
Darren Norris
Sports Journalist and Acting Chief Sports Sub and Racing Editor at Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner chief sports sub/racing editor. Arsenal fan. Proud uncle. Dog Dad to Teddy. All views my own.
Articles
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1 month ago |
irishexaminer.com | Darren Norris
It's the biggest race of the year and an event in which lots of us take an interest. So which horse should you get behind in Saturday's Aintree Grand National, which is scheduled to get going at 4pm? Here's your guide to the runners and riders ahead of the 2025 renewal. Trainer: Willie Mullins Jockey: Paul Townend Rating: 7/10 Odds: 9-1 An impressive winner of the 2024 renewal but no horse has defied top weight since the legendary Red Rum in 1974. Faces a huge task.
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2 months ago |
irishexaminer.com | Darren Norris
It was billed as the day Galopin Des Champs would join Best Mate, Arkle, and Cottage Rake as a three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner but the Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old ultimately had no answer for an inspired Inothewayurthinkin in this year’s Festival feature. Where does Friday’s triumph rank in comparison to the other 24 winning efforts in the opening quarter of this century?
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2 months ago |
irishexaminer.com | Darren Norris
The Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase this week serve as cautionary tales warning that nothing is certain in the National Hunt world but surely only bad luck can stop Galopin Des Champs from becoming the first Irish-trained horse since the peerless Arkle to complete a Cheltenham Gold Cup hat-trick.
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2 months ago |
irishexaminer.com | Darren Norris
When Fact To File won the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival hopes were high that he would return to Prestbury Park in 2025 as the main threat to Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup. Those hopes were enhanced when Fact To File beat his illustrious stablemate into third over a trip just shy of two and a half miles in the John Durkan at Punchestown on his first start outside novice company last November.
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2 months ago |
irishexaminer.com | Darren Norris
Challow Novices’ Hurdle winners have a deplorable record in the Grade One Turners Novices' Hurdle but The New Lion can defy that gloomy stat in the opening race on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. The last 20 Challow winners to line up in the Turners have all been beaten but that curse has to be broken at some point and The New Lion, a top-class prospect in the making, is fancied to be the horse to break it.
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Rachael Blackmore shattered so many glass ceilings in her incredible career. Wishing her all the best in her retirement.

A comment that could have preferred to the lad who played in the same same back four as Sami Hyypia...

"Without Gabriel, he doesn't look the same player" 😳 Jamie Carragher thinks that Saliba needs to develop as a leader for Arsenal 🔴⚪️ https://t.co/nklzQ024r3

"They've signed one striker on seven seasons as a football club." Kai Havertz was signed in 2023, 12 months after Gabriel Jesus. Why do Sky allow this nonsense go unchallenged?

Gary Neville: "It's a great achievement to not win a trophy in five years, and still be the manager of a Premier League team." [@SkySportsPL, @GNev2] https://t.co/NKEo5F3p2x