Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

Donagh O'Connor

I’m from New Ross in Co Wexford and my father and uncle had point-to-pointers and I loved going point-to-pointing with them on Sundays. They are real National Hunt people and still follow that side of the sport very closely but after I spent a couple of summers at Jim Bolger’s yard I started to focus more on the Flat. My sister had got me going on horses at home but I only really learned how to ride when I went to the RACE apprentice school.

2.07PM

Form is temporary, class is permanent

Homeless Songs lit up the Curragh on Sunday with a scintillating performance in the 1000 Guineas and is now just about the most exciting Flat horse in training. The way she travelled and quickened clear against a high quality field at the Curragh marks her out as potentially one of the best milers we have seen in years. She looks to possess the same star qualities as her father Frankel and I can’t wait to see what she can achieve over the course of the season.

1.44PM

Colin McBratney

I'm from Crossgar Co Down, local to Downpatrick and Down Royal. My father and my brother always had point-to-pointers and I rode in point-to-points, maybe 30 to 40 point-to-point winners and a few on the racetrack. They were mostly for ourselves and I rode a couple of bumpers for Ian Ferguson and rode a bit for Willie Rock. Mr & Mrs W E Rooney were good to me and I rode for them for a season in point-to-points with good success. I rode out for Mr Rooney as well.

10.13AM

Benefit of the doubt

Last week the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) issued the results of a number of Referral Hearings into prohibited substances found in horses that had won races.

1.31PM

Ken Budds

I’m from Killeagh in east Cork and my father Patrick used to train. At the moment I’m based in my uncle’s place near Tallow just across the county border in Waterford. Things are going well and I finished the jumps season with five winners on the board and we had a couple on the Flat as well. I’ve had a few more horses that have come into the yard over the last while and a lot of locally-based owners are supporting me.

11.14AM

Nothing to see here

It took the IHRB two years to investigate the irregular betting trends surrounding the Viking Hoard case in Tramore and even then they couldn’t pin down who actually laid the horse. We are now into the third year of investigations surrounding irregular betting trends on a claiming race that took place at Dundalk in March 2020 with still no sign of a resolution.

10.54AM

Natalia Lupini

I'm from Milan, Italy and my parents used to take me to the Palio in Siena (three-lap race involving riders and horses representing 10 of the city wards) and that is how my passion for horses started. I went to it for the first time when I was six. It is every August and it is a tradition in that part of the world. The people are very passionate about it in Italy. There are also a lot of smaller Palio's around Italy. We actually have one not far away from my town. They are riding bareback with just a bridle.

12.22PM

Punchestown and Cheltenham are very different Festivals

There is a tendency every year around now to equate Punchestown to Cheltenham, but despite both events being National Hunt Festivals showcasing the best of the sport they are in many respects worlds apart.

4.26PM

Simon Condon

My father used to ride out for Vincent Keane who would be Colin’s grandfather and later on he had a share in a few horses. Our family was based in Drumree, Co Meath but we later moved to the Navan Road in Dublin where I was reared and I’m based in Lucan now.

2.00PM

A fond farewell to the National Hunt season

The IHRB issued reports last week on sanctions handed out to three more riders that had tested positive for cocaine. High profile cases such as Frankie Dettori or Oisin Murphy hit the headlines both inside and outside the sport but cocaine use is now so prevalent within society these days that another random jockey testing positive barely raises an eyebrow anymore.

3.15PM

Lee Smyth

My father owned horses and I had a bit of an interest in getting involved in the training side of things. At the end of 2003, my father got me a job down at Jim Bolger's yard. I moved away from home and got involved down there. I was too heavy to be a rider and the boss (Bolger) was patient with me and gave me the opportunity to ride out as well and come through gradually. It was hard work but I went down there with an open mind to learn from the best with a view to training in the future. In my opinion he still is the best.

10.46AM

Lightning strikes twice

Monday’s Irish Grand National was in many ways close to the perfect race. Turning for home after over three miles of racing we still had almost half the field bang in contention for the €500,000 in prizes and most punters at least got a decent run for their money.

4.17PM

John Shinnick

I’ll turn 21 this summer and I’m from Glanworth near Fermoy. My family are dairy farmers and I’m back living at home at the moment which I enjoy. It’s nice to have the family support behind me. I’m full-time with Enda Bolger who I joined last August and his place in Bruree is about 40 minutes from home.

