The bloodstock business is truly extraordinary. Despite how few new sires ultimately become commercial successes, it is remarkable to witness the untethered enthusiasm, excitement and speculation which greets each new batch of unproven stallions that retire to the breeding shed every year. Despite the relatively unattractive odds involved, the majority of players in the game [...]

Recent months have seen a high-profile case play out in the Labour Court in Ireland in which the Ballydoyle Racing operation headed up by Aidan O'Brien appealed against compliance notices issued to them by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) over their failure to give grooms and work riders rest periods that the WRC believe that [...]

The old saying may well be “foals are for fools,” but that doesn't stop an army of pinhookers from descending on the sale grounds of Ireland and England every November and December in pursuit of what they hope will prove to be a bargain at the foal sales. Not only do such buyers have to [...]

Anyone that has been involved in the world of bloodstock knows just how incredibly fickle and unforgiving a game it can be. Sires comes in and out of fashion at a quite frightening pace and there is no more brutal example of this than first-season sires. No matter what their profile or circumstances, many industry [...]

The great triviality that is horse racing is full of unanswered questions, most of which are destined to remain unanswered for as long as thoroughbreds are raced. However, for the first time, one such question can finally be addressed using robust statistical evidence that has never before been collected or examined. The effect that being [...]

'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it' – George Santayana We've been here before, haven't we? It was less than a decade ago that “overproduction” was one of the most talked-about subjects in the bloodstock industries in Great Britain and Ireland. The booming Celtic Tiger economy in Ireland had led to [...]

Finding value amongst established sires in the lower-to-middle regions of the market is a tricky business. There are plenty of sires available to breeders that have produced enough talented runners to survive the harsh examination that every sire faces in their first five years at stud, but those that do so whilst not really taking [...]

Aidan O'Brien is simply a phenomenon in the world of racing. A record-breaking National Hunt trainer in the initial stages of his career, his abundant talents didn't go unnoticed and he was appointed as the trainer of the historic Ballydoyle complex in 1996 at the young age of just 26. He quickly established himself as [...]

Many would argue that there is no greater challenge in the world of bloodstock trading than buying foals to resell them as yearlings. Not only do such buyers have to assess the likely physical progress of what are very young and immature animals, they also have to speculate as to what the notoriously-fickle market will [...]

The bloodstock business is truly extraordinary. Despite how few new sires ultimately become commercial successes, it is remarkable to witness the untethered enthusiasm, excitement and speculation which greets each batch of new and unproven stallions that retires to the breeding shed every year. Despite the relatively unattractive odds involved, the majority of players in the [...]

Ever since the G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational was announced last May, it has got people talking. Everything about it defies convention and the organisers look set to be rewarded for their boldness with an incredible inaugural running of the race on Jan. 28 featuring Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) and California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in a [...]

This year is unlikely to be remembered too fondly in the context of the “real world” due to the seemingly endless succession of much-loved celebrities and athletes that passed away during the course of the 2016, but in the world of great triviality of horse racing, it has been another tremendous year with no end [...]