The Horse racing thread

[Our Nail Loney]

Was gonna say I had Cara Mara done the last day out and got it at 16/1.  Ran again today, got it again at 16/1, won again 

What made you pick that horse SK?? You know the trainer or something?? Thanks for posting on the board for all to share!!

[SidelineKick]

I picked it because I was at boarding school with the fella owner so I always like to put my faith in him.

I didnt post because it wasnt a tip, just my general feeling. If I posted every one I thought would win youse would all hate me!

In saying that I checked after the race and Sporting Life had it tipped again.

[Louth Exile]

Legendary trainer Vincent O'Brien died today aged 92.

MV O'Brien was an absolute genius. Undoubtedly one of the most talented and gifted individuals that Ireland has ever produced.

Three successive Aintree Grand Nationals with three different horses.
Three successive Cheltenham Gold Cups with Cottage Rake.
Three successive Champion Hurdles with Hattons Grace.
Six Epsom Derby winners between 1962 and 1982.
Three Arc de Triomphe winners. Two in a row with Alleged.
Breeders Cup Mile with Royal Academy 1990.
Founder of Coolmore Stud and trainer of the great stallion Saddlers Wells.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

By Tony O'Hehir2.13PM 1 JUN 2009
VINCENT O'BRIEN, arguably the greatest racehorse trainer of all time, died on Monday morning at his home in Straffan, County Kildare. He was 92.

A statement issued on behalf of his family read: "He andhis wife Jacqueline have been spending their winters in Perth, Australia where their son David is now living with his family.  Due to failing health he returned to his home in Ireland last week.  At the end he was surrounded by his wife, his five children, grand-children and sons- and daughters-in-law.  He will be greatly missed by his family and friends."

His funeral will take place at noon on Thursday at St Conleth's Church, Newbridge, County Kildare.

The trainer of 16 British Classic winners, including the Derby six times, and 27 Irish Classic winners, he won most of the major Flat races in Europe and also achieved big race success in the US with Sir Ivor in the 1968 Washington International and Royal Academy in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile.

However it was as a trainer of jumpers that O'Brien first made his name.

He became the only trainer to send out three consecutive winners of the Grand National at Aintree between 1953 and 1955 - Early Mist, Royal Tan and Quare Times(1955) .

He also won four Cheltenham Gold Cups, achieving a hat-trick with Cottage Rake(1948-1950) and also landing the prize with Knock Hard in 1953. He also trained Hatton's Grace to win three consecutive runnings of the ChampionHurdle (1949-1951).

His record saw him voted racing's greatest achiever of all time in the Racing Post's poll, carried out in January and February 2003, to list the top 100 racing greats.

O'Brien started training at his family's farm in Churchtown, County Cork in 1943 having previously assisted his father, Dan.

In 1951 he bought a 285-acre farm near the village of Rosegreen in County Tipperary for £17,000and turned it into a training centre par excellence which became known to the racing world as Ballydoyle, an establishment which continues to flourish under Aidan O'Brien who was appointed trainer for the Coolmore partnership following Vincent O'Brien's retirement in 1994.

Having scaled the heights as a trainer of jumpers, O'Brien went on to surpass those achievements on the Flat and his record as a top trainer in both spheres remains unequalled.

Lester Piggott, who shared in so many of O'Brien's greatest triumphs, finished second in the poll.

In the early 1970s, along with Robert Sangster and John Magnier, he formed a syndicate which was to propel Coolmore Stud to the forefront of the international breeding industry by buying yearlings in the US, training them at Ballydoyle to achieve Group 1 success and then standing them as stallions.

His Derby winners were Larkspur (1962), Sir Ivor, who also won the 2,000 Guineas, in 1968, Nijinsky, the most recent winner of the triple crown in 1970, Roberto (1972), The Minstrel (1977) and Golden Fleece (1982).

His other British Classic wins were achieved in the 2,000 Guineas with Lomond (1983) and El Gran Senor (1984), the Oaks with Long Look (1966) and Valoris(1967), the 1,000 Guineas with Glad Rags (1966) and the St Leger with Ballymoss (1957) and Boucher (1972).