9.54AM

Lies, damn lies and statistics

On a video preview we recorded last week Danny Mullins was sweet on the chances of his cousin Emmet’s horse in the Grand National. Danny is not only a top rider but also a very good judge so I should have taken this hint and had a few quid on Noble Yeats but everything told me the horse couldn’t win.

1.08PM

Shark Hanlon

I'm on the Kilkenny/Carlow border and my post is Carlow but I'm a Kilkenny man. The nickname 'Shark' came from a hurling game when I was 18 in Kilkenny. I was playing full forward - I wasn't much good but I was big and awkward and kept a full-back busy. A couple of balls came in and I was lucky enough to catch them and throw them to the corner forwards to score goals and Pa Dillon shouted on the sidelines: \"Would someone cut the head off that shark and we can all go home now?!\" I remember we won that final and came back to Paulstown, and they said the man of the match was the shark. From that day on, I've been known as the shark.

12.52PM

Google sets the agenda

Google contacted this website last week to inform us that “due to a request under the data protection law in Europe, Google can no longer show” in their search results a news article we published in 2013. The article will no longer be included in Google search results for queries relating to an individual or individuals named within the article.

1.05PM

Gary Bannon

I’m from Swords and I got interested in racing by going to meetings with my grandfather and uncle. They brought me to Fairyhouse, and on Fridays I’d rush home from school to go with them to Dundalk. I enjoyed the atmosphere around the parade ring and seeing the horses and jockeys. I was a decent footballer at the time and played at a good level for Shelbourne’s underage teams until I picked up a foot injury.

12.17PM

Some things are hard to forget

Last week saw the launch of the second edition of the Racing League which will take place during August and September in the UK. The concept was inaugurated last season in an attempt to attract a new audience to the sport but on that score it was a resounding failure.

11.56AM

Daniel King

I'm from Kilbrin in Co Cork and I'm 17. We always had ponies and horses at home and my older brother Connor was a jockey. He did pony racing before he took out his licence, so i decided to go down that route as well. I started off with pony racing at nine years of age and did it for five or six years - I got plenty of experience at that and rode plenty of winners.

10.08AM

Cheltenham never disappoints

Looking back at Cheltenham there is an overwhelming sense that when it comes to this Festival the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. As you would expect there were scintillating performances, most notably Constitution Hill in the Festival opener and A Plus Tard in the Gold Cup on Friday, but there were many more anti climaxes and disappointments across the week that should in theory outweigh the positives, but they don’t.

3.29PM

Brian Mortell

I’m based in Ballyneety which is about six miles south of Limerick and I grew up in a housing estate in the city. There was a riding school behind the estate and when I was seven my mother paid for an hour-long lesson so that was how I got started with horses.

2.02PM

A Brave Man’s Game

The Cheltenham Festival has finally arrived and despite all the annual huff and puff about whether it should be three days or five days it will once again be the very best week’s racing of the entire year.

1.29PM

Adrian Joyce

I'm from Curraghboy between Athlone and Roscommon, I'm 10 miles from Athlone and 12 miles from Roscommon town. I got into racing from showjumping originally. I did a good bit of showjumping as a kid into a teenager. I jumped all around Ireland with them and had great fun. It developed from there for me to go to RACE (Racing Academy and Centre of Education) as a 15-year-old. I wasn't a fan of school so that was my option to get out of school!

9.54AM

Racing loves rumours

There was no part-3 to the Paul Kimmage racing expose in Sunday’s Irish Independent but instead the investigative journalist resorted to a tit-for-tat exchange with several racing personalities that had questioned his logic in using Stephen Mahon to further advance his claims of widespread doping in horse racing.

11.50AM

Louise Lyons

I grew up on The Wirral near Liverpool and my parents have a farm there on which my mother runs a livery yard. Myself and my two sisters learned to ride on ponies and later I got into showing horses and then eventing. My father is from County Tyrone and his own father was involved with horses and greyhounds. I reached a good level in eventing and, as I had an Irish passport through my father, I competed for Ireland at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing which was a memorable experience.

