Charles O'Neill

Charles O'Neill, CEO of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (ITM), has issued an update on his progress ahead of his participation in the Pat Smullen Cancer Trials Ireland Charity Race at the Curragh on Saturday, August 31. O'Neill is one of 20 riders scheduled to take part in the race run in honour of Smullen, the nine-times champion jockey in Ireland who died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 43 in September 2020. The other riders in the race include Smullen's son Paddy, who started riding racehorses at Conor Hoban's pre-training...

Since its launch in 2021, Horse Racing Ireland's IRE Incentive program has awarded over €3,500,000 in €10,000 bonuses to the owners of Irish-bred winners of scheme races. The IRE Incentive scheme awards a bonus of €10,000 to owners of Irish-bred winners of selected races across the Flat and National Hunt programmes in Ireland and Britain and the owners of each eligible winner--those carrying the [Ire] suffix and Foal Levy compliant--have until the end of the following year to spend their bonus on Irish-breds at Irish sales. Over 250 individual owners...

Better than 30 stallion farms in Ireland are set to greet the public during Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (ITM)'s Irish Stallion Trail, to be staged Friday and Saturday, Jan. 13 and 14, 2023. The Trail was limited to the breeding industry only in 2022 due to COVID-19, but will offer breeders, racing professionals, and racing fans the opportunity to view some of the world's leading Flat and National Hunt stallions at Ireland's outstanding thoroughbred breeding facilities free of any restrictions. "We are delighted that the ITM Irish Stallion Trail will once...

Horse Racing Ireland's IRE Incentive Scheme has awarded over 35 sales vouchers, each worth €10,000, to 31 individual owners to date. Winner number 36 in the new scheme came in Thursday's Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies' Maiden at Leopardstown, won by the Dermot Weld-trained Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), a homebred for Moyglare Stud. The IRE Incentive Scheme awards an Irish sales voucher in the amount of €10,000 to owners of Irish-bred winners of selected races on the Flat and National Hunt programmes in 2021. The owners of each eligible...

Irish Thoroughbred Marketing has launched a new website featuring streamlined content and a simplified user experience. The site includes sections on breeding, buying and racing in Ireland, including information required for those wanting to become involved in the Irish Thoroughbred industry. The site offers easy access to sales dates, stallion listings, ITM Irish EBF barrier trials, the ITM Irish Stallion Trail, the IRE incentive scheme and more. ITM Chief Executive Officer Charles O'Neill said, "The new ITM website is the perfect starting point for anyone seeking to become involved in...

In an ordinary year, the breeze-up consignors, just like any trainer targeting a race, would have a sale date in mind for each horse under their care and work backwards from that date in tailoring the horses' preparation. This year, of course, is anything but ordinary. Along with sweeping date changes to the breeze-up sales calendar, auctions have either been relocated or, in the case of the Osarus Breeze-up, will be held solely online. Goffs UK and Arqana have taken the sensible approach of moving sales that were due to...