Mark Boylan has quickly carved out a reputation as being a talented and respected racing journalist based in Ireland. He has been based with the Irish Field since January 2023 having spent a number of years working for the Racing Post prior to that.
Not to be pigeon-holed, Boylan also works closely with trainer Ciaran Murphy and has interest in race planning and bloodstock. Of course, few people will forget how he first shot to prominence in the sport, given he was something of a child singer sensation who wrote and sang a number of hit racing ballads.
From cutting his teeth in racing journalism to his biggest influences in the sport, the County Offaly native is next up in the Young Guns series.
Tell us a bit about your role in racing?
I've been working as a full-time racing journalist with The Irish Field since January 2023. The paper's origins actually go back as far as 1870, so it's lovely to feel you're contributing to something with a long history in the industry. Hopefully we can all keep the flag flying into the next 150 years! Away from journalism, I give a hand to Ciaran Murphy, a dual-purpose trainer in Co Westmeath, with some race planning and sales work, and assist Willie McCreery with writing monthly runner reviews for his website. When time allows, I also do MC at a few race meetings – but the Field is certainly the main focus.
A lot of people know you from child singer days! Did that help to open doors when it came to making your career in the game?
I would only have been about 13 years old, so it certainly wasn't today or yesterday, but it still gets brought up to me at the races from time to time! I suppose it definitely was a help for getting started in journalism. As part of an Injured Jockeys' Fund fundraiser, the Racing Post brought me over to their old Canary Wharf office to record a song I'd written for the Cheltenham Festival, and Bruce Millington, who was editor at the time, was very good to leave the door open for me to come back for an internship down the road. I started working with the Post in 2017 and learned a huge amount from the team there before joining the Field last year.
What was it about racing journalism that appealed to you?
My parents tell me I essentially learned how to read as a child from picking up racing newspapers, so it's always been a part of my life. I'd often bring The Irish Field to primary school and I'm told the only argument I ever got into with a teacher was when I insisted to her that the Giant's Causeway in Co Antrim must have been named after Aidan O'Brien's iron horse… I'd never heard of this mythological giant she was telling us about. Dad had to break it to me gently after getting home!
Who has been the biggest influence on your career?
From a journalism point of view, I'd have to say that reading Alastair Down's pieces while growing up was a big part of me getting the bug for writing. I think he's always been different class.
What has been your best day in the sport?
It wasn't one of the marquee races of the week, but I got a real kick out of a horse called Granville Street winning at the Galway Festival last summer. A great bunch in the Street Wise Syndicate were looking to buy a horse for Galway, and he was one of the first horses I helped with the sourcing of in 2022 after seeing him run a couple of times over the winter at Dundalk. Unfortunately, he picked up a setback and missed that year's Galway Festival, but for him to come back 12 months later and win at the meeting was something I got a great thrill out of. Galway is one of the closest racecourses to where I'm from in Banagher, Co Offaly, so there were plenty of local friends from home who got in on the celebrations too.
Who do you admire most in the sport?
I'd be surprised if we see another Aidan O'Brien in my lifetime in Irish racing. To be at the top of your profession for decades and still approach every day with the sort of relentless drive he has for constant improvement, I think that's something you'd have to admire in any walk of life.
Most difficult person to interview?
Now that's a rotten question! To be fair, we're generally very lucky in Irish racing that the vast majority of participants are approachable and willing to give their time to the media. That's something I've never taken for granted and have always been appreciative of, especially compared with plenty of other sports. One instance of getting the run-around as a very green, young journalist comes to mind, though. Not long after starting out, I gave the late Peter Casey a call for a quote on one of his runners for a preview piece. He must have kept me on the phone for more than 40 minutes and steered the conversation towards everything and anything you could think of: Gaelic football, farming, American politics… Everything except the horse I actually rang about. By the time he said he had to go and hung up sharply, I essentially had no quote on the horse, who ended up being very well punted and duly won the next day. He gave nothing away! Peter was a fantastic character. It's a shame we don't have more colourful figures like him in the game nowadays.
Piece or article you are most proud of?
Two features I really enjoyed putting together in recent years were interviews with John Kiely and Christophe Soumillon. Different characters, but equally interesting to get to know them. You couldn't but admire John's attitude towards life as a trainer in his 80s, and it was obvious he still has a genuine bond with the animal after all these years in the game. I found Christophe refreshingly open in talking about the ups and downs of his career too. For me, he's still one of the very best riders anywhere on the planet.
If you weren't in the horse racing industry what would you be doing?
I recently spent some time in Nashville and loved getting to experience the music scene around there. Don't expect to see me in a cowboy hat anytime soon, but it'd be cool to see what life would be like in the songwriter circles over there.
If you were to win the lottery, what would you buy and who would train?
From as young as I can remember, I've always had a soft spot for the Breeders' Cup and it'd be magic to go there with a live chance you sourced at home. As for a trainer, I genuinely believe there is massive depth to the Irish training ranks and there are any number of operations up and down the country who would excel if given the chance to train a better quality of horse. To nail down just one, given I've spent time with him first-hand at the sales in recent years and seen him get results with inexpensively-bought horses, I think Ciaran Murphy is someone who falls into that category after just starting out training in his own name in the last couple of years. There are so many astute horsemen and horsewomen across the country, though. It's one of the most competitive racing jurisdictions in the world for a reason.
Give us a horse to follow for the remainder of the Flat season.
I thought Delacroix was a maiden winner waiting to happen after his debut at second at Leopardstown last Thursday night. He's bred in the purple and showed a fair deal of natural ability despite looking plenty raw against a smart winner, who had the benefit of a run.
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