rubber Stamp

Coolmore showed commendable restraint in their reaction to losing the Doncaster St Leger at the BHA appeal. Aidan O'Brien and Colm O'Donoghue seemed determined to draw a line through the affair, repeatedly employing a 'that's racing' approach that made more than one observer ponder whether or not such sang-froid would have been employed if the Group 1 prize was a Guineas or a Derby and not the sadly dishevelled Leger.

8.54AM

Pyramid Of Piffle

The phrase 'curate's egg' has been employed to describe Champions Weekend II but it's inaccurate since that inference is that it was mostly bad. And that's wrong. In fact there are plenty positives for racing to nourish itself on. The party line certainly appears to be that it was all very Faberge. However there's no getting away from what were basically static attendance figures for the event, something which underlines the scale of the task those in charge of Champions Weekend have in turning it into a sporting institution.

9.04AM

Empire Of The Sun

The sun may have set on Empire but judged by some of the more bellicose cross-channel reactions to the Irish Champion Stakes' timing move, and the consequent impact on arrangements for Doncaster's St Leger, some appear to be grimly hanging on to the delusion that the industry sun still revolves rigidly around racing on the \"Mainland.\"

8.42AM

The Fat Lady Sings At The End

Cursing the weather might just be the ultimate in futility but if the elements conspire to deny us an Irish Champion Stakes epic quite a few fists will still be shaken at the skies. The prospect of Golden Horn, Gleneagles, Free Eagle & Co in action really could mean the best race run anywhere in the world in 2015, a worthy 'Champions Weekend' highlight, and potentially epic in its dramatic scope. So why is this fat lady singing when the show ain't half over?

8.38AM

Steady As She Goes

Government and big business have jostled for headlines in the last week but still pale next to the good old-fashioned rumour train which continues to reverberate with those supposedly in the know torn between dismissing speculation about Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle future as a storm in a tea-cup or inevitable spillage from a pressure cooker situation just waiting to boil over.

8.48AM

It Ain't Going To Happen

Can demands for global harmonisation of the interference rules cease immediately please. They're well meaning but futile. If Horse Racing Ireland's famously astute chief executive Brian Kavanagh says he can't see it happening then it ain't happening. Kavanagh is a vice-chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and possesses a world reputation as a racing administrator. He points out how the problem between say Britain and Ireland compared to France and the US is philosophical. One side has to give to produce uniformity. That ain't happening anytime soon.

9.24AM

Diary Of A Wimpy Call

Racing is home to a lot of flannel but the hoary old line about a good horse being able to go on any ground must rank high amongst its most inane pieces of supposed wisdom. Any horse can go on any ground: it's just a question of how fast. Good horses go faster on most any ground but that doesn't mean they go as fast on everything. Rare is the animal that doesn't have optimum ground conditions for showing its best. Even rarer is the likelihood of those conditions all of the time.

9.03AM

Preach To The Converted

Without wishing to pee on the Aga Khan Cup parade, showjumping's place in the sporting consciousness provides racing with salutary warnings about smugly presuming a public profile. There was a time when showjumping was a big deal. Last week RTE news ran a clip on the Dublin Horse Show which didn't feature a single horse. Instead it was all about who won the Best Dressed Lady competition. Anyone 100 per cent confident such a scenario can't happen with racing hasn't been paying attention.

9.18AM

Ghostbusters

Two years after the mechanics of Carlingford Lough getting into the Galway Plate memorably shone a spotlight on the reserve system, it's interesting to note how it flickered again last week on the back of Modem not getting into the Galway Hurdle. Modem's trainer Jessica Harrington had two other declared runners and both of them ran. Since there was no non-runner, Modem, the first reserve, didn't run. One racing worthy said the episode restored his faith in humanity. As for his faith in the system he wasn't so sure.

10.34AM

Limping Tiger Hidden Logic

It feels symmetrical the current preferred route for the proposed Galway Bypass running through where the notorious Galway Tent was situated. Bertie Ahern placed great store in building up Ireland's road structure during the Celtic Tiger years: now the site of that popular symbol of those flush years is destined to end up under asphalt. Meanwhile the Galway festival itself continues to thrive as Irish racing's most distinctive race meeting with its only real reference being itself.

9.17AM

Just Ask The Greeks

Just as nobody can ever be completely confident about what might happen in a steward's enquiry, so it is when the crap hits the courts. Nobody's panicking, and those in the know say it was all but inevitable, but with Britain's 'point of consumption' betting law referred to Europe, there is inevitable unease over possible implications for Ireland's new betting bill. Because in Europe big-picture considerations can wind up trumping the local: Just ask the Greeks.

