Top racemares to be auctioned

TOP National Hunt racemares Let’s Dance and Augusta Kate are among a strong band of broodmares from Closutton Stables entered for the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale.

There are over 1,400 lots entered for the six-day sale which starts on November 11th. The catalogue is online.

Also on the tattersalls.ie website is the catalogue for the one-day Flat and Breeding Stock Sale on November 9th. It consists of 229 lots, with 196 foals (including a number by first season sires) and 32 mares and broodmares offered for sale.

Winners thrown out

THREE recent winners were disqualified on Friday after testing positive for prohibited substances. In all three cases the trainers were given the minimum fine as the Referrals Committee found that all reasonable precautions had been taken to avoid a positive test.

The three ‘winners’ thrown out are Aidan Fogarty’s Coach Bombay (Navan, July 14th), Adrian Joyce’s Robin On The Hill (Wexford, July 27th) and Martin Brassil’s City Island (Galway, August 1st).

Coach Bombay tested positive for fluticasone, which is present in a commonly used equine asthma treatment. Robin On The Hill tested positive for tetramisole, which is present in the wormer Levacide. City Island’s tested positive for arsenic, which was traced back to a seaweed supplement. Chris Hayes lost his appeal against a two-day whip ban he picked up at Naas on September 30th after winning on Cedars Of Lebanon. Patrick Mullins was given a one-day suspension for causing interference which led to the fall of Richie Deegan’s mount Doctor Duffy in a Listowel bumper last month. Deegan said he could not remember what happened as he suffered a concussion in the fall. After watching a replay of the race, he said it appeared his horse stumbled “as it didn’t look like the normal clipping of heels.” Lack of rain at Fairyhouse

FAIRYHOUSE manager Peter Roe says his groundstaff have endured “a very tricky week” in their efforts to provide safe ground for today’s jumps card. “We started watering on Wednesday even though the forecast at that time was for up to 60ml of rain. Only 9ml had arrived by declaration time and the ground was good to firm, good in places. We are expecting another 10-12ml overnight but that is still a lot less than predicted. It’s lucky we started watering on Wednesday as it has been very hard to get it right.”

Directory 2019

ARE you a jockey or trainer who has changed their telephone number in the past year? Or have you asked Horse Racing Ireland not to share your details with third parties? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you may not be listed in The Irish Field Directory 2019.

To check if your name and contact information has been included, please contact Margaret O’Connor on (01-4051178) or email directory@theirishfield.ie

If you wish to include a listing under studs or stallions and have not already sent us the details please get in touch immediately.

Hatton’s boost

PRIZE money for the Grade 1 baroneracing.com Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Sunday, December 2nd has been increased to €125,000, a rise of €25,000 on last year.

Extra fixture

AN additional flat meeting will be held at Gowran Park on Tuesday, October 23rd. It will consist of three two-year-old races, three low-grade handicaps and a fillies’ handicap. The race programme at Navan on October 24th has been amended “due to a request regarding specific sprint opportunities from the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association”.

Longchamp shut

FRANCE Galop has announced that the final three ParisLongchamp fixtures of the year will be staged at other courses owing to problems with the racing surface. The two most significant of those meetings - on October 21st (including the Group 2 Prix de Conseil de Paris) and October 28th (including the Group 1 Criterium International and the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak) - will both be run at Chantilly. The October 31st fixture has been transferred to Saint-Cloud.

Bomber lands

LANCASTER Bomber will stand at the National Stud in Newmarket next year. The son of War Front was trained by Aidan O’Brien to win the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup earlier this year. As a two-year-old he finished second in both the Dewhurst Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

At three he finished second to Barney Roy in the St James’s Palace Stakes and twice filled the runner-up position behind World Approval in North American Grade 1 races.

New boss for Tote

TIM Higgins has stepped down as chief executive of Tote Ireland and has been replaced by Ross Kierans who moves up from financial controller to the role of general manager. From Co Kildare, Kierans is a graduate of NUI Galway. He has worked in a number of industries ranging from financial services to audit and assurance. An accountant, he has close to 10 years of service with Tote Ireland and has been financial controller since June 2016. Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, said: “We are delighted to see Ross in the position of general manager of Tote Ireland. Ross has tremendous experience and in his 10 years with Tote Ireland has played an important role in the financial, operational and strategic performance of the company.”