Curragh

There are few people in this industry that you'll never hear a bad word spoken about. Ross O'Sullivan is one of those people. That is just about the greatest compliment that you can give a man who competes as fiercely, and successfully, as the trainer does. But something tells you that O'Sullivan would trade winning popularity contests for taking out big race prizes all day long and Royal Ascot would be a good place to start. The trainer has Warrior Brave (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}) and Follow Me (Fr) (Shalaa...

This year's G1 1,000 Guineas took place without Ballydoyle's Opera Singer (Justify), so there is a sense of unfinished business when it comes to the pecking order of the 3-year-old fillies at present. Sunday's Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas at The Curragh should answer some questions, none more so than that concerning how straight she is for a tough reintroduction having suffered that setback. So good in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, some will tell you that she may not have to be at 100% to win this but when it...

Six-figure yearlings River Tiber and Unquestionable, both by Wootton Bassett, head the home defence in the first Classic of the Irish Flat season, but they face stern opposition from a pair of British raiders trained by Richard Hannon. Bargain-buy Haatem, from the first crop of the 2019 winner of this race, Phoenix Of Spain, ran a huge race when finishing third in the Newmarket equivalent, but he has work to do to reverse the form with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's homebred Rosallion, runner-up on the Rowley Mile and a...

Star Bloodstock, the consignment that unearthed talents like Malavath (Ire), A'Ali (Ire) and more, is set to wind down its breeze-up operation and concentrate entirely on producing future top-notchers on the racetrack instead.  The shift in focus has reaped immediate rewards with the aptly-named Make Haste (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}), a leading Royal Ascot contender after posting a stunning debut success at Naas for trainer and breeze-up consignor Diego Dias, being snapped up by Gainesway and LNJ Foxwoods.  Bought by Byron Rogers, Star Bloodstock and Dias at the Tattersalls Book...

Royal Ascot-bound Cowardofthecounty (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) has been snapped up by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables and other American-based partners. Cowardofthecounty made a scintillating start to his career when scoring on debut for Joseph O'Brien over 6f at the Curragh.  The form has since been franked with the runner-up, the Aidan O'Brien-rained Whistlejacket (Ire) (No Nay Never), landing the First Flier S. over 5f at the Curragh in similarly impressive fashion.  Cowardofthecounty is prominent in the betting for the Coventry S. at odds of 5-1 and, according to O'Brien, the...

The Gain Marble Hill S. at the Curragh will be run in the memory of the late Theresa Marnane. The Group 3 contest, which takes place on Saturday May 2, was won by the Marnane family's Givemethebeatboys (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) last year.  Theresa was a hugely popular member of the racing and breeding industry alongside her husband Con and daughters Amy and Olivia. The Marnane family is associated with countless top-notch graduates, including Group 1 winners Sands Of Mali, Fleeting Spirit, Amadeus Wolf and Rio De La Plata. Brian Kavanagh,...

HONG KONG, CHINA -- Follow this, if you will. A filly bred in America and purchased for a very reasonable sum as a yearling is exported to Ireland, punches above her weight at the races and is sold to Australia for her second career. A few years after her arrival, she is covered there by a notable successful Northern Hemisphere shuttle stallion, the resulting foal makes trips through the sales ring in Australia and New Zealand and goes on to become arguably the best animal to ever look through a...

Due to the continuing inclement weather which has led to a series of recent fixture cancellations, Horse Racing Ireland has announced a number of rescheduled meetings, starting with the G3 Curragh's Alleged S. meeting being moved to Saturday, April 20. This meeting replaces the April 6 meeting at the Curragh which was lost to the weather. Entries for this meeting will close by noon next Tuesday, April 16 with declarations to run to be made by 10am on Thursday, April 18.    As the Curragh is also scheduled for Sunday, April...

Aidan O'Brien is busy preparing for what could turn out to be one of his boldest ever campaigns at Ballydoyle with plans in place for City Of Troy (Justify) to tackle the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby followed by an audacious tilt at the Travers S. on the dirt at Saratoga later this summer. Meanwhile, dual Derby and Breeders' Cup hero Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact {Jpn}), arguably the most important older horse to have been kept in training at Ballydoyle for many years, is set to get his campaign underway...

Nine new race days have been added to the World Pool calendar in the first six months of 2024, including the Newmarket fixture on Sunday, May 5 which features the G1 QIPCO 1,000 Guineas. One other race on the card will be included during a bumper weekend of action on the Rowley Mile, following on from the entire G1 QIPCO 2,000 Guineas card on Saturday, May 4 which has been a World Pool event since 2022. The other additions to the schedule include the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas and...

Widely considered one of the shrewdest judges of equine talent on an international scale, Robson Aguiar has described Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB) as the best horse he has ever ridden and predicted the colt would be very hard to beat in Saturday's G1 Phoenix S. at the Curragh. It was Aguiar who first spotted the potential in the Adrian Murray-trained Bucanero Fuerte as a yearling last year and went to €165,000 to secure the colt from Etreham at the August Sale at Arqana.  Victory in the first juvenile...

Anyone privy to the sensational closing sectionals of Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Derby will be approaching Sunday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh with great anticipation of what he can do next. While Epsom's final three furlongs lend themselves to electric fractions, the 33.01 that Ballydoyle's latest celebrity covered them in is nothing short of remarkable and already places him in exalted territory among the very elite to have conquered the demands of the Blue Riband. Now that the only marginally less brilliant...