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Cheltenham Festival 2026

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Cheltenham Festival 2026

Days

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Vincent Finegan

Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

Fri 26th Nov 2021

Conor Maxwell

I’m from Ballyboughal in north Co Dublin and, although my own family weren’t into horses, just a mile up the road a man called Tommy Stafford had ponies and that was the starting point for me. I used to regularly go up to Stafford’s after school and it became like a second home to me. I began riding horses and point-to-pointers there and started to go out hunting with the Ward Union and the Fingal Harriers. Tommy’s son Paul is a trainer and I’ve ridden plenty of winners for him over the years.

10.25AM

Mon 22nd Nov 2021

National Hunt racing is a sport to be proud of

Last weekend’s racing action was a real shot in the arm for the sport following the previous week’s drugs raid. Performances like A Plus Tard, Bob Olinger, Bravemansgame, Buzz and Hollow Games - 11/1 the accum for the after-timers - show why horse racing, and in particular National Hunt racing, is such a wonderful sport and spectacle.

11.30AM

Fri 19th Nov 2021

Siobhan Rutledge

My family would have been involved in racing before I was born. My dad, Ger Rutledge, trained a few point-to-point horses and he was an amateur jockey himself. My mother's side of the family were all interested in the breeding aspect. My grandmother Joan used to breed horses, so I was kind of bred into it from a young age.

8.26AM

Mon 15th Nov 2021

Drugs in racing back in the spotlight following farm raid

Initial reports of last week’s Monasterevin farm raid by the joint forces of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and An Garda Siochana - later joined by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s anti-doping unit - gave the impression that Jim Bolger’s doomsday prophecy had come to pass. The can of worms Bolger had been telling us about for over a year had been found and was now well and truly opened.

12.32PM

Thu 11th Nov 2021

Adrian Murray

I have a dry stock farm in Rathowen Co Westmeath and my initial involvement with horses would have been in showjumping and eventing. I competed as a showjumper and then I got into sourcing young horses to sell on to clients in America.

2.45PM

Fri 5th Nov 2021

No Blog this week

There will be no new blog on the website this week as Vincent Finegan is away on annual leave.

9.02PM

Emma Meehan

I completed a Masters in Marketing and Business after my primary degree in the University of Ulster. I was working for a year in Belfast and then saw the job for Dundalk Racecourse that came up. They were one year in with the greyhounds and had a vision to bring horse racing. They wanted to appoint a Sales and Marketing Manager to oversee both sports - I went for that role and thankfully got it, and that is where I remained for quite a number of years.

9.27AM

Mon 1st Nov 2021

Changing Seasons

The British Flat season officially ending three weeks before the turf action actually ends is not a perfect conclusion but ‘Champions Day at Ascot’ certainly adds a lot more glamour to the crowning of the season’s Champions than the Irish version at Naas last Sunday.

12.19PM

Fri 29th Oct 2021

Andrew Kinirons

I’m based on the family farm near Newbridge Co Kildare and I have a Curragh licence so we can bring our horses there for faster work when necessary.

10.09AM

Mon 25th Oct 2021

Farewell Trainer

Today racing laid to rest one of its true heroes. Frank Ennis (75) lived and loved horse racing his entire life and gave far more to the sport than he ever took from it.

2.21PM

Fri 22nd Oct 2021

Roger McGrath

My parents were into racing, both sides of my parents' family would have strong racing connections. My father, Michael McGrath, was a veterinary surgeon who trained horses and was a very keen breeder. His father before him trained horses from the 1930s onwards. I grew up in a family-run operation with a small number of horses.

10.25AM

Mon 18th Oct 2021

Perception is not always reality

David Walsh’s Sunday Times article into the details surrounding Bryony Frost’s bullying and harassment allegations against fellow jockey Robbie Dunne makes for grim reading.

1.56PM

Thu 14th Oct 2021

Jack Foley

I’m from Ballyloughan near Bagenalstown, Co Carlow and my grand-uncle was the late Tom Foley. His yard is just down the road from where I grew up. It’s great to see his son Pat continuing the tradition of training winners from Aughabeg Stables.

1.12PM

Mon 11th Oct 2021

Not all Group 1's are equal

When the Panorama investigation into inhumane practices at Abattoirs in the UK was first broadcast back in July it sent shockwaves through the horse racing communities both here and in Britain. Shortly after the programme aired the Oireachtas Hearings into Jim Bolger’s allegations of doping of racehorses began and the Panorama programme was discussed in detail during those Hearings.

12.05PM

Fri 8th Oct 2021

Brian Hamilton

I was always into the pony club and did a bit of pony racing in my youth. I had nothing else in my head other than horses since I was a kid. It was the only thing I really knew anything about. My mother had point-to-pointers and I rode in point-to-points and, the first year I rode, I had three winners when I was 16 so I thought it was easy then!

10.07AM

Mon 4th Oct 2021

Racing's highs and lows

Sunday’s 100th running of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe produced a thriller. Europe's premier race had promised so much with a glittering line up and certainly delivered a wonderful spectacle where all the leading contenders held their chances in the home straight but in the end it wasn’t quite the result we expected to round off a vintage Flat season.

