The Steve Mahon-trained Usa made a spectacular return to action when bolting-up in the Fundraising Events At Tipperary Races Rated Novice Chase in Tipperary yesterday.

Lockstockandbarrel should make a winning start over hurdles in the thurles.ie Maiden Hurdle in Thurles today.

A leading GAA medic has echoed Aidan O’Shea’s call for the appointment of an independent doctor to rule on concussion cases and other serious injuries during games.

The Boylesports.com Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival is top of the agenda for Mallowney following a staggeringly easy win in the Underwriting Exchange Dan Moore Memorial Chase at Fairyhouse yesterday.

US president Barack Obama has made a final push to help struggling Democrats before this week’s midterm elections, making campaign stops in Connecticut and Pennsylvania to try to avert a "shellacking" at the polls like the one suffered in 2010.

Cillian’s Return, bought out of Bill Farrell’s by J P McManus after taking a bumper at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day, made a winning start for his new connections when easily taking the Michael Maher Building And Construction Services Maiden Hurdle at Tipperary last night.

President Barack Obama could take care of the appointment of a new US Ambassador to Ireland, if he played just one less round of golf, a former holder of the post said in an interview.

Shane Sweetnam may have offloaded his top ride last year, but that does not mean he is ready to relinquish his position as a stalwart of the Irish team.

Bryan Cooper got off to a flyer as the new first jockey to Gigginstown House Stud when guiding Gordon Elliott’s Toner D’Oudairies to victory in the Racecourse Supporters’ Club Chase at Thurles yesterday.

A fall with Moonshine Lad at the second last hurdle denied Paul Carberry a comeback treble in Fairyhouse yesterday.

The rising star of Irish show jumping, Bertram Allen, shone brightly again yesterday when taking the individual silver medal at the Junior European Show Jumping Championships in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain.

Jim Bolger continued his remarkable early-season form with a 510/1 treble in Gowran Park yesterday.

Tipperary brothers Trevor and Shane Breen were denied a one-two in the grand prix at the three-star show in Hardelot, France, yesterday.

The Crafty Butcher, who was proving very costly to follow, finally got his act together for Ruby Walsh when taking the Holy Thursday Maiden Hurdle at Clonmel yesterday.

Willie Mullins’ Tarla proved far too good for Rebel Fitz in the www.racinghomeforeaster.com Hurdle at cold and wet Cork yesterday when thousands of students were on site.

A school principal has led tributes to one of his young pupils who died in a tragic accident at his family’s farm in West Cork.

Raised 10lb. for a repeat win in a handicap hurdle in Limerick over Christmas, the Eddie Harty-trained Fahamore followed-up when foiling the Willie Mullins-trained favourite Abbey Lane in the Buy Tickets On-Line Rated Hurdle in Fairyhouse yesterday.

Willie Mullins’ Cadspeed, having his first run since May and backed from 6-1 to 9-2, was a desperately unlucky loser of the Kilsheeelan Beginners’ Chase at Clonmel yesterday.

Hurricane Sandy headed north from the Caribbean – where it left nearly 60 dead - to threaten the eastern US today with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow as millions were warned to get out of its path.

The organisers of the Owners’ Pony and Young Riders Show are aiming to celebrate raising €250,000 for charity at Millstreet this weekend.

Ireland’s show jumpers joined the Netherlands, Germany, the US, Belgium and Portugal in failing to make the second round of the five-star Promotional League Nations Cup at Gijon, Spain, on Saturday.

Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen, fresh from a reasonably successful Galway, turned their attention to Cork yesterday and duly combined to land the featured Group 3 Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Give Thanks Stakes with Sapphire.

It was like 1992 all over again, with a team from Co Clare coming to the heart of Co Cork football territory, and taking home the trophies.

Ireland is almost certain to have a dressage rider at the Olympics, with Anna Merveldt the likely contender.

A young GAA player went through “hell and back” after an ambulance fiasco delayed his treatment for a broken leg by seven hours.

Willie Mullins extended his impressive strike-rate for the Supreme Horse Racing Club when debutante Letherbelucky justified 13/8 favouritism in the Knockhouse Stud Mares Flat Race, the bumper on last night’s card in Wexford.

THE market for Irish horses in China is full of potential, Horse Sport Ireland chief executive Damian McDonald said yesterday, but he acknowledged a number of obstacles needed to be overcome.

Tom Foley helped make it three in a row for Ireland in the French Pony Nations Cup in Fontainebleau on Saturday when posting a double clear with Crown Jewel.

Meath show jumper Alexander Butler steered Will Wimble to victory in the 1.45m class at Lummen, Belgium, yesterday, pipping compatriot Trevor Coyle and Jubilee D’Ouilly by two-hundredths of a second.

THOSE who fancy Boston Bob at Cheltenham will be encouraged by the performance of Lyreen Legend in winning yesterday’s Grade 2 boylesports.com Michael Purcell Memorial Novice Hurdle at Thurles.

Carrigeen Lechuga, successful at the track two weeks earlier, followed up with a fine display in the Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Mares’ Novice Chase at Thurles yesterday.

THE main interest at Fairyhouse this afternoon will centre on the performance of Dermot Weld’s Galileo’s Choice in the Easter Festival 8th-10th April Novice Hurdle.

WHEN Howard Johnson retired from training in England his principal patrons, Graham and Andrea Wylie, decided to send a batch of horses to Willie Mullins.

THE Charlie Swan-trained Make A Track emerged victorious after a tremendous battle with front-running Ceol Rua in the Goresbridge Novice Hurdle in Gowran Park yesterday.

TAKE a chance on Rathlin in the Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Beginners Chase at Thurles this afternoon.

NOEL MEADE’S Ipsos Du Berlais can keep his unbeaten record intact, and land the nap in the process, in the INH Stallion Owners’ EBF Novice Hurdle at Thurles this afternoon.

Greenmount 4-10Scoil Padre Pio 0-4

Kieran O’Gorman of the West Cork Horse Breeders this week declared that “the school represents great value for money” and he questioned if McCarthy was being “penny wise, but pound foolish”.

ALFA BEAT, successful in the race a year earlier, did the business again when storming to victory in yesterday’s Guinness Kerry National at Listowel.

As the FBI chased leads on two continents, mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger spent nearly all of his 16 years as a fugitive in a quiet California seaside city, passing himself off as just another OAP, albeit one who kept a .357 Magnum and more than 100 rounds of ammunition in his modest apartment.

The betchronicle.com Champion Bumper produced a rousing finish between two highly promising sorts in Willie Mullins’ Lovethehigherlaw and Dermot Weld’s Waaheb at Punchestown last night, writes Pat Keane.

THE Wexford hurling crisis deepened last night as the county’s Under-21 selector Gary Laffan, an All-Ireland SHC medallist in 1996, launched a scathing attack on his own county board over the use of dual players.

THERE are clear signs that Fianna Fáil is in trouble in the Cork East constituency and that some of its voters are defecting to Sinn Féin, leaving that party’s candidate well in the hunt for the last of the four seats on offer.