After 20 years of being in charge of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) as the Chief Executive Officer, Brian Kavanagh announced his resignation from the role last week, from September. Horse Racing Ireland is known to the public as the commercial semi-state body responsible for the development, administration, and governance of thoroughbred racing in Ireland. Reports have it that they have started their plans on launching a recruitment campaign for a potential new chief executive. N

Wiltshire trainers never got on the scoresheet at Cheltenham, but in reality, the British successes altogether were few and far between, and much vexing has gone on since. There's many folk who bemoan the race to the bottom of British racing, focused on endless mediocre races rather than the pursuit of excellence. It's an interesting discussion, in which trainers probably need to voice their opinions in a more co-ordinated fashion, because they are losing out to the bookmaker

This week has been a chastening experience for British owners and trainers, with the Irish rampant at the Festival. However, it's a mark of the growing strength of the British Point-to-Point scene that one of the few British wins was in the St James's Place Foxhunter, the most prestigious hunter chase in the UK calendar. Porlock Bay, trained by the winning-most UK Point-to-Point rider Will Biddick in Somerset, prevailed by a short head over the might of the Irish, holding on

And so, at last, we arrive at the most anticipated racing week of the year. But Festival seems the wrong word for the collection of intensely competitive races at the home of Jump racing. Without crowds to welcome back the winners, and with the racecourse appearing more like a prison camp than a celebration of Thoroughbred excellence, it will be a different week to any other Cheltenham. Among measures to manage Covid compliance, visiting Irish staff and horses are totally seg

The legacy of the late Rose Loxton, Bruton trainer who succumbed to cancer last October, was continued in fine style this afternoon, when her husband Sam trained the winners of two hunter chases some 420 miles apart from each other. On a day of rare treats for the Point-to-Point fanbase, three hunter chases took place between the two courses. First up, stable star Caid du Berlais, winner of two Champion Hunters Chases at the Punchestown Festival in 2018 and 2019, made all to