4.28PM

The Neverending Story

Paul Kimmage’s ‘part 2’ of the Stephen Mahon story published in last weekend’s Sunday Independent was very disappointing on several different fronts. Firstly, it was billed as the piece that would lift the lid on the drugs issue within racing but instead focussed almost entirely on the relationship between the IHRB’s head of anti doping Dr Lynn Hillyer and a key witness in the animal welfare case against Mahon.

12.23PM

Shane O'Callaghan

I'm from Keady in Armagh. I always grew up around horses and ponies with my father and grandfather. I'd say from the age of three or four all I wanted to do was be a jockey, get on a horse and see how fast it could go. I learned to ride through my grandfather - three or four years on ponies bareback which is obviously a big help now when it comes to balance. Whenever I left school, I worked on Saturdays for John Woods on the outskirts of Armagh. Then I ended up going to CAFRE (College of Agriculture Food & Rural Enterprise) in Enniskillen and on the summer holidays I went on work placement to Lady Jane Gillespie. I ended up working there for nearly a year and got great experience. Mattie Bowes was there at the time and It was great to learn off him as well. I was also riding for Paddy Fegan when he had his training licence.

9.50AM

Coincidence or conspiracy

I’ve known Stephen Mahon on and off for over twenty years and, despite the public perception of him, I find him an honest and sincere individual. In the aftermath of his four years suspension by the IHRB for the abuse of animals in his care last year I had a number of long telephone conversations with him.

12.58PM

Patrick Harty

When my father and I became joint-licence holders last May I became the fifth generation of the Harty family to be a licenced trainer in Ireland so it was certainly a proud moment. I suppose as I’ve got older I’ve become more aware of the rich history of our family in horseracing, and in equestrian pursuits more generally, and more conscious of what our name means to people and what it stands for.

4.56PM

Todd video the latest stain on racing’s reputation

A video which circulated on social media over the weekend of Mark Todd beating a horse with a stick to make it enter a water obstacle on an eventing course is utterly abhorrent. The decorated New Zealand-born equestrian champion turned racehorse trainer has issued a statement of apology which included the following:

12.44PM

Stuart Crawford

My family were always interested in horses. With George Bryson being my grandfather, I would have gone to the Banbridge Sales, gone hunting ,gone to pony club, events and horse trials. I was always surrounded by horses and there was always that interest there. Hunting, cross country and eventing was the natural progression.

9.28AM

Mullins Domination almost complete

Despite the obvious enjoyment of watching a wonderful weekend of high quality jumping action at the Dublin Racing Festival it still has the feel of a set of trials for the bigger days to come at Cheltenham.

8.04AM

Richie Condon

I’m from Conna in east Cork and my family are dairy farmers there. Davy Condon is a first cousin of mine and Paul Townend is also related to me. Liam Burke’s yard is just two miles down the road and I started riding ponies there with Liam’s son Johnny who is the same age as me. I rode about twenty winners in pony-racing and did my Leaving Cert before heading over to Britain where I was apprenticed to Brendan Powell. I rode on the Flat for a couple of seasons and had two winners from about fifty rides before taking out my conditional licence to ride over jumps.

4.17PM

Thyestes a template for success

It was great to see a packed Gowran Park last week for Thyestes Day. The midweek fixture has traditionally been popular with National Hunt fans who travel in big numbers from all over the south east and with covid restrictions lifted only days before this year’s event it was most reassuring to see crowds flock back to racing.

10.34AM

Joanne O'Riordan

I'm a sports columnist in The Irish Times and I was also part of RTE's coverage of the Tokyo Paralympic Games. I was born without all of my limbs in a rare condition known as Total Amelia - I am one of seven people in the world born this way. When I was 15, I campaigned on behalf of people with disabilities in Ireland who were facing a budget cut by the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The cut was reversed and I got to do a series of things - I got to go on The Late Late Show, and from that I went over to the United Nations in New York and gave a talk on technology for people with disabilities on the week of my 16th birthday.

9.53AM

Shishkin V Energumene was sporting perfection

Saturday’s epic Clarence House Chase was a triumph on so many levels. First and foremost it demonstrated how horse racing at its very best is a match for any top quality sport in terms of both drama and spectacle. Four minutes and sixteen seconds of pure joy. The proven best taken on by the potential best with no quarter given and both parties coming out of the contest with their reputations enhanced is all you can hope for in any sporting encounter.

