Horse racing

From Mike Tyson to Boris Becker and DJ Carey – the best sports books of 2025

It is a vintage year for biographies, memoirs and deep dives into sport’s darker sides

Mark Walsh and Fact To File bid to defend John Durkan title

Gold Cup hero Inothewayurthinkin returns to action in Punchestown feature crammed with talent

Greater transparency needed to boost confidence in racing’s attendance figures

Counting Willie Mullins or Jack Kennedy as part of the crowd does not convince the public

Gavin Cromwell goes to Carlisle before targeting Cheltenham later this week

Paul Nicholls hopes Il Ridoto can become first back-to-back Paddy Power winner in more than 30 years

Joseph O’Brien’s Galen set to fly Irish flag in $1m Bahrain Trophy on Friday

Irish Champion Stakes third Royal Champion represents Karl Burke in 10-furlong feature

Spillane’s Tower returns over hurdles ahead of potentially pivotal season over fences

Maurice Regan-owned Convergent gets a shot at top-flight glory in Europe’s final Group One of 2025

Darragh O’Keeffe odds on to be champion jockey as he continues to set scorching pace

Sea The Stars Ireland’s most expensive sire with career high €300,000 fee for 2026

Proven stamina could mean other National Hunt horses can make impression on flat

Ex-hurdler Ethical Diamond indicates extent and potential of raw talent competing over jumps

Brighterdaysahead may debut over fences at Gowran on Saturday

Gigginstown Stud-owned star is one of 10 entries left in Mares Beginners Chase after Tuesday’s acceptance stage

Joseph O’Brien settles for second as Jamie Melham leads Half Yours to Melbourne Cup glory

JP McManus-owned Goodie Two Shoes bested by local talent

Absurde bids to complete stunning international double for Willie Mullins in Melbourne Cup

Champion jumps trainer on a roll after his first Breeders’ Cup runner Ethical Diamond wins the $5 million Turf

Racing’s own Ryder Cup can escape the worst flag-waving excesses of golf

Peace could yet break out between Europe and the US at 42nd Breeders’ Cup

Ex-assistant to horse trainer Luke Comer seeks to serve legal papers on him in Monaco

Application due before High Court on Monday

Jockey Christophe Soumillon aiming to bridge 20-year gap at Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar

Belgian rider faces meagre diet in effort to make weight for Minnie Hauk in $5 million Turf contest

Aidan O’Brien hits 25 Group One victories for season after weekend hat-trick

Puerto Rico and Pierre Bonnard triumph at Saint-Cloud, with trainer now focusing on Breeders’ Cup

The GAA and cocaine: ‘I saw the wildness that got into them after using this drug’

Society’s drug issue poses a different challenge for the GAA than for other sporting bodies because it has always seen itself almost as a secular church

Browne McMonagle replaced by Mark Zahra on Melbourne Cup favourite Al Riffa

Australian jockey has twice won the lucrative highlight at Flemington

Roots and Branch: Alex Haley’s lesser known Irish heritage

The Roots author’s follow-up novel Queen traces five generations of a second branch of his ancestry back to a town in Co Monaghan

Willie Mullins aiming for landmark Caulfield Cup success with Absurde

Local rider Ben Allen booked to ride Irish hope in Aus$5 million handicap highlight on Saturday

Denis Walsh: Graham Lee’s hope and strength clear to see in impressive new documentary

Nearly two years after a life-changing accident, the former jockey is drawing on some of the qualities that made him such a successful sportsman

Three sporting events to watch this week: Your handy guide to sport on television

Your guide to the best sport on television (Monday – Sunday, Oct 13th – 19th)

Gstaad leads Aidan O’Brien’s attempt at record ninth Dewhurst Stakes success

Colin Keane and Dylan Browne McMonagle continue title battle at Naas over weekend

Oisín Murphy: ‘Most of my destruction was done at home, getting drunk on my own’

One of Europe’s top jockeys, in his new book Murphy admits to being a ‘deeply flawed young man’ in ceaseless conflict with himself

Minnie Hauk set to try and join an elite group of Irish winners in Arc

Dry weather outlook for Paris over coming week encourages hopes for Irish star

Curragh taking care of business with Goffs Million topping big money weekend

Jockey Ronan Whelan anticipating lucrative day’s work aboard O’Brien filly Composing

O’Brien targeting Group One Newmarket double as he closes in on new record

Irishman just 3-1 to break his world record tally of 28 Group One wins

Racing needs to recognise less is more when it comes to bloated fixture list

Too many race meetings risks diluting the sport’s appeal to punters and fans

Horse trainer Henry de Bromhead: ‘We miss Jack, but we know he’s always with us’

Father is proud a new equine centre in honour of his late teenage son will help children with disabilities

Danny Mullins guides Spanish Harlem to Kerry National victory

Willie Mullins-trained 16/1 shot sees off Three Card Brag and French Dynamite at Listowel

Anyway could prove solution to typically competitive Kerry National

You Oughta Know leads Willie Mullins trio into €200,000 Listowel festival feature

Bloodstock world rocked by death of Coolmore Stud’s star stallion Wootton Bassett

Cheltenham announce measures to encourage people back, including a cut in the price of a pint

Curragh to stage first Good Friday racing meeting in Ireland next year

Horse Racing Ireland says the meeting is on an initial two-year trial basis

Al Riffa stamps his class on Irish St Leger at the Curragh

Precise stuns previously unbeaten Venetian Sun to land the Moyglare Stud Stakes

Star Japanese rider warms up for Champions Festival with two rides in Cork

British racing protest leaves Cork with the spotlight to itself

Aidan O’Brien horses fail to fire in Arc Trials at Longchamp as Byzantine Dream boosts Japanese hopes

Last year’s Arc runner-up Aventure lands Vermeille as Whirl fades to last

Mercurial Soumillon steps into the Ballydoyle hot seat as Whirl heads Arc-Trials raid

Henri Matisse leads Aidan O’Brien trio into Group One Prix Du Moulin

My Mate Alfie to try improve dire Irish record in Group One Haydock Sprint Cup

Wayne Lordan loses appeal against 10-day whip ban that rules him out of Irish Champions Festival

Losses double at Godolphin Irish unit

Accounts follow a strong year on the track by Godolphin trained horses around the world

Gavin Cromwell’s In My Teens bids to live up to pedigree in Roscommon

AMO team eye Prix de l’Abbaye chance with high-class sprinter Arizona Blaze

Ryan Moore starts recovery from leg fracture and leaves Aidan O’Brien with logistical headache

Former French champion Christophe Soumillon could be jockey to benefit from Moore’s absence

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