Brian O'Connor

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Brian O'Connor

The Curragh’s bank holiday Monday card features a heavyweight Group Two clash between the top-class pair Los Angeles and White Birch. They take each other one in the €120,000 Coolmore City Of Troy Mooresbridge Stakes on a programme that also includes a pair of trials for the Curragh’s first Classic action of 2025 later this month.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Brian O'Connor

It’s been 33 years and countless billions in the making but in less than 48 hours the Godolphin operation completed an unprecedented run of international Classic dominance when Desert Flower landed Sunday’s Betfred 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. William Buick guided the evens favourite to victory in the fillies’ classic, completing the Guineas double after Ruling Court was victorious for Godolphin in Saturday’s 2,000. But that was only half the weekend story for the world’s biggest racing superpower.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Brian O'Connor

Maybe it’s an inevitable result of timing but Saturday’s Betfred 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket is a typically perplexing first European Classic of 2025. The final day of Ireland’s National Hunt campaign will barely have started at Punchestown before the historic charge up the Rowley Mile is off at 3.35. It means a majority of the 11 runners will be having their first race of the season in the Guineas, including all three Irish hopes.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Brian O'Connor

State Man, the horse whose career has been the very opposite of “flash”, finally became centre-stage at Punchestown Festival on Friday in the Boodles Champion Hurdle. A race billed as the redemption of racing’s ultimate “talking horse”, Constitution Hill, instead turned into a validation for the sport’s most understated champion before an impressive Punchestown festival attendance of 42,138.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Brian O'Connor

Ireland’s 2024-25 National Hunt season finishes at Punchestown on Saturday with no doubt about the sport’s balance of power and how it’s dictated by Willie Mullins‘s overwhelming dominance. Mullins will officially be crowned champion trainer in this country for the 19th time. For the second year in a row, he is top of the pile here and in Britain. That’s after last weekend’s dramatic conclusion to the British campaign when Dan Skelton was overhauled on the final day.