Date change for September Sale

THE Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale will return to its original scheduled dates of Tuesday and Wednesday, September 21st and 22nd while remaining at Park Paddocks in Newmarket. Part II will now take place immediately after Part I on Wednesday.

Farm Safety Week with ITBA

THE Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association is staging five online workshops next week to mark Farm Safety Week. All workshops are free to attend but prior registration is required.

Employment Law for Agriculture is the title of the first two-hour session, which starts at 10am on Tuesday. Wednesday’s topic is Stud Farm Safety is no Accident and it runs from 10am until noon.

There are two Thursday talks – General Equine Safety (10am to 12.30pm) and First Aid Precautions Post-Covid (2pm-4.30pm). Friday’s workshop is entitled Create A Safety Statement and runs from 10am to 3.30pm.

To register, call the ITBA on 045-877543 or email kryan@itba.ie

Breeder of the Month

TOM Gaffney of Churchtown House Stud in north Co Cork has won the Connolly’s Red Mills Breeder of the Month competition for June. He bred Alcohol Free, winner of the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Van Gogh sold to stand in Japan

GROUP 1 winner Van Gogh has been retired and sold to stand in Japan. The son of American Pharoah was trained by Aidan O’Brien to win the one-mile Criterium International at Saint-Cloud last October. In four starts this term his best performance came when third in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Racing League starts Thursday

THE first of six Thursday evening fixtures which make up the £2 million Racing League takes place at Newcastle next week. There are 12 teams in the league and each team consists of 30 horses, three jockeys, a racing manager and up to four trainers. Teams will carry their own distinct set of colours in each race.

Donnacha and Joseph O’Brien have their own team, managed by Kevin Blake. Their jockeys are Gavin Ryan, David Egan and Dylan Browne McMonagle.

There are six handicaps worth at least €50,000 at each fixture and they are restricted to horses rated up to 90. There are 100 points to be won in each race and they are allocated to the first 10 finishers. The overall winners will be crowned at Newcastle on September 2nd.

Winners disqualified

TWO winners from last October and November were disqualified by the Referrals Committee this week due to the presence of triamcinolone acetonide (TCA) in their post-race samples.

Noble Music, a Cork flat handicap winner in October, and Sayce Gold, winner of a Fairyhouse bumper in November, both tested positive for TCA, a corticosteroid anti-inflammatory medication commonly used in equine practice.

Trainer Philip Rothwell won his appeal against a €200 fine he received for withdrawing a horse at Wexford recently when forecast rain did not arrive.

Flat jockey Joe Doyle lost his appeal against a four-day careless riding ban he picked up at Naas on July 3rd.

Appeals lodged by riders Jordan Gainford (three days) and Richie Deegan (two days) against suspensions imposed for failing to obey the starter at Downpatrick on June 12th were dismissed. Simon Torrens’ two-day ban arising from the same incident was halved on appeal.