Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

12 years for Ronan McNally

I've been around horse racing all my life and at this stage it’s not too often that I’m overly surprised by anything, but Tuesday’s verdicts in the Ronan McNally Referral case certainly stunned me.

11.39AM

No stopping Willie Mullins

Willie Mullins hit his latest career milestone over the weekend when he trained his 4,000th winner. He is only the second Irish trainer to do so after Dermot Weld achieved the same landmark in 2016.

11.29AM

Robert Whearty

I'll be nineteen this year and am from Bellewstown in Co Meath. My first winner came at the local track and luckily I have a good strike-rate there. That was on Pretty Little Liar for David Dunne in July 2021 and was not long after I had taken out my licence.

9.46AM

‘Hay’ How are ya!

It’s great to see the racing industry coming together to support the ‘Hay’ How are ya campaign to raise awareness of mental health issues within the equestrian community and help eliminate the stigma associated with depression.

10.30AM

Jim Gorman

I'm from the Navan Road, Ashtown, Co Dublin and there were a lot of horses trained in the Phoenix Park at the time. When you were a kid going to the Phoenix Park races, it was very glamorous. It was a lovely way of life in the 60s. The course was idyllic, it was like old Victorian and beautiful, and it was very popular with Dubliners. They got big, big crowds.

10.05AM

Niall Moore

Gortnahoe in north Tipperary is my homeplace and I'm from a very sporty family.

9.40AM

Jack Kennedy deserves a change of luck

Jump racing can be such a tough sport. Jack Kennedy, who’s career has been blighted by injury, was flying on all fronts going into Sunday’s meeting at Naas. The 23-year-old was having his best season ever and was already 18 winners ahead of reigning champion Paul Townend in the race for the Jockeys Championship when disaster struck again.

1.28PM

Caroline McCaldin

I'm originally from Templepatrick, Co Antrim and my father Wilson Dennison has been into racing all his life, it is what we grew up with and were raised with. I evented and hunted all my life, and then had an accident in 2015 and was told I wouldn't ride again. I just didn't know what else to do, so I got into the racing. I had a good platform to start from with my father.

10.56AM

A Numbers Game

Leopardstown bucked the trend over Christmas with attendances over the four days up 6% compared to the pre-Covid numbers in 2019.

12.31PM

Mike O'Connor

I'm 21 and from the village of Curraglass in East Cork. We had ponies at home and my father started me off on them.

1.24PM

Andy Slattery

I'm from Cooldine, Killenaule and have been here all my life. My father was a jockey and he used to keep a few point-to-pointers. We had six stables at home. When I was young, he used to ride out for Adrian Maxwell and I used to go down with him and ride out at lunchtime when I was 11, 12 and 13. Then I did one season pony racing, I used to stay with John Egan up in Ballinasloe and rode about eight winners.

10.40AM

Suspending trainers’ licences

Following hot on the heels of the Ronan McNally case the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) issued two more Referral Committee Hearing results last week. Trainer Lee Smyth had his licence withdrawn for three months and fellow trainer Gearoid Brouder had his licence taken away for twelve months, with the last six months suspended.

1.21PM

Eoin Griffin

I'm from the village of Slieverue in south Kilkenny and we're only a few miles from Waterford city.

11.03AM

Ronan McNally Case

Last week the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) released the results of a two year investigation into the affairs of trainer Ronan McNally.

10.36AM

Andy McNamara

All my family would have been in racing - my dad trained, my brother Robbie, and we had cousins involved in it as well. John Thomas, my cousin, would have been older and his brother Aongus would have been riding as well. I would have gone racing all the time with dad training. Hunter trials were the biggest thing we were interested in and actually a few of the people I would have ridden with in hunter trials went on to ride a bit as well. My mother brought us everywhere to do hunter trials and hunting. Then I started riding out the racehorses fairly young.

10.03AM

Jump racing at its best is hard to beat

It was great to see Fairyhouse attracting good crowds over the weekend for their Winter Festival. 4,000 on Saturday and over 7,000 on Sunday. High quality National Hunt racing tends to do that and the Sunday card at Fairyhouse was one of the best we have seen for quite a while.

10.28AM

Ben Harvey

I've just turned 22 and things have gone really well this season with 14 winners on the board so far.

9.58AM

Dare to dream

I’ve been supporting the same football team for over 50 years but have never worn their shirt. Maybe that’s because the team is West Ham or maybe it says more about me. There have been times when I’ve thought I’d have been better off supporting the likes of Liverpool or Man Utd as down the years they’ve had a lot more to cheer about.

