Westerner

Group 1-winning Jumps mare Skyace (Ire) (Westerner {GB}) (Lot 114) brought a record price of £80,000 at Thursday's Tattersalls Ascot March Sale. Consigned by John 'Shark' Hanlon's Court Stud, the 7-year-old will return to her own stable in Ireland after being purchased by Hanlon on behalf of new ownership. "I am delighted to get her back and I have bought her for T J McDonald, who already has horses with me," confirmed Hanlon. "He wants her to go back in training, race her for a year and then put her...

Whichever way you slice it, the green, white and orange of the Irish tricolour ran right through the middle of last year's Cheltenham Festival results. Some 28 races were run during the four biggest days in the jumps racing calendar, and the Irish raiding party won an unprecedented 23 of them. This haul included the four championship prizes, as Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) won the Champion Hurdle, Put The Kettle On (Ire) (Stowaway {GB}) claimed the Champion Chase, Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) took the Stayers' Hurdle and Minella Indo...