Colin Keane

Overseas jockeys will be permitted to bypass Ireland's 14-day quarantine requirement to ride on Group 1 cards, with the Irish government granting an exemption for elite athletes and sportspeople ahead of Irish Champions Weekend next weekend. Irish jockeys traveling overseas to ride in Group 1s will also be exempt from quarantine upon return. "We have had a change in the government protocols concerning sportspeople and athletes published today, but it is very much on a case-by-case basis," confirmed Horse Racing Ireland Chief Executive Officer Brian Kavanagh. "It will be limited...

Colin Keane came to Goodwood for the first time on Wednesday and his debut ride was one of a rider who had been here many times before as he guided Steel Bull (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) to success in the G3 Markel Insurance Molecomb S. Held up in rear off the pace burn-up in front, Michael O'Callaghan's July 22 Naas maiden scorer was still sitting chilly at the back passing two out but when the gap was big enough he was through with relish to seize the advantage 100 yards from...

Jockey Colin Keane confirmed on Nick Luck's Daily Podcast that he will cop the 14-day quarantine and continue his association with Siskin (First Defence) in the July 29 G1 Sussex S. Keane has ridden Siskin in all five of his starts, including a last-out win in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas on June 12, and a trip to Goodwood for the rider means that he will have to quarantine for two weeks upon returning to Ireland. "There are not too many like Siskin that I've got to sit on...

Ger Lyons is increasingly hopeful Colin Keane will opt to maintain his partnership with Siskin (First Defence) in the G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood on Wednesday week--with Frankie Dettori "waiting in the wings" should he opt to stay in Ireland. Former Irish champion Keane has ridden the unbeaten G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas hero in all his career starts, but current rules in Ireland surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic mean he would have to spend 14 days in quarantine on his return home, should he travel to Goodwood. Lyons, who...

The Curragh staged the first 2-year-old black-type event of 2020 on Saturday and it was the aptly-named filly Frenetic (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) who burned off her rivals to land the spoils in the Listed GAIN First Flier S. and continue the purple patch for her sire. Sent off the 10-11 favourite having impressed on her winning debut in a June 10 Navan fillies' maiden, SBA Racing Limited's bay ploughed a lone furrow towards the stand's side under Colin Keane and never looked likely to surrender her lead. At the line,...

There were a few nervous moments for connections of Siskin (First Defence) as Friday's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas unwound, but class ultimately told in the first Curragh Classic of 2020 to end Ger Lyons's agonisingly long wait for his red-letter day. Unbeaten on Irish soil last term, having captured the important juvenile staging posts of the G2 Railway S. and G1 Phoenix S. here, Khalid Abdullah's homebred had lost his head in the stalls at the start of Newmarket's G1 Middle Park S. to put a question mark into the...

Defying the rain-softened ground and a trio from Ballydoyle, Khalid Abdullah's Siskin (First Defence) kept his unbeaten record intact as he prevailed from TDN Rising Star Monarch of Egypt (American Pharoah) in Friday's G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. at The Curragh. Held up in fourth early by Colin Keane, the 10-11 favourite cruised into a challenging position on the far side heading to two out where battle was joined with Monarch of Egypt who he had beaten in the course-and-distance G2 Railway S. Looking to be losing out in that tussle...