11.03AM

Lisa O'Connor

My first experience with Dundalk Stadium was actually in 2007 when I worked in the Tote. It was thrilling and I really enjoyed it. There weren't a lot of hours in the Tote, but I enjoyed that side of it so I ended up in Bar One Racing. I worked in the shops and I did the on-course shop at Dundalk Stadium. I worked for Bar One Racing until I left there in August 2014. I loved the work in the bookmakers, but it was long hours and weekends, and I have a family, so I actually got into business insurance. I worked my way up there and I enjoyed it. It was a stressful environment and I thrived on it, but nobody growing up says they want to sell insurance! I was in charge of sales and marketing and that is where I learned a lot of my business knowledge.

11.09AM

To run or not to run

It’s difficult to understand how two of the most successful trainers in the UK can have such differing views when it comes to running their horses on unsuitable ground.

12.50PM

Alana Insole

I grew up in Billericay in Essex and there weren’t many horses in that area but myself and my brother Jamie spent a lot of time in Ireland when we were young. My grandfather Vivian Kennedy was a jockey and then trainer on the Curragh and we always helped out in his yard when we went to Ireland on our holidays. He was a real inspiration to us and we both developed a passion for racing from that time.

9.31AM

Jump Racing - weather permitting

I love my National Hunt racing, but it can be very frustrating. Almost every day another top horse is ruled out of some race or other due to a setback. Then you have the weather issues that are becoming more and more of a problem for the sport with each passing season.

11.06AM

Ross O'Sullivan

I was born and bred on the Curragh and my parents were involved in racing all their lives. My father rode as a jockey and then worked for Mick O'Toole and also Con Collins before going to Kildangan Stud. My dad rode Height O'Fashion - she was second to Arkle in a photo finish in the Leopardstown Chase (in 1966). She had 9st 7lb and Arkle had 12st 7lb and that picture is still on the wall at home. My mother also worked for Mick O'Toole back in the heyday when he was having plenty of Cheltenham winners in the 1970s into the 80s. I suppose that is where the interest in racing probably started off. There were always ponies around at home.

10.58AM

A memorable week for horse racing

What a week it has been on the racing front, The Melbourne Cup, The Breeders’ Cup, top class jumps action at Down Royal, the end of the Flat season at Naas and of course Shark Hanlon bringing Hewick into a pub for a pint of Guinness.

10.18AM

Sean Davis

I’m excited to be going into a new business venture with my weighroom colleague Gary Halpin. We have rented Ulundi Lodge on the Lumville side of the Curragh from Kathleen Kennedy. Her late husband Vivian used to train from there and my former boss Michael O’Callaghan used it as a second yard in recent years.

10.04AM

Jamie Powell

I'm from Kildare Town, just outside the Curragh and I turned 20 in September. I have a family background in racing - my dad and both my grandads were jockeys. My grandfather, Peadar Matthews, won a couple of Classics and my dad, Anthony Powell, won the Irish Grand National on Maid Of Money in 1989. I got into racing through the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE), actually. I had no racing background, as in riding, as I had never ridden racehorses or anything like that as a child. I sat on ponies a bit at a riding school as a child, but I had never sat on a thoroughbred or been in a racing yard and ridden racehorses until I was 16 or 17.

9.46AM

Adam Ryan

I’m from Killenaule in Co Tipperary and I turned nineteen just last month.

9.31AM

Hewick steals the show

Racing can be such an unpredictable sport and I’m not just referring to the action on the track.

11.54AM

Sarah Lynam

I'm from Dublin originally and my dad (Eddie Lynam) was a trainer when I was growing up. My mam (Aileen Lynam) was actually an apprentice jockey before I was born. I spent a lot of my youth in the yard playing around and getting in everyone's way! My parents really didn't want me to be involved. I was more or less barred from the yard and then, when I left school and went to college, I finally wore them down and was allowed to ride out. So, I rode out later than other people as my parents were worried that I would catch the bug. I was quite academic, and they hoped that I would use my brains in other ways!

10.39AM

Breeding versus Racing

As the days shorten and winter takes hold it brings with a buzz of anticipation for racing fans. The National Hunt season is about to kick into full swing, and everyone is eagerly looking forward to seeing the stars of the game return.

11.22AM

John Gleeson

I’m 18 years of age and from Ardmore in Co Waterford and I’m currently in Leaving Cert year in St. Augustine’s College, Dungarvan.

12.09PM

A Special Win

The reckless actions of Christophe Soumillon in a race at Saint-Cloud on Friday caused consternation. A ban of 60 days imposed on Soumillon by the local stewards for intentionally elbowing Rossa Ryan, causing the Irish rider to take a terrible fall, is viewed by most as far too lenient and I have to agree.

1.28PM

Elaine O'Farrell

I'm from Co Cork. Race Displays is a company I started in 2000 - we specialise in racecourse advertising signage and branding. We provide the full package of sign design, manufacture and installation at all racecourses. This also includes providing the number cloths for tracks and for sponsors, as well as the branded rugs for the winning horse. We cover as many camera angles as possible and maximise the brand exposure for the sponsor from a small local sponsorship to the televised festival race days. Our factory is in Dublin 15 on the Dublin/Meath border not too far from Fairyhouse racecourse.

