Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

The Succession Stakes

Even after the longest goodbye in racing history it won't take long for Punchestown's festival to remind everyone of that most perennial of realities - the most important race is always the next one. But in the midst of the eagerly anticipated appearances of Faugheen, Un De Sceaux, Hurricane Fly & Co, plenty will also be keeping a close eye on signs as to who might emerge as favourite for the Tony McCoy succession stakes.

8.53AM

No Point Fighting Gravity

Blog 10. January 2015. It's the first week of the New Year and WillFredd Theatre and I have hit the ground running. What a great way to start the year, I'm back at Halfords, with Toffee, the first pony that I rode over a year (and 13 riding lessons) ago. This time, he's wearing a racing saddle. He looks fantastic if a little incongruous, being a skewbald pony and not a racehorse.

11.45AM

Call Of Duty

What's been most interesting about the High Tail It case at Tipperary hasn't been so much the penalties handed out under 'non-trier' rules as reactions which basically revolve around variants on a 'see worse every day' theme. Inevitably riding shotgun to that view is an implication that those involved might have been hard done by. And the stewarding situation in Ireland means it is possible to see the logic in both points and yet resolutely maintain the officials on duty were dead right.

9.12AM

Throw A Saddle On Fasty

JOCKEY BLOG POST 9. It's December 2014. I've had 11 riding lessons in the past 14 months, which averages out at one every 5 weeks or so. Not many considering this project involves me learning to ride.

6.28PM

A Day At The Races

Blog 8. July 2014. Michael O' Callaghan's Indian Tomahawk is running at Leopardstown. Myself, Sophie and SJ from WillFredd Theatre follow him up the M50 to find a big crowd for a summer evening's racing. There will be a band playing after the racing, and the crowd seem to be a mixture of racing people and newbies like myself. I test my new-found knowledge of reading the form by reading the race card to David Donohue, our resident racing expert. I think I've got it right. I better have, I want to win a few quid! Something to set me up for my retirement from dancing, which I suspect is a similar age as that of a jockey.

10.02AM

The Need Of A Nightmare

The word 'historic' is often mauled into meaninglessness but the next five days truly could be truly significant as Tony McCoy continues his countdown to retirement. He has already stated victory in Saturday's Aintree National will see him pack it in. So the opportunity for Irish race fans to watch one of racing's seminal figures in action at Fairyhouse this Easter should be irresistible. We really won't see his like again.

9.00AM

Getting Closer to this Industry

BLOG POST 7. Meeting David Donohue and Michael O'Callaghan.

9.10AM

Moore Ducks In A Row

With the upcoming Irish and Aintree Grand Nationals yet again taking place in the same week, expect more soul-searching about whether or not the Fairyhouse feature's traditional Easter Monday date is a positive or a negative. In purely racing terms an argument can be made the Easter connection is a minus: the practical reality however is that it is the race's most important plus.

9.13AM

The Two Nijinskys

Blog 6. If I were to ask you to use three words that would describe Nijinsky, what would your response be? You might say, awesome, powerful and well balanced perhaps? But, would you be talking about Vaslav Nijinsky, the Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, or would you be talking about Nijinsky, the Canadian born horse trained by Vincent O' Brien at Ballydoyle who won the Triple Crown in 1970? The language that dance professionals use about the dancer, and the language racing people use about the horse are strikingly similar.

9.10PM

Riding Styles

BLOG 5 - Riding Styles. Leading dancer Emma O' Kane and WillFredd Theatre are preparing to present a dance show Jockey which will premiere at VISUAL, Carlow on May 15th 2015. Emma's been learning how to ride for the project as well as researching her grandfather Phillip De Burgh O' Brien, a bloodstock agent and racing journalist who died before she was born. Over the next few weeks Emma and WillFredd Theatre will bring you an exclusive blog on irishracing.com about Emma's family research, her riding lessons and the creation of Jockey.

