Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

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

Thu 3rd Jun 2021

Conor Clarke

It was an unbelievable feeling to ride my first winner at 17 on Lord McZie for Ray Hackett at Navan on Sunday. I was confident of the horse but very unsure as it was only my second ride on the flat. You wouldn’t be expecting to ride your first winner on just your second ride.

9.39AM

Mon 31st May 2021

Light at the end of the tunnel

From next Monday owners will be permitted to return to the racetrack. This is obviously great news for the sport but we’re still some way off seeing any significant numbers of the general public visiting a racecourse as the government continues to steer a conservative route out of lockdown.

1.30PM

Fri 28th May 2021

Lynne McLoughlin

I never really thought of being the first woman to be a stalls handler until Pat Brennan, HRI’s racing services manager, said it to me. He asked me if I knew what size I was in men’s clothing. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t.

10.08AM

Mon 24th May 2021

Pat Smullen remembered at Curragh

Guineas weekend at the Curragh was a triumph on many levels. Despite horrendous weather through the week, with significant parts of the track waterlogged on Friday, both days went ahead as planned and the ground staff deserve much credit for that.

2.47PM

Thu 20th May 2021

Michael Browne

The phone has been melting between journalists and agents calling over the last few days but if Logo Hunter hadn’t won the Sole Power at Naas on Sunday, there’d be nobody wanting to talk to me, so I’m not complaining.

3.26PM

Mon 17th May 2021

A La Carte sanctions

The news last week that reigning French Champion Jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot has been charged with the rape of a female work-rider is shocking.

1.42PM

Fri 14th May 2021

Ryan Sexton

It was a great thrill to ride the second winner of my career on Angel’s Trumpet for Peter Fahey in the first division of the Killarney Outlook Handicap over an extended mile at Killarney on Tuesday, with the prize money going to Cancer Trials Ireland thanks to the generosity of the owner, Anthony Rogers of Airlie Stud.

10.31AM

Mon 10th May 2021

Cash is king

Bob Baffert’s baffled as another one of his horses fails a drug test. His recent Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was found to have a higher than permitted level of betamethasone in its system after the race and could face disqualification if the B-sample also comes back positive.

2.35PM

Fri 7th May 2021

Philip Rothwell

The Punchestown Festival has always been lucky for me. I’ve only had a couple of runners but every year we’re in the first three, there or thereabouts and have run well. Divine Rhapsody won the Land Rover in 2010 which was a great memory.

9.39AM

Mon 3rd May 2021

Punchestown Reflections

What an incredible week the Willie Mullins’ stable had at Punchestown. A staggering 19 of the 40 races were won by Closutton trained horses. This utter dominance is even more pronounced when you consider that the stable had no representatives in 8 races across the week.

1.38PM

Thu 29th Apr 2021

Conor O'Neill

It was an interesting build-up to the Punchestown Festival to say the least, as CEO of Punchestown

2.35PM

Mon 26th Apr 2021

Peerless Punchestown to deliver epic end to season

There is nothing HRI loves more than a flattering survey. Last week they published figures from the latest poll conducted by Red C in early February which indicated among other things that “40% of the population would have some interest in joining a syndicate or racing club.” Those figures might have been very different if the survey was conducted three weeks later during Gordongate but are nonetheless impressive.

1.05PM

Fri 23rd Apr 2021

Henry de Bromhead

To be able to bring what they labelled the Famous Five to my local racecourse in Tramore last Sunday was just brilliant.

11.10AM

Mon 19th Apr 2021

A sad day for the sport

The death of amateur jockey Lorna Brooke is devastating news for everyone associated with racing. The 37-year-old who was critically injured in a fall at Taunton racecourse 10 days ago tragically passed away yesterday.

3.45PM

Fri 16th Apr 2021

Laura Ward

It was an unbelievable feeling to win on my very first ride on a racecourse at the local track in Fairyhouse on Tuesday and to do it on Mary’s Pride.

3.39PM

Mon 12th Apr 2021

Extraordinary Times

The achievement of Rachael Blackmore winning Saturday’s Grand National aboard Minella Times is a game-changer for women in the sport.

2.32PM

Thu 8th Apr 2021

Ricky Doyle

It was unbelievable to win the Irish Grand National on my first ride in the race, an absolute dream. Freewheelin Dylan was 150/1 but I did think he had a better chance than that. He had won over three miles and a furlong on that good ground and a lot of them hadn’t. When you step beyond three miles, it’s a bigger test.