Ballymoss won the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe in 1958 and was the first of O'Brien's three victories in the race which Alleged won in 1977 and 1978.

His total of 25 Royal Ascot winners included six, from seven runners, in 1975.

He was champion trainer in Ireland 13 times and was champion Flat trainer in Britain in 1966 and 1967 and champion jumps trainer in Britain in 1952-53 and 1953-54.

His first winner as a trainer was Good Days at Limerick Junction (now known as Tipperary racecourse) on May 20 1943 while his last winner was Mysterious Ways at the Curragh on September 17 1994. His retirement was announced a month later.

For full appreciation of and tributes to racing's greatest trainer read Tuesday's Racing Post - featuring a 16-page commemorative pullout

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/m-v-o-brien-legendary-trainer-vincent-obrien-dies-aged-92/191044/

[Our Nail Loney]

The KING of kings

Horse Racing

By Peter Hilton

02/06/09


Superlatives are thrown about with reckless abandon in horseracing, but the legendary Vincent O'Brien deserved them all.

O'Brien owned an astonishing talent for the training of racehorses. In the sport he adorned, he was a genius.

Born on April 9, 1917, in Churchtown, County Cork, Michael Vincent O'Brien was the fifth son of a sporting farmer who loved to trade in horses, in a part of Ireland renowned for rearing them.

Dan O'Brien laid a gallop around Clashganiff Farm and trained racehorses before selling them on at a profit, but he did not particularly enjoy the day-to-day business of readying them for the racecourse. He discovered that his son Vincent did.

The young lad was soon organising his father's string, learning his craft behind the scenes, though he made his initial mark officially as an amateur jockey when winning at Limerick in November 1940 on Hallowment.

All he really wanted to do was train, however, and his popular father's untimely death from pneumonia in 1943 quickly brought matters to a head.

Without the capital to establish himself, the young, unknown O'Brien required gambled-on winners, and got them, soon establishing his reputation when in 1944 Good Days won the Irish Cesarewitch and Drybob dead-heated for the Irish Cambridgeshire.

What was needed next was a top-class winner, but the O'Briens – his brothers were always part of the team – cannot have expected it to be the unraced six-year-old they were asked to collect from a boggy field at the back of a doctor's surgery in Mallow.

This horse went on to win the Irish Cesarewitch, the Leopardstown Chase, the King George VI Chase and three Cheltenham Gold Cups. His name was Cottage Rake.

In the summer of 1948, after the Rake's first victory at Prestbury Park, O'Brien acquired a no-more-than-useful eight-year-old hurdler and set about improving him. This was Hatton's Grace, winner of the Champion Hurdle for the next three years.

It was the establishment of an extraordinary love affair with Cheltenham for the dapper Irishman, whose rare talent was never more exemplified than by his success in the Gloucestershire (now Supreme Novices') Hurdle.

Always split into two divisions to embrace the huge number of entries, it was won 10 times in the seven years from 1952 by O'Brien runners.

The family farm in County Cork was never going to be big enough to contain the

ambitions, or indeed talent, of the budding master trainer and O'Brien moved on in 1951, buying his own place in County Tipperary –

Ballydoyle.

From there, now married to Australian MP's daughter Jacqueline Wittenoom, he achieved his greatest feat in the National Hunt arena,

following up the 1953 Gold Cup victory of Knock Hard by training three quite different steeplechasers, Early Mist, Royal Tan and Quare Times, to win consecutive Grand Nationals.

It was not all plain sailing, however. Genius often attracts suspicion, and so it was with O'Brien. In 1954 the Irish stewards, unhappy with how they perceived some of his horses were being run, withdrew his

licence for three months. It was little more than a blip, though one that was deeply felt.

A new chapter was about to be written, however, and it is well nigh incredible to record that for all O'Brien's successes in the National Hunt arena, he was about to do even better when he switched his attentions exclusively to the Flat.

Among his first acquisitions were Ballymoss and

Gladness.

The former won the 1957 Irish Derby and Doncaster St Leger and the 1958 Coronation Cup, Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The latter took the 1958 Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Ebor Handicap (in which this

extraordinary mare carried 9st 7lb and won by six lengths).