8.51AM

The Piper Calls The Tune

Although racing's administration mightn't be dysfunctional its players have hardly been working seamlessly together either. Interest groups resolutely fight their own corners and relations between Horse Racing Ireland and the Turf Club continue to be mired in mutual suspicion. The blame game is being played big-time. But the chain of command means the buck ultimately stops at Simon Coveney's desk. That's the fate of those in charge.

9.18AM

When In Rome

News that Golden Horn is likely to be retired at the end of the season has generated some tried and trusted criticism along the lines of how is flat racing supposed to generate public attention when its headline acts are packed off to stud as soon as their profile threatens to break out of the sport's narrow confines.

9.17AM

New Sherriff In Town

The temptation after every Irish Derby is to read long-term implications into each individual renewal, sometimes positive, but more often in recent years the reaction has been sombre. After Australia's 1-8 rout in 2014 Ireland's premier classic was even written off as a meaningful contest. Maybe the lesson from Jack Hobbs' odds on victory in 2015 is to ease up on portentous readings of the classic tealeaves.

9.32AM

Moore The Greatest?

With success comes popularity and there's no more popular jockey on the planet right now than Ryan Moore. He's winning and everyone loves a winner. The fact he's quite clearly the real deal isn't in doubt. It has become a shorthand description to label Moore as the world's best jockey. Aidan O'Brien labelled him ?the greatest jockey I've ever seen.? So Moore is clearly a talent worthy of comparison to any generation - but the greatest?

9.17AM

'Come On Ireland'

Wrapping the green flag around an Irish-winner tally is more of a Cheltenham indulgence but it would be no surprise to see the history books rewritten come Saturday evening given the strength of this year's Royal Ascot raiding party. There have been a record eight Irish trained Royal Ascot winners in each of the last three years, matching the 2008 tally: what are the odds about that being broken this week, maybe even by hitting the 'Big 10.'

9.23AM

Every Yard Is A Punting Yard

A recent conversation with a racing-worthy generated the name of a wealthy owner who it is generally recognised likes a bet, especially on horses from a certain stable. Except this establishment pillar was having none of it, dismissing the idea by observing the man is worth millions so why should he get worked up about betting. He also dismissively described said stable as a \"punting yard.\"

9.31AM

History Isn't Bunk

Anyone believing history to be bunk need only look at the Derby to be convinced otherwise. The most important race might indeed always be the next one but Epsom's 'blue-riband' is always the most important race of the year precisely because of its history. It's why the Derby finishing post is famously the basis of the thoroughbred breed.

9.33AM

What To Do With A Million

A million quid is small change only to the very wealthiest, and they haven't wound up being the very wealthiest by not knowing the value of a million quid. But as racing here looks forward to a more prosperous financial future, investing a million in state-of-the-art drug-detection equipment might be one timely investment the industry in Ireland could make.

9.12AM

Big-Picture Change

'Taking Ownership' is a typically imprecise piece of corporate-speak, which doesn't mean it's completely meaningless either, unless of course it is applied to those loudly declaring themselves possessed of a stake in that entity known as Irish racing and simultaneously appear unwilling to acknowledge any ownership of it at all when it suits them.

9.18AM

Its Showtime!

BLOG POST 12. This is my final blog post. As I write, I am in the final week of rehearsals for Jockey. My fellow artistic collaborators, Sophie, Sarah- Jane, Jack, Kilian, our producer Kate, stage manager Caoimhe, production manager Adam, racing consultant Dave Donohue and good friends Shane and Muirne have been passionately working hard and putting in long hours to fully realise this whole journey into a theatre and dance performance that is for you, the public - our audience. We work well as a team and the sound of laughter resounds frequently in the rehearsal room. If there isn't laughter, what's the point? I've been dancing, choreographing, acting, structuring, perfecting and rehearsing for 8 hours a day. Yes, there have been sleepless nights but that is just par for the course.

7.34PM

Dancing With Painkillers

BLOG POST 11. April 2015. The first day of rehearsals for Jockey has finally come! I have been gearing up to this day for months, literally. I've had a big obstacle to get through with recovering from a back injury. The past four months for me has been a slow and arduous recuperation. Every day I have been diligently doing my core rehab exercises that Liz Kent set out for me back in January coupled with a gradual progression to a more advanced program from my physiotherapist in Dublin, once I was ready for it. Aside from that I have been doing a lot of general fitness, stretching and strengthening as long as it didn't hurt my back. It has been a case of one step forward, two steps back, but you have just got to keep at it, rest if your body is telling you to and start a fresh when you can.

9.24AM

Apples Oranges & Bananas

One grizzled Irish racing veteran surveyed Willie Mullins's dominance of last week's Punchestown festival and summed it up with a single phrase - \"Ballydoyle-stuff.\" Except an argument can be made that this is singular stuff for which even comparison to flat racing's powerhouse isn't sufficient: Mullins's dominance of Irish jump racing is freakish by any standard.

