When it comes to fitness, mastering squats, deadlifts and press-ups is a must — don’t let their simplicity conceal their effectiveness.

Tony McCoy’s ride in the Crabbie’s Grand National appears to be down to a potential two after the weights were announced for what looks an incredibly open renewal on April 5.

Seventies Bombshells at Matthew Williamson

Rite Of Passage will bid to regain his crown when he lines-up for the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot on Thursday.

Johnny Murtagh is the latest jockey based in Ireland to announce that he will dramatically reduce his riding appearances in Britain because of the controversial new whip rules.

Adele, Jessie J and Arctic Monkeys are likely to be the big winners at today’s Q Awards, heading the nominations with three each.

UP to October 29 last, German chancellor Angela Merkel and the EU maintained the right thing for Ireland to do was to pay all debts to bondholders and we duly followed that advice.

Paul Hanagan has been crowned champion jockey with one race of the Flat season to go at Doncaster.

NEW France coach Laurent Blanc has laid down the law to the senior players behind the strike action at the World Cup and will meet with them in the next few days to determine their international futures.

UP and coming business visionaries, whose projects may create jobs for themselves and for others, were honoured in Killarney last night.

UP to a quarter of Ireland’s energy could be provided by a new scheme pairing wind energy and the flooding of valleys with sea water, an Oireachtas Committee was told yesterday.

OUR football correspondent LIAM MACKEY is back in top form and full of energy.

UP to 40 jobs will be lost in a factory in Tralee, Co Kerry, with the closure of two production lines, it has emerged.

Oscar Bay looked a horse with Aintree potential as he sparked a big-priced Stratford double for jockey Seamus Durack.

OUR football correspondent LIAM MACKEY is back in top form and full of energy.

UP to 50 BT Ireland staff will stagea public protest outsidethe corporate headquarters of BT Ireland in Upper Grand Canal Street today.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is poking fun at the emo rock genre in a song on the group's new album Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace.

Four years ago the partisan crowd at Doncaster erupted when Bollin Eric galloped to victory in the St Leger, providing a local win for Yorkshiremen Tim Easterby and Kevin Darley.

Fire Up The Band faces seven rivals in his bid to land the feature Listed sprint at Chester for the second year running tomorrow.

SDLP Leader Mark Durkan sprang to the defence of President Mary McAleese today after she compared the Nazis’ hatred of Jews to those who taught children in Northern Ireland to despise Catholics.

ALTHOUGH there was little to choose between all the contenders in yesterday’s opening two rounds, Marshals Supreme is taken to get the better of Leading Oscar in the final of the Derby Trial Stake at the Knockgraffon coursing meeting in New Inn, Co. Tipperary.

UP to 700 small rural post offices will close in the next five years, the Irish Postmasters Union warned, after Communications Minister Noel Dempsey yesterday ruled out giving them a supplementary income.

UP to 250 IFA members staged a protest outside the Bank of Ireland, in Tralee, Co Kerry, yesterday over losses suffered by farmers following the closure of the Tralee Beef and Lamb meat factory.

Sprint king David Nicholls landed the Victor Chandler Nunthorpe Stakes with 16-1 shot Bahamian Pirate at York today.

Soft drink brand 7-Up has announced plans to sponsor Christmas on Ice at Dublin’s RDS for the next two years.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever is thought to be planning to sell a number of toothpaste businesses worth up to $300m, it emerged today.

The Unionist Party will contest 11 seats in the local Government elections, it was announced today.