It all came close to a shuddering halt in 1960 when traces of a banned substance were supposedly found in the three-year-old Chamour after a maiden at the Curragh, and O'Brien was harshly warned-off for 18 months at the subsequent inquiry.

His brother Phonsie was allowed to train the horses at Ballydoyle, but Vincent was not allowed to have anything to do with them. The public, solidly behind their idol, cheered to the rafters when Chamour went on to win the Irish Derby while O'Brien spent the day fishing.

The sentence was eventually cut to a year and the aggrieved master trainer won an apology and costs from the stewards on the day a High Court libel case was to begin as he sought to clear his name.

Success without parallel followed. Larkspur's Derby victory in 1962 was the first of six, and all the others were better. They were Sir Ivor, Nijinsky, Roberto, The Minstrel and Golden Fleece; illustrious names all.

Nijinsky's purchase was all O'Brien's work, as he had flown out to Canada to inspect a yearling on behalf of billionaire owner Charles Engelhard, but was much more taken by a son of the unproven sire Northern Dancer. This colt went on to win the 1970 Triple Crown – he remains the last horse to do so – and is rated alongside Sir Ivor as the best ever trained at Ballydoyle.

By now immersed in American bloodlines and a keen student of bloodstock, O'Brien bought a stud near Ballydoyle by the name of Coolmore and approached a bright young Irishman to run it, one John Magnier, who was to become his son-in-law. Not long after a syndicate was born, its third member a rich owner-investor – Robert Sangster.

Their aim was to purchase top-class yearlings from America with a view to winning Classics and turning them into sought-after, big-earning stallions. Riches would, and indeed did, follow.

Coolmore is now the world's pre-eminent stallion station and is part of O'Brien's great legacy to Ireland. Other investors have joined the Magnier-led team, and the horses are still trained at Ballydoyle by an O'Brien, the unrelated Aidan.

Champions flowed from the Co Tipperary yard under the incomparable Vincent; as well as the Derby heroes there were the likes of El Gran Senor, Artaius, Solford, Sadler's Wells, Caerleon, Storm Bird and dual-Arc winner Alleged.

Lester Piggott was most associated with the early champions and Pat Eddery with the later ones, but there was to be a remarkable

swansong, a jaw-dropping finale to the O'Brien story at the Breeders' Cup in 1990.

Vincent was 73 when he sent Royal Academy over to America for the Mile at Belmont Park and he was instrumental in persuading the 54-year-old Piggott to come out of retirement. The horse's remarkable victory is one of racing's great fairytales.

Vincent O'Brien, a family man with five children including David, who handled the Derby winner Secreto, and Charles, who trains in Ireland, retired in October 1994. He had won 25 races at Royal Ascot and 23 at the Cheltenham Festival, 16 English Classics and 27 Irish, and had been champion trainer in Ireland 13 times and in England twice over jumps and twice on the Flat.

Michael Vincent O'Brien

Born: April 9, 1917

Married: 29 December 1951 to Jacqueline. Children David, Charles, Elizabeth, Susan and Jane.

Riding Career: Amateur, rode first winner November 1940.

First Trainer's Licence: January 1943.

Champion Trainer (GB): Flat; 1966, 1967; NH: 1952/3, 1954/5.

Big-race wins: Cheltenham Gold Cup: Cottage Rake 1948, 1949, 1950, Knock Hard 1953. Champion Hurdle: Hatton's Grace 1949, 1950, 1951. Grand National: Early Mist 1953, Royal Tan 1954, Quare Times 1955. Derby: Larkspur 1962, Sir Ivor 1968, Nijinsky 1970, Roberto 1972, The Minstrel 1977, Golden Fleece 1982. Oaks: Long Look 1965, Valoris 1966. St Leger: Ballymoss 1957, Nijinsky 1970, Boucher 1972. 2000 Guineas: Sir Ivor 1968, Nijinsky 1970, Lomond 1983, El Gran Senor 1984. 1000 Guineas: Glad Rags 1966. Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe: Ballymoss 1958, Alleged 1977, 1978. King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes: Ballymoss 1958, Nijinsky 1970, The Minstrel 1977. Breeders' Cup Mile: Royal Academy 1990. Irish 2000 Guineas: El Toro 1959, Jaazeiro 1978, King's Lake 1981, Sadler's Wells 1984, Prince Of Birds 1988. Irish 1000 Guineas: Valoris 1966, Lady Capulet 1977, Godetia 1979. Irish Derby: Chamier 1953, Ballymoss 1957, Nijinsky 1970, The Minstrel 1977, El Gran Senor 1984, Law Society 1985. Irish Oaks: Ancasta 1964, Aurabella 1965, Gaia 1969, Godetia 1979. Irish St Leger: Barclay 1959, White Gloves 1966, Reindeer 1969, Caucasus 1975, Meneval 1976, Transworld 1977, Gonzales 1980, Leading Counsel 1985, Dark Lomond 1988.

