#Brian Hayes

Al Boum Photo: new Punchestown Gold Cup favourite following defection of Minella Indo Your guide to Wednesday's Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup (5.55), the feature race on day two at the Punchestown festival. The field was on Monday reduced to six following the withdrawal of hot favourite Minella Indo.

Cobblers Dream: seeking to be the first back-to-back winner of the Lanzarote Cobblers Dream will bid to become the first dual winner of the Coral Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle as he takes on 19 rivals at Kempton on Saturday. The Charles Byrnes-trained Green Glory and Persian War runner-up Outlaw Peter head the market at 5-1 but Ben Case hopes Cobblers…

What a week it has been! The racing has been phenomenal, the weather largely clear and most crucially of all, fans were back where they belong on the terraces. Cheltenham felt like it was truly back this week as a result. See you in 2023! It's the seventh Irish-trained winner from seven races on Friday! Mark McDonagh did an excellent job steering…

The world's most prestigious horse race returns to our screens on Saturday evening as the eagerly-anticipated Grand National takes place at Aintree. With the cancellation of last year's race due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been a full two years since race fans were able to watch the most anticipated race of the year. Last…

Well two for Paul Nicholls and with neither Nicky Henderson or the Ditcheat maestro having runners in the feature - he looks firm favourite to take a 13th Trainers' Championship. We had a winner for Ireland - one for Scotland - and one for Wales... Make sure you join Andy Jones and myself for all of the action tomorrow from 10am. The feature race…

The Grand National Festival ends with the world-famous steeplechase today. The three-day race meeting at Aintree began on Thursday, continued on Friday with Ladies Day and will culminate for another year today. Come 5.15 pm on Saturday there will be 70000 on the racecourse for the Grand National and 500 million people watching the racing across the…

The Grand National isn't the most prestigious horse race in the world for nothing. It's an incredibly challenging course, featuring 30 jumps (16 fences, with 14 of those being jumped twice) on the four-mile and two and a half furlong race. But, while safety improvements have been made in recent years, the Grand National remains a challenging task…

One of Britain's most prestigious handicap chases goes to post at Newbury on Saturday when the latest instalment of the Ladbrokes Trophy takes centre stage. Some of the finest of the modern era to win this handicap chase include Bobs Worth, Many Clouds and Native River, while the mighty Denman triumphed twice, in 2007 and 2009, either side of his…

This is a glorious collection of the best chasers in Ireland. Seven of the ten runners are rated 161 or higher and perhaps what best sums up the quality of the fare is Grand National hero Minella Times is the outsider of the lot. It is absolutely delicious. Willie Mullins has won six of the last eight runnings, including the last three with the…

Rachael Blackmore can make history and win her first Cheltenham Gold Cup riding A Plus Tard. Henry De Bromhead's chaser, second last year, was extremely impressive in the Betfair Chase at the start of the season. He was then pipped by Galvin, when Blackmore probably hit the front a little sooner than ideal against a strong stayer, at…

The games that will determine which two teams advance to the Pac-12 championship game are two weeks off. This week and next are just warm-up acts. Some decent games, sure. But while Cal and Stanford are tussling in the Big Game, the main events will be contested on Saturday, Nov. 19 when Utah visits Oregon and UCLA plays host to USC. These four…

Local trainer Dermot McLoughlin has incredibly won the Irish Grand National for the second year running. Lord Lariat was ridden to victory by jockey Paddy O'Hanlon, who lives close to the track, at odds of 40/1. The victory comes after Ratoath trainer McLoughlin won the €500000 contest with 150/1 shot Freewheelin Dylan 12 months ago. Gaillard Du…

Galvin repeated last season's success in the Irish Daily Star - Best For Racing Coverage Chase with ease at Punchestown. Having conceded 8lb to take the Grade Three prize last season, Gordon Elliott's crack staying chaser made light work of his four rivals under a 12lb and more disadvantage this time. Having stalked the decent pace set by…

3 - Truckers Lodge 1 Any Biscuits (IRE) Mr Derek O'Connor 2 Bidentime (IRE) Mr Rob James (7) 3 Embassy Gardens Mr Patrick Mullins 4 Kiki Badger (IRE) Mr K Callaghan (7) 5 Lighthouse Hill Ms K L Derwin (7) 6 Percy Pi Mr Finian Maguire 7 Rohirrim Lad (IRE) Mr D G Lavery (3) 8 Santonito (FR) Mr B O'Neill 9 Susans Sensation (IRE) Mr J Dunne (7) 10 The…