9.55AM

The Succession Stakes

Even after the longest goodbye in racing history it won't take long for Punchestown's festival to remind everyone of that most perennial of realities - the most important race is always the next one. But in the midst of the eagerly anticipated appearances of Faugheen, Un De Sceaux, Hurricane Fly & Co, plenty will also be keeping a close eye on signs as to who might emerge as favourite for the Tony McCoy succession stakes.

8.53AM

No Point Fighting Gravity

Blog 10. January 2015. It's the first week of the New Year and WillFredd Theatre and I have hit the ground running. What a great way to start the year, I'm back at Halfords, with Toffee, the first pony that I rode over a year (and 13 riding lessons) ago. This time, he's wearing a racing saddle. He looks fantastic if a little incongruous, being a skewbald pony and not a racehorse.

11.45AM

Call Of Duty

What's been most interesting about the High Tail It case at Tipperary hasn't been so much the penalties handed out under 'non-trier' rules as reactions which basically revolve around variants on a 'see worse every day' theme. Inevitably riding shotgun to that view is an implication that those involved might have been hard done by. And the stewarding situation in Ireland means it is possible to see the logic in both points and yet resolutely maintain the officials on duty were dead right.

9.12AM

Throw A Saddle On Fasty

JOCKEY BLOG POST 9. It's December 2014. I've had 11 riding lessons in the past 14 months, which averages out at one every 5 weeks or so. Not many considering this project involves me learning to ride.

6.28PM

A Day At The Races

Blog 8. July 2014. Michael O' Callaghan's Indian Tomahawk is running at Leopardstown. Myself, Sophie and SJ from WillFredd Theatre follow him up the M50 to find a big crowd for a summer evening's racing. There will be a band playing after the racing, and the crowd seem to be a mixture of racing people and newbies like myself. I test my new-found knowledge of reading the form by reading the race card to David Donohue, our resident racing expert. I think I've got it right. I better have, I want to win a few quid! Something to set me up for my retirement from dancing, which I suspect is a similar age as that of a jockey.

10.02AM

The Need Of A Nightmare

The word 'historic' is often mauled into meaninglessness but the next five days truly could be truly significant as Tony McCoy continues his countdown to retirement. He has already stated victory in Saturday's Aintree National will see him pack it in. So the opportunity for Irish race fans to watch one of racing's seminal figures in action at Fairyhouse this Easter should be irresistible. We really won't see his like again.

9.00AM

Getting Closer to this Industry

BLOG POST 7. Meeting David Donohue and Michael O'Callaghan.

9.10AM

Moore Ducks In A Row

With the upcoming Irish and Aintree Grand Nationals yet again taking place in the same week, expect more soul-searching about whether or not the Fairyhouse feature's traditional Easter Monday date is a positive or a negative. In purely racing terms an argument can be made the Easter connection is a minus: the practical reality however is that it is the race's most important plus.

9.13AM

The Two Nijinskys

Blog 6. If I were to ask you to use three words that would describe Nijinsky, what would your response be? You might say, awesome, powerful and well balanced perhaps? But, would you be talking about Vaslav Nijinsky, the Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, or would you be talking about Nijinsky, the Canadian born horse trained by Vincent O' Brien at Ballydoyle who won the Triple Crown in 1970? The language that dance professionals use about the dancer, and the language racing people use about the horse are strikingly similar.

9.10PM

Riding Styles

BLOG 5 - Riding Styles. Leading dancer Emma O' Kane and WillFredd Theatre are preparing to present a dance show Jockey which will premiere at VISUAL, Carlow on May 15th 2015. Emma's been learning how to ride for the project as well as researching her grandfather Phillip De Burgh O' Brien, a bloodstock agent and racing journalist who died before she was born. Over the next few weeks Emma and WillFredd Theatre will bring you an exclusive blog on irishracing.com about Emma's family research, her riding lessons and the creation of Jockey.

4.05PM

10 Hopes And Dreams For Festival 2015

1An oldie but a goldie - cut out the flag-waving. It is juvenile and chippy. Cheltenham is built on the Anglo-Irish rivalry but wrapping the green flag around every Irish winner jars with the nature of that rivalry. And anyone who says it is 'just-a-bit-of-fun' will be entitled to ignore the baggage that automatically goes with flag-waving in these islands when a UK trained winner comes back to the Punchestown winners enclosure festooned in Union Jacks and it gets dismissed as 'just-a-bit-of-fun.'

8.49AM

Fred Archer is a Legend

BLOG POST 4 - Fred Archer is a Legend

6.32PM