11.22AM

Melanie Horsman

I grew up in Co Galway and my father rode and later trained point-to-pointers, so horses were all around me from an early age. Working with horses in some capacity was never not an option. I remember finishing my Leaving Cert on a Wednesday and by the following Monday I had started a job riding out in a yard.

5.14PM

King of the Coups

People who follow horse racing generally get the bug in one of two ways. They either get involved through a love for the horses and the spectacle of seeing supreme athletes compete or they are initially drawn in by the lure of gambling and the intrigue that surrounds that aspect of the game.

1.41PM

Marshall Watson

I didn't really have much say about getting into racing! Dad (Keith Watson) has held the licence for 47 years now. He took over from his uncle Archie Watson who trained Flashy Boy among other good horses back in the 1970s. I'm Armagh through and through - being an only child there is probably more responsibility to stay around and do your bit. I always like to say I have learned from my own pocket and my own mistakes. I think that is sometimes the best way of doing it.

9.52AM

Annual Pilgrimage

Last week entries were released for three of the feature races at the Cheltenham Festival - Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and Gold Cup. As usual Willie Mullins has a host of contenders for each race, almost one quarter of the entire entries are from Closutton, but his practice of making multiple entries for each of his star performers must have some of his owners scratching their heads.

10.44AM

Paddy O'Hanlon

I’m from Glasnevin in Dublin but my father had a farm in Co Meath and he had horses and ponies and greyhounds there. I spent plenty of time following him around and always had an interest in the animals. I went to the sales with him as he bred a few horses and still does to this day.

10.19AM

New Year, New Beginnings

The New Year offers hope of a new beginning for us all. Whether we set ourselves new goals or promise ourselves we won’t make the same mistakes we made before there is always a sense of optimism at this time of year that things will get better.

10.40AM

Derek McGrath

I'm from Dungarvan in Waterford. I suppose I was bred into racing, my father (David J McGrath) was an amateur jockey and then a trainer, and on the other side my grandfather would always have done a bit of hunting and owned a few racehorses himself.

9.40AM

James McAuley

It was great to finish the year on a good note when Dalvey won last Friday. That made it twenty winners for the calendar year and fourteen of them have come on the all-weather at Dundalk which is only forty minutes in the lorry from Hilltop Stables.

10.45AM

Racing would be lost without Rachael

Drugging horses to go faster, nobbling horses to go slower, neglecting horses, disrespecting dead horses, inhumane slaughter of healthy horses, jockeys bullyiing jockeys, jockeys suing jockeys, owners suing trainers. Racing has spent 2021 lurching from one PR disaster to the next, yet as the year draws to a close Rachael Blackmore’s achievements have managed to paper over all the cracks and give the impression that it wasn’t such a bad year for the sport after all.

1.08PM

Tommy Dowling

I'm from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow. I actually dropped out of school to do a plumbing apprenticeship with John Lennon who trained a few horses down the road from us. He always had a few horses knocking about. I started off with him as a plumber and the plumbing then went a little bit quiet, so I did an odd morning mucking out for him. Eventually I was thrown up on a horse one day - I never started riding until I was 16 or 17 and we took it from there.

1.28PM

Unsatisfactory conclusion to Frost/Dunne case

Last weekend I watched the thoroughly enjoyable new Dettori documentary. The big takeout for me was that even the world’s most successful jockey has on occasions struggled with his mental health.

1.11PM

Mark McDonagh

I’m 20 years of age and from Cratloe, near Bunratty, in Co Clare. I’m in my third year of a degree in business studies at UL and thankfully I’m able to combine that with my riding career. The university is very supportive regarding students who are also athletes as they facilitate me as much as possible with access to the facilities on the sports campus to keep fit and being able to move college work around racing every week. I’m actually doing exams this week and then I’ll be looking forward to the busy racing schedule around Christmas

12.30PM

Racing's ups and downs

For the third weekend in a row National Hunt racing entertained us like few other sports can. The drama dial was turned to max as plot-twist after plot-twist kept us both entertained and baffled in equal measure on another enthralling weekend of horse racing.

1.22PM

Jerry Hannon

I was born and reared in a town with a racecourse, I was lucky I suppose! When I was growing up in Listowel there was just a September festival. I recall it was a five-day festival from Monday to Friday and all the schools in the area closed. We got a half-day on Friday for the festival and we weren't back until the following Monday week. For me it was an early Christmas.

10.12AM