5.05PM

Mon 5th Apr 2021

A raw deal for punters

The launch of RacehorseClub caused quite a stir last week. The UK-based horse syndicators employed the services of some of the biggest names in the sport - Frankie Dettori, Oisin Murphy and Ed Chamberlin — to promote their new venture.

12.02PM

Fri 2nd Apr 2021

Robert Hennelly

I have been involved in horses all my life and it is great to have a mare in Moyhenna, that I own and bred myself with a chance of winning the Boylesports Irish Grand National.

1.19PM

Mon 29th Mar 2021

Slow Progress

Following on from the success of Irish trained and bred horses at the Cheltenham Festival HRI are looking to compound this advantage by introducing a scheme to encourage existing owners to purchase more Irish stock.

11.22AM

Sat 27th Mar 2021

John Nallen

It has been a strange couple of weeks. Obviously, Minella Indo winning the Gold Cup was brilliant and meant a lot to us, given that we had him four years and brought him through. It was just mighty.

11.18AM

Sun 21st Mar 2021

A Breath Of Fresh Air

A week ago Irish horse racing was in a dark place. Rocked to its core by scandal it looked as if Cheltenham would only compound this misery with a hollow Festival devoid of atmosphere and crowds.

12.12PM

Fri 19th Mar 2021

Jordan Gainford

The feeling I had after winning the Paddy Power Plate at Cheltenham on The Shunter yesterday (Thursday) was something I never experienced before, I can tell you that. It’s a different feeling. It’s unbelievable. The Shunter is a class horse and fair play to the trainer Emmet Mullins and the owners, to ask a seven-pound claimer to ride a horse with such a calibre, to ride in a race like this, I cannot thank them enough.

11.14AM

Mon 15th Mar 2021

A Festival Like No Other

From an outsider’s viewpoint horse racing must often have the appearance of being more like a religious cult than a sport. The annual devotion to the Cheltenham Festival does little to dissuade that view.

2.40PM

Fri 12th Mar 2021

Robbie Power

It is no great revelation to say that this season has not gone as planned but that is the case for everyone.

12.03PM

Mon 8th Mar 2021

Chelliottenham

Not since the kidnapping of Shergar in 1983 have we seen Irish horse racing thrust on to the world stage like it has this Past week. The power of one single still image has been truly extraordinary. As has the tsunami of outrage that accompanied its publication.

3.36PM

Fri 5th Mar 2021

William Cronin

You don’t get too many 11-year-olds wearing a hood and you don’t get too many winning beginners’ chases but Southerner has never been your ordinary horse. It says a lot for him that he wants to race so keenly at his age. He’s always taking a bite. He was quite free in his bumpers especially and we stuck the hood on when we went over hurdles and it definitely relaxed him a little bit but he does like to get on with things still. He’s a Westerner and they can be like that.

11.23AM

Mon 1st Mar 2021

Oh Gordon what have you done?

Horse racing has been put through the ringer over the last twelve months. Cheltenham last year stirred up deep-routed prejudices about racing being an elitist sport that couldn’t care less about anything outside its own bubble.

3.52PM

Fri 26th Feb 2021

Hugh Morgan

The phone hasn’t stopped hopping since Young Dev won the Racing Again March 6th Handicap Chase at Navan on Sunday. I couldn’t believe it to be honest. It worked out well. If he hadn’t won, I’d have been screwed!

9.29AM

Mon 22nd Feb 2021

Are there more Viking Hoards waiting to be found?

In the aftermath of Charles Byrnes’ unsuccessful appeal against the suspension of his training licence the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) held a press conference on Zoom last week.

1.36PM

Fri 19th Feb 2021

Louise Lyons

Epson Du Chenet was my first winner as a trainer at Naas last December, not long after I had taken out the licence, and it was fantastic that he stuck his neck out to win again at Thurles on Monday.

1.04PM

Mon 15th Feb 2021

Actions speak louder than words

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) issued a landmark statement on Friday when they announced plans for a zero-tolerance drug testing regime, the installation of CCTV in all racecourse stable yards and increased transparency in the reporting of the testing carried out by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB).

1.27PM