There is no escaping the irony that a man named Sonny has the potential to shine at the Dublin Racing Festival. That's if the weather Gods would relent and the meeting gets the go-ahead on Sunday.  Stephen Carey, best known as Sonny, will be doubly-represented by Brosna Shine and Lilannbee in the Grade 2 Mares [...]

An exciting new chapter is being written at Coolmore Stud with the news that the powerful operation has been granted an ownership licence by the JRA [Japanese Racing Association], meaning it will be represented in that jurisdiction for the first time by two exceptionally-bred runners by Frankel. Four-time leading JRA trainer Mitsu Nakauchida has been [...]

Minzaal has been chalked up at odds as short as 10-11 for first-season sires' championship honours by Paddy Power, whose trader James Ryan said it is the Derrinstown Stud-based stallion's 'title to lose'. Ryan, who priced up the market, also revealed that the firm is happy to lay second-favourite Blackbeard at odds of 6-4. Meanwhile, [...]

Eva Maria Bucher Haefner inducted into the ITBA's Hall Of Fame at a memorable awards ceremony on Saturday evening Edmond Mahony, Joe Osborne and Eva Maria Bucher Haefner were the big winners at this year's Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association Awards ceremony that took place at The Heritage Hotel in County Laois on Saturday.  The awards [...]

Few bloodstock agents manage to rack up the miles that Ed Stapleton puts in on a yearly basis. That's ironic, because if it wasn't for being stopped in his tracks during the Covid-19 pandemic back in 2020, Stapleton may never have made a go of it in both hemispheres.  Now, Stapleton spends six months of [...]

John Connaughton, the hotel owner who bred Group 1 winner Bay City Roller as well as the Group 3 scorer Dunboyne Express, has died almost exactly a year after he was crowned small breeder of the year at the ITBA Awards. He was 93. Connaughton enjoyed a lifetime of success in business and bloodstock. Dunboyne [...]

Tony O'Callaghan, David Redvers and Joe Foley have led the tributes to Collegelands Stud's Ciara Eglington, who died following a short illness on Tuesday. She was 59.  Along with her husband Austin Lyons, Eglington churned out a hatful of smart horses from her County Meath base, headed by American Grade I winner Watsdachances. The Group [...]

Tom Cleary has said that he would be the first man to raise a glass to the connections of Oh My Word at Cheltenham after confirming that owner Seamus Ross has moved the leading fancy for the Champion Bumper to his old ally Tony Martin.  Cleary enjoyed his greatest day as a trainer when Oh [...]

Irish Thoroughbred Marketing boss Charles O'Neill has reported that the five new stallion sons of the late Wootton Bassett – Coolmore's Classic winners Henri Matisse and Camille Pisarro, Tally-Ho Stud's Maranoa Charlie, Rathbarry Stud newbie Unquestionable and Capital Stud's Topgear – are proving to be “a huge draw” for breeders and racing fans embarking on [...]

Jimmy Hyland, the new CEO of Godolphin Ireland, speaks about champion sire Night Of Thunder, new addition Shadow Of Light and more Sweeping statements about the future are usually best left to Nostradamus and the like but Jimmy Hyland, the new man at the helm at Kildangan Stud, has more than one good reason to [...]

Roger and Tony O'Callaghan talk about Tally-Ho Stud's new addition Maranoa Charlie, buying into Group 1 winner Zavateri and more “We prefer not to say too much, we rather row in behind the horses and let them do the talking,” says Tony O'Callaghan from his kitchen table at Tally-Ho Stud.  Both he and his son [...]

Young pinhooker and manager of Stanley Lodge Stud Nick Cope reflects on one of the best sales results of 2025, Ethical Diamond's Breeders' Cup triumph and more What is it about this great game of ours that it can turn the hardiest of fellas into mush? In Nick Cope's defence, profiting the price of a [...]