4.05PM

10 Hopes And Dreams For Festival 2015

1An oldie but a goldie - cut out the flag-waving. It is juvenile and chippy. Cheltenham is built on the Anglo-Irish rivalry but wrapping the green flag around every Irish winner jars with the nature of that rivalry. And anyone who says it is 'just-a-bit-of-fun' will be entitled to ignore the baggage that automatically goes with flag-waving in these islands when a UK trained winner comes back to the Punchestown winners enclosure festooned in Union Jacks and it gets dismissed as 'just-a-bit-of-fun.'

8.49AM

Fred Archer is a Legend

BLOG POST 4 - Fred Archer is a Legend

6.32PM

Phillip and The Simulator

Leading dancer Emma O'Kane and WillFredd Theatre are preparing for show entitled Jockey, which will come to theatres nationwide in May 2015. Emma's been learning to ride for the project, as well as researching her grandfather Phillip de Burgh O' Brien, a bloodstock agent and racing journalist who died before she was born.

2.25PM

Midweek Can Be The New Weekend

It's been said this week by Willie Mullins but it's been said by so many before that and especially in the past couple of years that Racing is missing a trick not bossing midweek sporting headlines on a regular basis.

4.20PM

Rising Trot

Leading professional dancer Emma O' Kane and WillFredd Theatre are preparing for a show named JOCKEY, which will come to theatres nationwide in May 2015. Emma has been learning to ride for the project, as well as researching her grandfather Phillip de Burgh O' Brien, a bloodstock agent and racing journalist who died before she was born. BLOG POST 2 - Rising Trot

3.16PM

The Long Goodbye

It was said on RacingFM this week that AP McCoy is now going to enjoy the \"long goodbye\" similar to that received by Brian O'Driscoll when he announced he was to retire from Rugby, and I am sure other examples will spring to people's minds when I make that comparison.

7.43PM

In The Blood

Leading professional dancer Emma O' Kane and WillFredd Theatre are preparing to present a show entitled JOCKEY which will premiere at VISUAL, Carlow on May 15th 2015. For this project Emma has been learning how to ride as well as researching her grandfather Phillip De Burgh O' Brien, a bloodstock agent and racing journalist who died before she was born. Over the next twelve weeks Emma will bring you an exclusive blog on irishracing.com about her family research, her riding lessons and the creation of Jockey.

3.56PM

Talent Counts - Not Gender

Racing is so obsessed with success that gender is mostly irrelevant - except it seems in relation to jockeys. The consensus appears to be that female jockeys can still face prejudice. But it's worth betting that when the inevitable occurs and an exceptional female riding talent does emerge from Ireland the fact of her sex will mean nothing. Because even the most Neanderthal of racing males values an edge over the opposition much more than any stupid prejudice.

8.58AM

Bar A Fall

He wins bar a fall, surely that's all that can stop Un De Sceaux in the Arkle now after a show stopping dispatch of two of the most promising novices in training at Leopardstown last weekend.

8.28PM

Joe Prole's Peashooter

The Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has made his feelings known about a new Horse Racing Ireland board, pledging it will be \"representative as well as functional\" and agreeing with the Oireachtas Committee's view that voices from people at racing's everyday coalface should be heard more. Commendable stuff, heart-warming even: and then he goes just that bit too far - \"This isn't an industry that should be run by the big guns.\" Aw, Simon.

8.50AM

Gowran Fogs up the Gold Cup Picture

I had a great day at Gowran Park yesterday for the Thyestes Chase and have to say everyone did a great job in providing such a great service to the race goers in terms of pictures and commentary once it was clear ( no pun intended) that the fog wasn't going away.

4.36PM

The Glass Must Be Half-Empty

An upcoming announcement on the composition and reach of Irish racing's new drugs taskforce comes on the back of the Cobalt controversy currently dominating headlines in Australia. Three high-profile Australian trainers are under investigation and vehemently protest their innocence. There is also no evidence of cobalt chloride use in Irish racing. But if this taskforce is to be effective it is vital it remembers there was no evidence of steroids here either before the Fenton case. When it comes to doping the presumption always must be the cheats are a step ahead.

