In victory, Put the Kettle On became the first mare to win the Arkle in 40 years, a notable achievement on the part of the 16-1 outsider.

It’s frightening to think the illegal presence of some animal in a market in the province of Hubei, in a city most of us had never previously heard of and few will ever visit could have such a profound and deadly impact on the world.

What What did we learn from the Christmas racing period? Lots we already knew, and a few things that we should have known.

It’s been another stunning year for the Townends, with Paul reaching Gold Cup nirvana and Jody battling back bravely to the winner’s enclosure after overcoming a broken back. Though little sister won’t easily let big brother forget he missed her big moment in Galway

Paul Nicholls is not putting any pressure on stable jockey Harry Cobden, as decision day over his Ladbrokes King George VI Chase mount looms — with either Sam Twiston-Davies or Sean Bowen likely to pick up a cracking spare ride.

Ruby Walsh and Pat Smullen were the stars at last night’s Horse Racing Ireland Awards, each receiving the Racing Hero Award.

I guess, given his phenomenal success in such a short space of time, there are few days which aren’t good ones at Joseph O’Brien’s Owning Hill yard, but yesterday’s visit to the stables was the morning after a treble on a superb Sunday at Fairyhouse, and all was extremely well with the trainer and his team.

Last season was a frustrating one for many trainers as they struggled to get their horses to the races due to the quick ground.

The National Hunt season is getting into full swing and already a number of horses, four to be precise, have been identified that may well help to keep us cruising along.

Darragh O’Keeffe may not yet be a familiar face to National Hunt fans but the teenager from Mallow is a rapidly rising star in the sport, and potentially on his way to setting records in what is just his second season riding over jumps.

Champion Hurdle winner Espoir D’Allen is unlikely to run in the 2019-20 National Hunt season after an accident at home.

The National Hunt season that has just finished was a very strange one. At times it felt like the season would never get going as we waited and waited for the skies to open. For us in racing, they never really did, but hopefully for the flat season ahead they won’t open now.

I had no inkling that it was going to happen, but I must say I wasn’t entirely surprised to learn of Michael O’Leary’s decision to phase out his Gigginstown operation.

The racing world was rocked yesterday after Michael O’Leary announced he will phase out his National Hunt team over the next five years.

If Giant’s Causeway was the iron horse of flat racing then it is no exaggeration to describe Un De Sceaux as the National Hunt equivalent.

Ruby Walsh’s sister Katie reflects on the "unbelievable highs and lows" of her brother’s racing career.

It can’t have just been me who appreciated Lionel Messi that little bit more on Wednesday evening.

Ruby Walsh hopes to continue to play a part for Willie Mullins' stable after he stunned the racing world when announcing his retirement from the saddle at Punchestown.

It was the sweetest of farewells.

Tommy Lyons Three days of action in Cork, with Flat racing today, National Hunt tomorrow, and National Hunt with a bent towards the point to point fields on Monday.

Twenty years hence, when the producers of Reeling in the Years are choosing the sounds and sights to represent the stories of 2019 they shouldn’t face too arduous a task.

Al Boum Photo was given a hero’s welcome as the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup winner paraded through the village of Leighlinbridge on Monday evening.

Noel Fehily brings down the curtain on a fine career today and the man from Dunmanway can bow out in style by steering Get In the Queue to victory in the Goffs UK Spring Sale Bumper at Newbury.

One of the principle reasons that National Hunt racing is more popular than the flat is that you build relationships with horses that can sustain for years and this was proved again and again this week.

Owner Philip Reynolds is “counting down the days” to the Cheltenham Festival as he eyes Magners Gold Cup glory with Presenting Percy.

For years the hardest place in the world to tip a winner was Cheltenham. For years the hardest place in the world to back a winner was Cheltenham.

It has become an all-too-familiar refrain now but we remain in some sort of limbo until we get a serious drop of rain. It’s good, good-to-yielding ground, there are people mowing lawns, midges flying around – there’s nothing Januaryesque about it, writes Ruby Walsh.

With the National Hunt campaign approaching its halfway stage, Colm Greaves assesses the current state of play

Paul Townend four winners, Ruby Walsh three and Rachael Blackmore two, the fascinating characters who largely dominated last Sunday’s racing in Ireland - at Punchestown and Cork, writes Pat Keane.

That was an interesting feature, written by Daragh Ó Conchúir, on trainer Tom Mullins, in last Saturday’s Irish Field.

A year ago, we gave 10 horses to follow for the National Hunt season and it worked out reasonably well, so it makes sense to have another go.

A restored full fixture allocation for the Curragh and more blank Sundays during the summer are two of the principal features of the 2019 fixture list released by Horse Racing Ireland.

English trainer Martyn Meade dodged a bullet when his Advertise landed last Sunday’s Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

At 28, Patrick Mullins has already overtaken the great Ted Walsh’s haul of winners as an amateur jockey.