12.44PM

Fri 1st Oct 2021

Brian Duffy

You couldn’t dream of the two days we have had, for me to train my first two winners at my local track in Bellewstown within 24 hours of one another, the second coming on the day that Frankie Dettori rode a winner, Barney Curley was honoured and so much money was made for his charity, DAFA (Direct Aid For Africa).

9.58AM

Mon 27th Sep 2021

Jockeys' mental health is a big issue for the sport

It takes a certain type of character to make it as a jockey. Many would say you’d need a screw loose to even contemplate it as a career but for those that do take up the challenge it has the potential to be a very lucrative occupation.

1.05PM

Fri 24th Sep 2021

Eric McNamara

I train in Beechmount House in Rathkeale. My parents were there 50 years and unfortunately both of them passed away through Alzheimers. I bought it off my brothers and sisters after they did.

10.19AM

Mon 20th Sep 2021

The same but different

It seemed like old times this past week with Davy riding winners, Gordon training doubles and trebles, and Charles landing gambles. Normality restored.

12.40PM

Thu 16th Sep 2021

Ger Lyons

When Irish Champions Weekend started, I just wanted to have runners. Then I thought it would be great to have a winner. To leave Leopardstown on Saturday with four from that day alone is just what dreams are made of but the team as a whole deserve huge credit. They knew this is what I was targeting all year. I said all year, Irish Champions Weekend was where we were going. Whatever we had was going to be aimed at it.

5.18PM

Mon 13th Sep 2021

A weekend of Champions

Looking back at Irish Champions Weekend there were many notable performances but the big takeaway from the two days was that you don’t need large fields to produce high class competition. The four-runner turnout for the Irish Champion Stakes was obviously disappointing, as was the lack of international participation, but it nonetheless produced a classic renewal. Three high-class horses powering up the Leopardstown straight virtually in unison was just about as good as it gets.

12.32PM

Fri 10th Sep 2021

Mick Winters

Galway is a track I have always enjoyed visiting, after winning the Galway Hurdle two years in a row with Rebel Fitz and Missunited, so it was great to make the journey to Ballybrit pay off when Doldido got up by a nose in the handicap chase on Monday, with Jordan Gainford wearing my own colours.

10.05AM

Mon 6th Sep 2021

Sometimes when you win you still lose

Animal cruelty is a highly emotive issue. To many people it ranks close to paedophilia as one of the most heinous of crimes. For that reason I have tried to take a dispassionate view of Stephen Mahon’s Appeal Hearing verdict.

10.37AM

Thu 2nd Sep 2021

Aidan O'Brien

I think it’s vital that it looks like normality will resume in terms of full attendances at Irish race meetings from October. I think it’s very important for atmosphere and interest. When you go racing when there is a crowd there, there is a totally different atmosphere for everybody, horses, jockeys, owners, trainers. And that’s what racing is all about. It has to be a spectacle. It has to be somewhere that everybody wants to go and when they do go to enjoy it really. For the future of racing it’s very important. Hopefully it will be brilliant.

4.51PM

Mon 30th Aug 2021

Crowd numbers set to increase in September

The government is due to issue new guidelines on attendances at race meetings later this week and it’s widely anticipated that at least next month’s Irish Champions Weekend and Listowel's Harvest Festival will get the 5,000 a day allocation they have requested.

2.28PM

Thu 26th Aug 2021

Sorcha Woods

Losing my ten-pounds claim has been an important milestone for me this year and I couldn’t have asked for any more in my first season with a licence on the track. I had ridden in point-to-points before that and rode a winner last year but to get my first winner on the Flat in my first year and now have three, is extremely satisfying.

11.12AM

Mon 23rd Aug 2021

Where have all the sponsors gone?

The recently released half-year figures for Irish horse racing from HRI showed positive trends in a number of key indicators to the health of the sport - Horses in training up 24% (compared to same period in 2019), active owners up 23.9%, runners in races up 23.8% - but one area where the sport took a massive dip was in race sponsorship.

12.29PM

Fri 20th Aug 2021

Shane Kelly

It has been an unbelievable year so far, losing my claim, riding my first winner for Godolphin and then last week, riding my first two group winners in the space of 24 hours. That was just surreal.

10.09AM

Mon 16th Aug 2021

Racing Needs Crowds

24,000 at Croke Park on Saturday - 2,000 of them on the terraced Hill 16 - is the latest knock-back for horse racing.

11.01AM

Fri 13th Aug 2021

Paul Hensey

Sunday was a wonderful day. To return to the Curragh, where I was manager for 14 years, as chief operating officer of Al Shaqab Racing, to have a Group 1 winner was out of this world, as Ebro River bagged the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes. It was my first time racing in Ireland in almost two years so it was a marvellous day.

11.51AM

Mon 9th Aug 2021

Lucky Dip

The random horse selection process for the show jumping element of the Modern Pentathlon caused a storm last week when it robbed Ireland's Natalya Coyle of a chance to medal at the Olympics. You would have to feel for Natalya as this was her last realistic chance of an Olympic podium finish but at least with this lucky dip allocation system there’s no discernible physical risk attached to the horse you draw.

