Galway Plate preview: Donn McClean best bets
By Donn McClean
18:26 · WED July 28, 2021
Donn McClean has two against the field for the tote Galway Plate including an interesting JP McManus runner.
They reckon that over 40,000 people went to Ballybrit for the first Galway Plate in 1869. That is about 240,000 fewer people than went to Ballybrit to see Pope John Paul II 110 years later – it can hold a crowd all right – but it is 39,000 more than there will be in attendance today.
These are the times through which we are navigating our way these days and, actually, there was atmosphere in Ballybrit over the last couple of days. It’s not the normal Galway buzz, but it’s something. Some people is a significant step up on no people.
Bolshoi Ballet is the one to beat in the Derby, says Mick Kinane
Sun 23 May 2021
Mick Kinane believes
Bolshoi Ballet has the âperfect mind-setâ to strike gold in this yearâs Cazoo Derby and follow in the hoofprints of his illustrious sire Galileo on the 20th anniversary of his Classic victory in the Epsom Downs showpiece.
In recent years no horse has left a greater impression on the Derby than 2001 winner Galileo who has gone on to sire a record five winners of the race, a figure former jockey Kinane expects to be six following the conclusion of this yearâs renewal on Saturday June 5.
Donn McClean on the British and Irish jumps scene ahead of the 2021 Punchestown Festival
By Donn McClean
14:29 · SUN April 25, 2021
Donn McClean reflects on the current National Hunt scene in Ireland and Britain ahead of the five-day Punchestown Festival.
Henry de Bromhead’s stable stars paraded at Tramore last Sunday: Honeysuckle, Put The Kettle On, Minella Indo, Minella Times, Balko Des Flos. The Champion Hurdle winner, the Champion Chase winner, the Gold Cup winner, the Grand National winner, the Grand National runner-up.
It is not so long ago that, if Irish trainers as a collective had had that haul, it would have been quite incredible. For one trainer, it was unprecedented.
Horse by horse guide to the BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse
By Donn McClean
17:10 · SUN April 04, 2021
Donn McClean leaves no stone unturned as he runs the rule over every single horse in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National, settling on Jack Kennedy s mount, Run Wild Fred.
BoyleSports Irish Grand National Chase (Grade A)
When: 5.00pm, Easter Monday
Odds:
Latest Exhibition (Trainer: Paul Nolan – Jockey: Bryan Cooper)
A top class novice who also had Sunday’s Grade 1 two-and-a-half-mile novices’ chase as an option, he was a Grade 1 winner last season as a novice hurdler, and he has finished second to Monkfish in Grade 1 chases twice this season. The defection of Tiger Roll and the resultant raising of the weights was not ideal, but he is a top class individual who could still run a big race under his big weight, and it is interesting that his trainer is fitting cheekpieces for the first time.
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