Best horses trained: Nijinsky, Sir Ivor, Alleged, Sadler's Wells, Golden Fleece, The Minstrel, El Gran Senor, Ballymoss, Roberto, Early Mist, Quare Times, Royal Tan, Hatton's Grace, Cottage Rake.

[Donnellys Hollow]

All the jockeys in the Epsom Derby on Saturday will be wearing black armbands as a mark of respect to the great master of Ballydoyle. Perhaps the greatest tribute to MV O'Brien though is that all the horses running on Saturday will have the Northern Dancer bloodline, that Vincent introduced into Europe, somewhere in their pedigree.

His successor at Ballydoyle has announced riding arrangements for Saturday:
Fame And Glory - Seámus Heffernan
Rip Van Winkle - Johnny Murtagh
Golden Sword - Colm O'Donoghue
Age Of Aquarius - Pat Smullen
Masterofthehorse - Richard Hughes
Black Bear Island - Ryan Moore

Surprised Murtagh is sticking with Rip Van Winkle. I know he has gone on record saying he has 'a soft spot' for the horse but his form doesn't really stack up and looking at his pedigree he looks a very doubtful stayer. Fame And Glory is far more solid and looks made for 1m4. Seámie will never have a better chance of riding an Epsom Derby winner.

I still think Sea The Stars ticks all the boxes though. He looked the real deal in the guineas and I don't share the concerns about his stamina. He's out of an Arc winner in Urban Sea, and he's a half brother to both Black Sam Bellamy and Galileo who both stayed 1m4. There's speed on the sire's side but Cape Cross did sire Ouija Board who won both the English and Irish Oaks. I'm taking the 3/1 NR/NB about Sea The Stars now because I think the money will come for him later on in the week with people wanting to take on Aidan's runners.

[Family guy]

See horse here running called benayoun,couldnt b as bad as the footballer could it,lol spse if it finishes 2nd and u do it each way wud do you alrite,also know theres horses called stevey g and torrees,not sure but think there a horse called the kop 2..........wat a loada donkeys lol

[Family guy]

Jesus,horse running now call merseyside star,wat is with naming these horses like this,there fucked bein named after this dirt lol

[Donnellys Hollow]

Youlneverwalkalone was a decent horse for JP and Christy Roche. Remember him beating Moscow Flyer one day at Fairyhouse.

[gerrykeegan]

Just got a tip for Nina at Tipp 8.50 Bendigo Creek. This person has never given me a tip before but I would trust him. Currently 8's

[gerrykeegan]

never going to trust that f**ker....sorry

[maddog]

I presume Nina isnt away to Chester for the fresh air tonight.

[girt_giggler]

Saw that myself, interesting indeed!

[Family guy]

Got word for Devon Native in the 7.30 Southwell.Have never got a tip from this man b4 so duno wat 2 do,wasnt even gna put my 100% record on the line here but f**k it lol

[Our Nail Loney]

Some gamble there-Bohobe backed from 25/1 to 6/1 at the off and won there in the 5.30 at Salisbury, returned at 7/1...

Couple lucky punters got on in here, pity I didn't...

[Lothos]

Got word for Devon Native in the 7.30 Southwell.Have never got a tip from this man b4 so duno wat 2 do,wasnt even gna put my 100% record on the line here but f**k it lol

good shout.  your 100% record is still in tact