Colin Keane

The title of champion apprentice is still up for grabs ahead of the final day of the Irish Flat season at the Curragh on Sunday, with Wayne Hassett and James Ryan currently sharing the lead on 31 winners apiece, just two ahead of last year's championship runner-up, Adam Caffrey, in third. All three jockeys will be heading to Dundalk on Wednesday where Ryan and Caffrey have a full book of rides, while Hassett will be in action in six of the seven races on the card. After that Dundalk hosts...

Atoning for a luckless defeat in the G1 1,000 Guineas, Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}--Tres Magnifique {Fr}, by Zoffany {Ire}) returned to Newmarket's Rowley Mile to conquer a strong renewal of the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes on Saturday. Tried over different trips by David Menuisier following that Classic effort, she had proven that this trip is what she needs when winning Sandown's G3 Atalanta Stakes in August and faced an easier task from the break as Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) again surrendered ground. Positioned close to the leader by Colin...

Newtown Anner Stud's Chantez (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Lady Lara {Ire}, by Excellent Art {GB}) fired the opening salvo on Irish Champions Weekend with a dominant, albeit wayward, victory in Saturday's Listed Ballylinch Stud Irish EBF Ingabelle Stakes at Leopardstown. The 220,000gns October Book 1 graduate, who posted a three-length maiden victory over the same seven-furlong strip in her second outing last month, broke well from an outer gate and tracked the leaders in third through halfway. Taking closer order off the home turn, the 6-5 favourite quickened to the fore...

Some of Ireland's top jockeys and trainers took part in a charity polo match hosted by the All Ireland Polo Club at Phoenix Park on Sunday. The event, sponsored by NFP, an Aon Company, and Matheson, raised vital funds for the Down Syndrome Centre and raised awareness for the Together Academy, two organisations committed to empowering children and young adults with Down syndrome. The matches featured jockeys Colin Keane, Gary Carroll, Sam Ewing, Jack Kennedy, Billy Lee and Keith Donoghue, with the trainers in opposition including Tony Martin, Gavin Cromwell,...

Ger Lyons's reserve of smart 2-year-olds is deep this season and another stepped forward on Sunday as the newcomer Revoke (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}--Discipline {GB}, by Dansili {GB}) impressed in the opening six-furlong maiden. Prominent from the outset under Colin Keane racing in the far-side group, the 11-10 favourite took command two out and stayed on powerfully to record a 4 3/4-length success from Say Yes To Dreams (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}). "Colin said she's done what we said she'd do at home which is lovely," Lyons said. "That's her first time away...

Saturday's G2 City of York Stakes was primed for an upset with its dual winner Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) withdrawn and the exciting 3-year-old Lake Forest (GB) (No Nay Never) also exiting stage left after becoming upset in the stalls and so it proved with Breege (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) delivering the surprise outcome at 33-1. Without a win since capturing Epsom's G3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes over an extended mile, the John and Sean Quinn-trained Chasemore Farm homebred benefitted from a suicidal pace up front to come through under Colin Keane...

Building on her debut second over seven furlongs at Leopardstown last month, Newtown Anner Stud Farm's Chantez (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Lady Lara {Ire}, by Excellent Art {GB}) returned to the same course and distance to stamp her authority on the card's opening maiden on Thursday. Another from Ger Lyons' talent-packed team of juvenile fillies, the 220,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase was restrained to track the leading duo by Colin Keane throughout the early stages. Let loose passing the two-furlong pole, the 5-6 favourite whose GII Honey Fox Stakes-winning dam...

As a heralded and unbeaten member of the dominant 2-year-old fillies' division entering Saturday's G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at The Curragh, Juddmonte's TDN Rising Star Babouche (GB) (Kodiac {GB}--Pavlosk, by Arch) was always going to be a force to be reckoned with and in the event she was too much for Whistlejacket (Ire) (No Nay Never) to handle in the first major clash of the sexes in this age group. Surrendering a length and a half from the gates to the Ballydoyle representative, the Ger Lyons-trained G3 Anglesey Stakes winner...

Juddmonte's Babouche (GB) (Kodiac {GB}--Pavlosk, by Arch) attained 'TDN Rising Star' status with a five-length rout going six furlongs at Cork in her June 14 unveiling and stepped forward to justify 13-8 favouritism in Sunday's G3 Jebel Ali Racecourse & Stables Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh. The Ger Lyons trainee was bumped at the break and raced three lengths off the leader as Treasure Isle (Ire) (No Nay Never) set a searching tempo up front. Powering forward once past halfway, she was shaken up to launch her challenge approaching the...

Juddmonte's Red Letter (GB) (Frankel {GB}--Red Impression {GB}, by Dark Angel {Ire}) had already shown that she is a top-drawer prospect with impressive late fractions on her seven-furlong Curragh debut last month and merely confirmed that with another scintillating performance to become her sire's 42nd TDN Rising Star on Sunday. Narrowly denied by Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) when storming home late on her racecourse bow, the Ger Lyons-trained homebred was sent straight to the lead this time by Colin Keane. Never in any danger with...

After lighting up Royal Ascot, a tilt at the Melbourne Cup could be on the cards for Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), with Ireland's reigning champion jockey Colin Keane explaining how the gelding has provided his father "with a new lease of life" after a horror fall in 2021 almost left the trainer paralysed.  The celebrations that followed Crystal Black's victory in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Ascot went unrivalled as the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own the former Dermot Weld-trained inmate burst into song in the...

You can keep your fashionistas, foodies, royal processions and Group 1 races. Give me the scenes that followed the success of Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes any day of the week instead.  Win, lose or draw, the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own Crystal Black came to Ascot for a party. Boy did their rapidly progressive gelding provide them with something to celebrate and the scenes that followed his success for the father and son team of Gerry and Colin Keane will go...