9.20AM

To play or not to play

It is a busy time in the Ante Post markets for Cheltenham as the leading contenders strut there stuff on the track and targets are identified in post race interviews. This is always quickly followed by a colourful clamour of bookmaker reps to dazzle you with quotes and stories of piles of cash landing in the offices for one good thing after another.

9.41PM

You Get What You Don't Pay For

The difference between amateur and professional often has nothing to do with ability but rather the professional being able to do the job NOW and the signal of intent that sends out. There is a rather topical link here to the BHA's plans for a belated enquiry into Aidan Coleman's use of the whip in the Welsh National but also in broader terms about the need for professional stewarding in Ireland.

9.06AM

Hearts And Minds Require A Grip

Potentially the single most significant development of 2015 is hair-sample science, something with the capacity to keep a firm grip of those balls which will assure hearts and minds stay focussed on combating doping. Believe the lab wonks and it's only a matter of time before the key to a horse's pharmaceutical history will simply be hanging there in its tail. It must be racing's interests to perfect the science as soon as possible.

8.54AM

How Was It For You

Davy Russell got the Gigginstown bullet on New Year's Eve 2013 so there's a presumption in consigning 2014 completely to history just yet but everyone else seems to be in review-mode and in this case Russell provides a neat synchronicity since his Cheltenham Gold Cup winning ride on Lord Windermere is sure to figure among the most notable highlights when 2014 is recounted.

9.35AM

Planet Fundamental Contradiction

Would the proverbial Martian, if he'd dropped to earth for Ascot's Ladbroke Hurdle, have looked at the outcome and concluded Noel Fehily is a mug? And if so, can a cogent argument be presented as to why he might be wrong? You know, apart from hopelessly subjective stuff about some horses running for the whip and others not: in cold logical terms could you persuade said Martian that the relevant whip rules haven't originated on the planet Fundamental Contradiction?

9.08AM

"Cliff Horses" are not just for Christmas

To be clear from the outset \"Cliff Horses\"; are not for the faint hearted but more for the soft hearted among us who love racing and love being right... Eventually!

4.21PM

The Risk/Reward Dilemma

Clearly Philip Fenton’s decision-making hasn’t been great recently but a call not to appeal the severity of his three year disqualification for possession of anabolic steroids looks a rare piece of sound judgement from the disgraced trainer. History suggests the authorities would have been unlikely to view such chutzpah as an invitation to increase the penalty but few would have quibbled if they had because a sound argument can be made that Fenton has got off lightly.

9.20AM

Equine Personality of the Year

With the return of the enigmatic Mad Moose just a few hours away I noticed the horse had remarkably done more tweeting than running in the last 12 months since his ban by the BHA.The talented, but shall we perhaps say intelligent dual purpose performer, will hit the racetrack again on Saturday and his loyal fan base are right behind him. It might help if that was a literal statement and preferably if they could wave a few items at him to encourage him along once the tapes are released. Just a suggestion…

5.13PM

Australia is Horse of the Year

Horse of the Year is a major sweat in the USA and about as relevant here as racing on dirt. In America the award defines careers: here it defines Horse Racing Ireland’s awards day - which happens to be today – before being more or less forgotten. When Hurricane Fly’s copious achievements are listed, getting Horse of the Year in 2011 and 2013 rarely gets a look in. He’s in there again for 2014 but any other result than Australia might relegate the award to curio status.

9.04AM

Arbitrage

It's a lovely sensible word isn't it. Not the most fun that can be had in 9 letters I'd imagine but a good name for a nice slow ground devouring long distance staying chaser maybe? I'll get to that later....

