AMID the small flurry of new signings that descended on Aston Villa in the summer, the costliest of all has gone almost unnoticed this season.

ON a night when Johnny Murtagh took another giant step towards regaining the Jockeys Championship, Joanna Morgan saddled Fourpenny Lane and San Sicharia to dominate the listed Cooley Fillies Stakes at Dundalk.

JOHNNY Murtagh and Pat Smullen got together before racing at Leopardstown yesterday to promote the finale of the 2009 Flat Championship.

CARRAIG Na Gcapaill should complete a hurdling hat-trick in the Midland Breeders Mares Hurdle at Kilbeggan this evening.

AN amazing fourth consecutive Group One inside the space of eight weeks went the way of Peeping Fawn as Aidan O’Brien’s iron lady overpowered her rivals in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks at York yesterday.

Tommy Barker says Heir Island property offers rare opportunity.

SOME of the TDs who contributed to a debate in the Dáil last week on the introduction of the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Bill, while rightly decrying the exploitation of vulnerable women, got very nostalgic for the old days.

THEANN, who has only ever won one race in her life, a maiden at Naas, can land the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes at Leopardstown this evening.

KIRBYBROGUELANTERN can complete a spectacular four-timer in the J J Byrne Car Sales Maiden at Wexford this evening.

TODAY’s Galway Plate is a cracking contest, which is going to severely test the skills of punters.

WEXFORD jockey Tom O’Brien set a new record for the most wins in a season for a conditional jockey in Britain with a 383-1 treble aboard Lincoln’s Inn, Xila Fontenailles and Good Book at Warwick yesterday.

FREDS BENEFIT gets the nap to land the most interesting contest on the programme at Limerick this afternoon, the www.hacketts.ie Novice Hurdle.

IN Monday's Racing Post David Ashforth, who is on a tour of the racecourses of Britain and Ireland, gave what could be best described as a scathing account of Tralee last week.

DERMOT WELD, fresh from another profitable Galway, where he had seven winners, was on the mark at Cork yesterday when Reform Act turned in a game display to land the €45,000 plus to the winner Listed Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Give Thanks Stakes.

Rory McIlroy has been drawn in the final group for Thursday's opening round of the Masters as he seeks the victory he needs to complete the career grand slam.

Shane Lowry promised to give himself a slap in the face when his mind inevitably turns to celebrating a Masters win on Sunday evening.

A heavy metal music festival in Germany has banned rucksacks and bags from the main grounds this year for security reasons, organisers said.

Heavy metal band Iron Maiden's Ed Force One plane has been damaged in an airport crash which left two people injured.

MEATH boss Eamon Barry must now surely hate the sight of a Wexford jersey.

THE Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh tomorrow centres very much on whether John Oxx decides to allow Sea The Stars to take his chance.