Anyone else looking forward to getting up at 3.45am next Tuesday to watch the Melbourne Cup?

Still waiting for the season to get into full swing, but I’m a little bit busier on the track this weekend than in recent ones, with five rides at Wexford tomorrow.

There has been a 21% decrease in the number of new blood donors coming forward to donate in Ireland.

Two flat-race meetings this weekend, beginning with Limerick this afternoon, where the listed Martin Molony Stakes is the feature.

Leading Classic contenders Air Force Blue, Hit It A Bomb and Minding were among those to work after racing at the Curragh as Aidan O’Brien put 50 horses through their paces.

James Heffernan has a formidable election team at his home base, writes Mid-West Correspondent Jimmy Woulfe

Here’s a tip for the remaining few weeks of the flat campaign: Keep Aidan O’Brien very much on your side.

Ralph Beckett had a smile back on his face yesterday after a “miserable 11 days” ended with Simple Verse being reinstated as the winner of this year’s Ladbrokes St Leger.

No sooner had the Leger at Doncaster on Saturday finished than a pal of mine rang to ask what I thought would happen at the subsequent stewards’ inquiry.

Luca Cumani may have had an “inkling” earlier in the year that a parting of the ways could come with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, owner of King George winner and leading Arc contender Postponed.

The median auction maiden which opens this afternoon’s card at Bellewstown looks a real cracker, with a number of potentially smart youngsters in the field, but Ample Sufficiency could prove a cut above his rivals if building on the promise of his Leopardstown debut.

Herald The Dawn, impressive when winning his maiden at Naas earlier this month, produced a sustained and very game effort to overcome soft ground and exciting filly Now Or Never in the Group 2 Galileo EBF Futurity Stakes yesterday afternoon at the Curragh.

We give out about stewards in Ireland on occasions but, do you know what, they are geniuses when compared to those in some other countries.

Two tricky cards this evening, where the most obvious winner is Order Of St George in the final race at Down Royal. 

Andrea Atzeni is set to ride Postponed in Saturday’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

What have Dermot Weld, Jim Bolger and Aidan O’Brien in common, besides the fact they are three of the best trainers in the world?

Diamondsandrubies is bound for the Darley Irish Oaks after a sparkling display to hold off Legatissimo in a driving finish to the Sea The Stars Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.

Found can extend the record-breaking exploits of jockey Ryan Moore by taking the Coronation Stakes this afternoon at Royal Ascot.

Kingfisher put himself firmly in the Ascot Gold Cup picture when getting up late in the day to take the Seamus & Rosemary McGrath Memorial Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown last night.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Waterloo Bridge should get off the mark in the Irish Stallion farms 2-Y-0 Maiden on tonight’s mixed card in Tipperary.

While you would hardly describe it as the race that stopped a nation, it was certainly the talk of the place.

Success Days is set to challenge for Classic honours as he once again relished the testing conditions with an emphatic victory in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown yesterday.

… in Australia. Damn you.

Big Mac sauce is one of those fast-food items that we’d love to see available for purchase. Now, McDonald’s have gone ahead and bottled their distinctive sauce for the first time - in Australia.

The Southern Right whale swam with the surfers at Freshwater Beach off the coast of Sydney.

Family holidays can lose the magic when the kids hit the the teenage years. Never one to give up, Tommy Barker tries to recapture the good old days with his two grown-up children in the Algarve.

Police have fined one of Australia’s richest businessmen and a top television executive AUS$500 each for a high-profile street fight in an exclusive Sydney beachside suburb.

Police in Australia are investigating a very public fight between one of the country’s richest businessmen and a top television executive in an exclusive Sydney beachside suburb.

TAKING his cue from the Chinese year of the horse, comedian Jason Byrne is galloping through 2014, travelling over and back between Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Scotland.

A mother-of-one who cleaned up the scene of a murder carried out by a “recidivist criminal” has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

It was a window of opportunity Tommy Barker couldn’t resist — the chance to view a busy family’s new extension

From scaling mountain peaks to iconic global landmarks — Cork and Clare hurling fans are going to great lengths and heights to show their true colours ahead of tomorrow’s All-Ireland showdown.

It’s Saturday and the sun is shining. What more could you want? A good beach bar, that’s what. Travel writer Pól Ó Conghaile picks 10 of the best from around the country

Are you of Ireland? Here's the 10 rules you have to live by…

Holywood golfer’s assertion last September that he felt more British than Irish was met with a consternation that bordered on the ridiculous.

NOT SO long ago The National Trust published a list — the 50 things every child should experience before they reach 11 and three quarters.

Filled with hope in college, many of Aoife Dowling’s ex-classmates have been forced to work abroad and are unlikely to return

RECOVERY in the property market? A bit like Kildare footballers, and Waterford hurlers, it’s a case of dragging out the cliche: “Maybe next year.”

Some of Ireland’s finest young players have headed Down Under in search of a career as a professional sportsman. While, the allure of Sydney and Australia’s other attractions fill many a dream, the reality for Tommy Walsh, Michael Quinn, Chris McKaigue and Setanta Ó hAilpÍn also includes bouts of homesickness and a punishing schedule.

THE US talk show host Oprah Winfrey brought thousands of shrieking, jubilant fans to Sydney’s landmark arts centre to tape two star-studded shows for her final series.

Sydney swapped opera for Oprah today when the US talk show host brought thousands of shrieking, jubilant fans to the city's landmark arts centre to tape two star-studded shows for her final series.