12.02PM

Thu 5th Aug 2021

Wesley Joyce

I was buzzing and completely over the moon after winning the feature race at Galway on Saturday, the €60,000 Galway Shopping Centre Handicap on Crowns Major for Emmet Mullins. It was the biggest success of my career so far. I was very happy to get the ride on him and thankfully it worked out brilliantly.

12.25PM

Mon 2nd Aug 2021

Aurora Princess

Galway carried on the recent trend we have seen in Irish racing where negative stories jump across into mainstream news at will but the positive racing stories fail to register at all.

12.43PM

Thu 29th Jul 2021

Finny Maguire

It was unbelievable to win the Connacht Hotel Qualified Riders’ Handicap for the second year in succession at Galway on Monday. Coming up the road you were just thinking how lucky I was to win it last year. You’re kind of dreaming of winning it again but I didn’t think it would happen really. It was an unbelievable feeling when I just got up. I didn’t think I would, he made it hard for me.

12.38PM

Mon 26th Jul 2021

High Expectations

Last week’s Panorama programme was shocking on many levels but the haunting quote for me was that “the vast majority of horses being slaughtered in Britain and Ireland come from Irish owners and trainers.”

11.02AM

Tue 20th Jul 2021

Georgie Benson

There was a huge element of luck around me even having a ride in the Kildare Village Ladies’ Derby at The Curragh on Saturday. To win it, on Juddmonte Irish Oaks day, was frankly unbelievable and I it will take some time to sink in.

3.18PM

Mon 19th Jul 2021

Stormey Waters

Three of Ireland’s 350 licensed trainers are currently serving long suspensions for a variety of issues - Gordon Elliott for sitting on a dead horse, Charles Byrnes for leaving his horse unattended in Tramore’s stableyard and Stephen Mahon for the neglect of horses at his training premises.

11.58AM

Fri 16th Jul 2021

Ado McGuinness

The Galway festival is a week everyone looks forward to and I’m no different, especially after the bit of luck we have had there the last few years.

9.21AM

Mon 12th Jul 2021

Will To Win

Last Thursday’s Oireachtas Hearing into doping within Irish horse racing was very interesting viewing on many fronts.

12.35PM

Fri 9th Jul 2021

Katryn Foley

Being manager of Sligo Racecourse means a lot to me, as someone from Ballymote who worked in a variety of business and commercial roles around the world, including America and the Middle East, before coming back home, which is something I always wanted to do.

10.09AM

Mon 5th Jul 2021

Smoking Gun

On legal advice Jim Bolger will not take part in this week’s Oireachtas Hearing into the trainer’s own allegations that there is a ‘Lance Armstrong’ waiting to be found among the upper echelons of Ireland’s training ranks.

1.05PM

Wed 30th Jun 2021

Niall McCullagh

The buzz I got out of having a winner on Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby weekend was unbelievable, and a premier handicap winner at that.

3.46PM

Mon 28th Jun 2021

Wasted Opportunity

Saturday’s Derby at the Curragh may well turn out to be best we have seen for many a year. Two horses finishing a long way clear of the opposition is often the mark of a very good race and that certainly was the case with Hurricane Lane and Lone Eagle seven lengths clear of their rivals at the line.

1.10PM

Fri 25th Jun 2021

Pat Keogh

We are delighted with how the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival is unfolding. It is a great weekend, with three days of racing, and great support from the sponsors particularly Dubai Duty Free who have been very loyal to the Derby and love it. Every race has a sponsor and that is significant.

9.53AM

Mon 21st Jun 2021

Four days good; Five days better?

Royal Ascot was certainly a week of two halves weather-wise with the first three days run on very quick ground and the last two days on very soft. Personally, I preferred the slower surface which at least took away the ridiculous draw bias in the races run on the straight course over the first three days. Those drawn in the middle may as well have stayed at home which is not fair on horses, connections or punters.

1.51PM

Thu 17th Jun 2021

Gary Carroll

I’m still replying to all the messages I have received since riding my first Royal Ascot winner on board Quick Suzy in the Queen Mary Stakes for Gavin Cromwell. That reaction was unbelievable and very nice.

6.31PM

Mon 14th Jun 2021

Bolger back on the drugs bandwagon

Leading trainer Jim Bolger has spoken out publicly again about what he considers to be a serious issue of steroids being used within racing.

12.25PM

Thu 10th Jun 2021

Lewis King

I have had a keen interest in mental health for some time, and in particular, into why people are so slow to seek help. A study in Australia said that people waited between seven and eight years on average.

12.06PM

Mon 7th Jun 2021

A tale of two horses

On the same day the great Faugheen left Willie Mullins’ Closutton stables to begin his retirement in the idyllic surrounds of the Irish National Stud we found out that trainer Stephen Mahon had been found guilty by the IHRB of the neglect of nine horses in his care and had his licence withdrawn for four years.

12.40PM

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