Best known as a guitarist with Chicago post-rockers, Tortoise, Jeff Parker’s latest solo release is a glowing celebration of his mother Maxine, who features on the cover.

Driven clear on the run-in by Patrick Mullins, Sharjah completed back-to-back wins in the Grade 1 Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the philosophy Willie Mullins plans to adopt as he plots Al Boum Photo’s Cheltenham Gold Cup defence.

Christy Mullins had the first win in the renewal of the Johnny Holland Cup at Bauravilla where he beat Seán Murphy by over a bowl of odds.

Meet Dougal.

When starting out as a comedian, Cork man Andrew Ryan decided to go to straight to London, sidestepping the usual starting ground of Irish clubs and pubs.

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.

Curragh House was brought back to life with blood, sweat and toil, says Tommy Barker. Pictures: Denis Minihane

James Sugrue’s magnificent achievement in winning the 124th British Amateur Championship at Portmarnock has not gone unnoticed by a quartet of famous Irish professionals.

IT’S soaring in popularity as an urban pastime and crane-counting was very firmly on the agenda when I took up a challenge to find out just how much I could pack into a 24-hour architectural and interiors fact-finding mission in Dublin.

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.

So that’s Thursday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this 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.

So that’s Wednesday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

The 39-year-old from Co Kildare made the announcement today after he won the Punchestown Gold Cup riding Kemboy

There are few races of any significance which do not adorn Willie Mullins’ CV and, after yesterday’s Boylesports Irish Grand National, there is one less.

More than 2,000 people took to the streets of Youghal, Co Cork, last night to pay tribute to the town’s newest and greatest double act since Moby Dick and Ahab.

Liam Heylin A man accused of assault causing harm to his mother, who died as a result of a fall months later, had the assault charge against him withdrawn by the DPP yesterday.

“It’s not a party as such, more of a kitten-cuddling day really”

Ruby Wax is back on the road – and her live show sees her share the stage with a monk and a neuroscientist. Intrigued? So was Pat Fitzpatrick...

Ruby Walsh led his rivals a merry dance once again when making all the running on Min in the JLT Chase at Aintree.

For the third time in seven runnings, trainer Willie Mullins took the Suir Valley Chase at Clonmel, and on this occasion it was the Paul Townend-ridden Acapella Bourgeois who prevailed, leading home stable-companions Yorkhill and Polidam.

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.

Well sad little people duly emerged from their burrows to have a go from the safety of social media at Ruby Walsh, after Benie Des Dieux had fallen at the last in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham on Tuesday.

It’s been another rough week for Pat. Or Tom. Or Ger. Whatever you want to call him, you know him well anyway.

Forget about it. Erase it from your memory entirely. No need to ever mention it again. The monkey is off his back forever. After all the near-misses and the talk of the glaring omission from his CV, Willie Mullins has now won the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup. Al Boum Photo and Paul Townend ensured so with an authoritative display in the feature on the final day of the 2019 Festival.

A young man accused of kicking in his mother’s front door and assault causing harm to her at Christmas argued through his solicitor yesterday that the charges should be struck out because she had died on Monday night.

The day starts well. (Spoiler alert: it will not continue in this vein.)

In the latter stages of his career in the saddle he may be but the joy of riding a winner at the Cheltenham Festival commands a broader-than-ever smile from Ruby Walsh, who didn’t have to wait long to make that familiar walk back to the winner’s enclosure.

So that’s Monday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

He may be out on his own as the most successful jockey in Cheltenham Festival history but Ruby Walsh admits he still gets nervous ahead of the biggest week on the racing calendar.

Ireland’s belle of British broadcasting Angela Scanlon is taking a fresh tack to revel in the projects she is currently working on, says Esther McCarthy.

She’s already starred in ‘Brooklyn’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’, but 2019 will bring even bigger releases for Waterford-born Fiona Glascott. Watch this space, writes Shilpa Ganatra.

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.

Min showed admirable battling qualities to make a winning return to action in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase at the Naas track.

Ruby Walsh produced a brilliant ride on Easy Game in Navan last Sunday, silencing the gutless social media critics who were quick to write him off as he struggled to come back after a series of injuries, writes Pat Keane

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

A father of four who died following an assault in Mitchelstown, Co Cork was remembered as a "one in a million family man" who loved a good chat and had a hearty laugh, his requiem mass in his native Ballindangan heard today.

It was entirely in keeping with John O’Shea’s self-effacing character and career-long commitment to the concept of the ‘team player’, that the elegant defender’s farewell address to the Irish supporters seemed to be about everyone but himself, writes Liam Mackey.

Faugheen returned to his majestic best with an impressive all-the-way win in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown.

Tuesday, the opening day of the Punchestown, was to be Willie Mullins’ day. Expectation was high that the stable could make the necessary start in its bid to reel in championship leader Gordon Elliott in the race for the trainers’ title. And so it did.

Irish horse racing’s first family, a Eurovision hopeful and an outspoken GAA pundit lead the line-up for this week’s Late Late Show on RTÉ One.