7.40PM

Tell ‘Em Nothin’

Imagine a sport has a rampant drugs issue. Then imagine those in charge of the sport squabbling over the money to fight it. Then imagine how that looks to a sceptical public already disposed to believing those within the sport aren’t serious about tackling doping at all. If it were athletics or cycling, the reaction would be automatic, as automatic as the instinctive suspicion that those sports’ credibility is shot to hell. Does racing seriously believe it plays by rules that are so different?

9.10AM

What is the problem with common sense?

Well another week and another interesting tail of woe for Racing in the UK as the cuffs don't match the collars when it comes to flags. You have to wonder what the thought process is when making an unfortunate mistake easy fodder for negative front page news. Matters taken in hand by the powers at the track immediately after the race and a few hands held up would have buried the void race at Sedgefield into the \"in other news\" section next to the classifieds. But that requires common sense...

5.07PM

Is the Cure in the Hair of the Horse?

Ireland is a great place for tokenism and the temptation to offer up Philip Fenton’s three year disqualification as a sufficient gesture for normal racing service to be resumed will no doubt be irresistible to some. However racing must resist that temptation, and be seen to resist it. A long, laborious and painful process has resulted in one scalp but only the naive or wilfully obstinate will choose to indulge in convenient ‘lone-gunman’ comfort. Fenton now finds himself in a singularly unenviable position but it stretches credulity to suggest he was unique.

9.46AM

A Good Horse Always Has You Dreaming

It’s that time of year, nothing yet lost and nothing yet gained. Plenty of horses reappearing in the National Hunt sphere with high hopes and dreams very much intact.

4.46PM

Fist-Bumping The Kids

The pursuit of youth is perpetual in business since they’re the ones with the old long-term-disposable and it is racing’s good fortune is that persuading post-pubers of its attractions is pretty straightforward because you either get this game or you don’t. No embarrassing attempt to fist-bump with the kids is going to persuade any adolescent otherwise if they don’t fundamentally get the gee-gees. So what’s left is to treat the converted properly, something anyone can understand no matter how old.

9.24AM

A Non Starter For Ten

It’s been a ritual for a longer than I care to recall that on the eve of this very weekend I would be scrutinising the longest list of National Hunt horses in training, printed on what was probably the smallest print used in mainstream media, in a folly attempt to put all my favourite eggs in one basket of 10…To Follow.

5.24PM

The State of Welfare

Horse racing has no shortage of controversial topics to deal with but in overall reputational terms pretty much everything pales in comparison to the issue of horse welfare. It is HORSE racing after all. And while most of the general public manage to carry on just fine without the game troubling their minds at all, not doing right by the animals around which everything revolves is something even the most ignorant can understand. So racing has to do right by its horses, and be seen to be doing it.

9.37AM

It's Getting Exciting

The International scene has provided some superb highlights over the last week with a nigh on Hollywood ending to Jamie Spencer’s marmite career as Toast Of New York came close to Breeders Cup glory and Ryan Moore, everyone’s favourite spread, landed another Group 1 in the race that stops a nation Down Under.

9.28PM

V For Victory

Perhaps only in sport is the word ‘veteran’ employed in a negative sense and rarely in racing is it used as a compliment. But Paul Carberry’s barnstorming performance to win the first Grade 1 of the National Hunt season on Road To Riches is just the latest example of why the vernacular needs to catch up. Because if veteran is racing’s polite code for washed-up it’s starting to look very old-fashioned.

8.42AM

Where to Focus?

Some serious racing this weekend and it's hard to know what to focus on.

6.01PM

Tiptoeing Behind The Babysitters

Perhaps the most significant recent comment about doping within Irish racing hasn’t come in a court or on a racecourse but in a drab Dail Committee room where a Department of Agriculture official basically dismissed the idea that Turf Club officials might be given ‘seizure’ powers. That means the industry’s new drugs-regime, due to kicks in on January 1, will have one hand tied behind its back before it even starts.

9.26AM