10.53AM

Throwing money at the problem

The divide between the popularity of National Hunt racing and the Flat racing with the public seems to be becoming more pronounced as the years go by.

11.36AM

Michael O'Sullivan

I’m 22 and I finished my degree in Agricultural Science in UCD in May.

9.09AM

World Pool is great for racing

As punters know it’s extremely difficult to predict the future, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that racing in Ireland is likely to come under increasing pressure over the next couple of years. Attendances are falling across the board, inflation is rising at an alarming rate, proposed new gambling regulations threaten to impact already declining sponsorship and all the while the security blanket of Government funding is in danger of slipping with Sinn Féin continuing to top the polls.

9.03AM

Kyanna Van Buuren

I'm originally from Holland and moved over to Ireland when I was one. I'm not from a racing background at all, but I always had an interest in horses. I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do when I was in school, but I signed up to an Equine Business Management college course because I had an interest in horses.

9.35AM

A Champions' Weekend

This last week has been a week like no other. It began with the tragic death of a young boy chasing his dream to become a top jockey and ended with another young man who had the very same dream landing his first Group One at the Curragh.

3.46PM

Kieren Buckley

I grew up in Tiverton in Devon but my Dad, Ned, is from Clonroche in Wexford and we went there every year on our holidays so I would know plenty of people around that area but not so many where I’m based at the moment near Gavin Cromwell’s yard.

11.29AM

Jack de Bromhead

As a mark of respect to Jack de Bromhead and his family there will be no blog this week.

10.04AM

Tom McCourt

I'm from Stamullen in Co Meath. My father was always interested in horses and when I was about 14 or 15, he bought a couple of thoroughbreds. He decided to get a permit himself and train a couple. As far as I can remember, there was only one horse that he ran that didn't win. He wouldn't have had that many but he won a few bumpers and over hurdles as well.

10.14AM

Flying dismounts in the Kingdom

An IHRB Referral Hearing last week poses more questions than it provides answers. The case involved a horse named Laugh A Minute, which during planned pre-race testing at a meeting at the Curragh in June, was noticed to have a recent venepuncture wound with traces of blood indicating the horse had recently received an injection. Under the rules of racing no horse is permitted to receive any substances except food and water on the day it is racing.

10.59AM

Fergal Birrane

I’m based at Killala House in Co. Mayo which was bought by Donal MacAuliffe and Anoj Don in 2014 and they’ve done a fantastic job restoring the house, the gardens and also the historic yard which I lease from them. They’ve brought everything back to the way it was when the house was built in 1893 by Lady Knox Gore and racehorses were trained successfully from this yard from an early stage.

12.42PM

Baaeed would be a big draw at Leopardstown

Last week I was involved in a video show on our Jump To It channel which caused a little bit of a stir. Myself, Johnny Ward and Emma Nagle took a look at the world of Racing Clubs and Syndicates and some of those involved in the administration of these ventures felt we hadn’t portrayed them entirely fairly.

4.28PM

Suzy Barkley

I'm from Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh and I went to work with the Herdmans in Strabane where I was very interested in dressage and eventing. Then I went to Holland for an extensive six to eight months dressage, but came back to Strabane and they asked if I wanted to take over the yard and run it as my own. That's where the racehorse thing came in because I got a lot of people wanting me to break horses and some local trainers sent me some thoroughbreds to break. I had never had anything to do with thoroughbreds or racing, so I obviously fell in love with the thoroughbred then. I started to break them and then I started to ride in races. I rode a few winners. I was riding some of my own horses and for owners, and I rode a bit for Syl Kirk who trained in Strabane. I rode in bumpers, a few hurdles and point-to-points.

2.08PM

Eye of the beholder

On Thursday 21st July at Limerick the acting stewards weren’t happy with the performance of a horse named Ithaka which finished 6th in the opening Maiden Hurdle of the evening.

2.35PM

Kyle Browne McGuigan

I’m 18 years old and I work with my father Declan at our yard near Letterkenny. I’m a cousin of Dylan Browne McMonagle, my mother and Dylan’s mother are sisters.

10.24AM

Value for money

The Curragh had a great value bundle on offer for online customers for last Saturday’s Group One Keeneland Phoenix Stakes card. For €25 you gained admission, got a race card, a BBQ Burger and a €10 bet with the bookies.

10.46AM

Gabi Bourke

I’m 27 and from Newmarket in Co Cork and we had horses and ponies at home, so I would have started riding them at a young age.

12.27PM

Galway lifts the spirits

Galway is a truly special week in the Irish sporting calendar. It’s particularly refreshing as a racing fan to see all the connections of winners getting so excited and revelling in the moment. Fist pumps, flying dismounts and the sheer joy of a Galway winner is infectious. It really is the ultimate seven day party.

1.39PM