HOME
*





Istabraq The Horse
Istabraq (born 23 May 1992) is a retired Ireland, Irish Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who was most famous for his Hurdling (horse race), hurdling. He won the Champion Hurdle on three occasions. He was trained by Aidan O'Brien and owned by J. P. McManus, John Patrick McManus. Jockey Charlie Swan (horse trainer), Charlie Swan rode him in all of his 29 races over jumps. Early life Istabraq was bred for the flat, being by the outstanding champion sire Sadler's Wells (horse), Sadler's Wells, who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas over 1 mile and also being three parts brother to an Epsom Derby winner, Secreto. Istabraq was tried unsuccessfully over a mile and failed to please his handlers and owner Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Shadwell Racing and a partner in his family's Godolphin Stables. Jumps racing The horse was sold to John Durkan who had been an assistant to John Gosden with the Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle as the target for the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Istabraq The Horse
Istabraq (born 23 May 1992) is a retired Ireland, Irish Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who was most famous for his Hurdling (horse race), hurdling. He won the Champion Hurdle on three occasions. He was trained by Aidan O'Brien and owned by J. P. McManus, John Patrick McManus. Jockey Charlie Swan (horse trainer), Charlie Swan rode him in all of his 29 races over jumps. Early life Istabraq was bred for the flat, being by the outstanding champion sire Sadler's Wells (horse), Sadler's Wells, who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas over 1 mile and also being three parts brother to an Epsom Derby winner, Secreto. Istabraq was tried unsuccessfully over a mile and failed to please his handlers and owner Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Shadwell Racing and a partner in his family's Godolphin Stables. Jumps racing The horse was sold to John Durkan who had been an assistant to John Gosden with the Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle as the target for the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


December Festival Hurdle
The December Festival Hurdle, currently known by its sponsored title of the Matheson Hurdle, is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Ireland which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Leopardstown over a distance of about 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year during the Christmas Festival meeting in late December. Prior to 2013 the race was named the Istabraq Festival Hurdle in honour of Istabraq, who won it four times. The race was run as the Ryanair Hurdle from 2013 to 2018 when Ryanair sponsored the race. Matheson took over the sponsorship from the 2019 running. Former titles of the event included the paddypower.com iPhone App Hurdle, Sean P. Graham Memorial Hurdle and the Bookmakers Hurdle. The race was first run in 1986, and it has held Grade 1 status since 2002. It is often used as a trial for the Champion Hurdle a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Godolphin Stables
Godolphin Stables, also known as Stanley House Stables, is a thoroughbred racehorse ownership, training and breeding operation in Newmarket, Suffolk, which has produced many notable horses. It is one of the most famous racing establishments in the world and is currently owned and operated by Godolphin Racing, the UK's largest flat racing operation. History and ownership The stables were built by Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby (also the namesake of the Stanley Cup in North American ice hockey), in 1903 and originally named Stanley House stables after Lord Derby's nearby house. They were acquired by Godolphin Racing in April 1988 and renamed Godolphin Stables under head trainer John Gosden. The name refers to the well known horse Godolphin Arabian, one of the first Arabian horses brought to Britain. The stables now serve as a base for Godolphin's British operations. Group 1 winners Horses trained at the stables that have won Group 1 races include: * Swynford, winner of the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Secreto
Secreto (1981–1999) was a Maryland-bred Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that consisted of only four races, he won three times. His most important success came in June 1984 when he won the Derby. Background Secreto was a small bay horse with three white socks sired by the great Northern Dancer. He was the first foal of his dam, the unraced Secretariat mare Betty's Secret, who was only three years old when Secreto was conceived. Betty's Secret went on to produce Istabraq, who won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham's National Hunt Festival in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Secreto was bred by E. P. Taylor at his Windfields Farm (Maryland). As a yearling in 1982, Secreto was sent to the Keeneland Select yearling sale where he was sold for $340,000, a below-average figure for a Northern Dancer horse. The purchaser was the Venezuelan breeder Luigi Miglietti who sent his colt to be trained in Ireland by David O'Brien. Racing career Secreto won his only race as a t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Irish 2,000 Guineas
The Irish 2,000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in May. History The event was established in 1921, a year before the launch of the Irish 1,000 Guineas. The inaugural running was won by Soldennis. It is Ireland's equivalent of the 2,000 Guineas, and in recent years it has taken place three weeks after that race. The field usually includes horses which previously contested the English version, and nine have achieved victory in both events. The first was Right Tack in 1969, and the most recent was Churchill in 2017. The leading horses from the Irish 2,000 Guineas often go on to compete in the following month's St. James's Palace Stakes. The most recent to win both races was Gleneagles in 2015. Records Leading jockey (5 wins): * Tommy Burns, Sr. – ' ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Charlie Swan (horse Trainer)
Charlie Swan (born 20 January 1968) is a former top National Hunt jockey in Ireland in the 1990s. He is associated with the great Istabraq, on whom he won three Champion Hurdles. He was twice top jockey at the Cheltenham Festival and was champion National Hunt jockey in Ireland for nine consecutive years. After retiring as a jockey he spent several years a trainer, based in Modreeny near Cloughjordan, County Tipperary. First and only son to Donald Swan, a former British Army Captain, and his wife Teresa, Charlie was named after an ancestor who was the surgeon to the British King 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. He rode his first winner as a fifteen-year-old, on his father’s Final Assault, in a two-year-old maiden at Naas in March 1983, and, after a successful spell as an apprentice, he later turned his attention to the National Hunt scene. He won his first Irish jockeys' championship in 1989/90 and retained the title up to and including the 1997/98 season. He was only deposed as champio ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100-120 lb., and physically fit. They are typically self-employed and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings. Jockeys are mainly male, though there are some well-known female jockeys too. The job has a very high risk of debilitating or life-threatening injuries. Etymology The word is by origin a diminutive of ''jock'', the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name ''John'', which is also used generically for "boy" or "fellow" (compare ''Jack'', ''Dick''), at least since 1529. A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolk" in Shakespeare's ''Richard III''. v. 3, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hurdling (horse Race)
A hurdle race in Great Britain and Ireland is a National Hunt horse race where the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles or flights that are over three and a half feet high. They are typically made of a series of panels made of brush and are flexible. Hurdle races always have a minimum of eight hurdles and a minimum distance of two miles (3.2 km). National Hunt horses that have the size and scope to jump higher than the height of a hurdle use these types of races in order to gain experience of jumping obstacles so they can later be sent to jump bigger obstacles called fences. Hurdle races tend to be run at a faster pace than Chases as the height of the hurdle is much lower than a chasing fence. The best hurdlers have a low and efficient style of jumping, which means they do not lose much momentum when they run over or hurdle a hurdle. Australian hurdle races were conducted over wooden fences which provide some flexibility when ran over or hurdled. In Victoria, these run ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Horse Racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity. Horse races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, and running in different gaits. In some races, horses are assigned different weights to carry to reflect differences in ability, a process known as handicapping. While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance is in the gambling associated with ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered " hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility, speed, and spirit. The Thoroughbred, as it is known today, was developed in 17th- and 18th-century England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Oriental stallions of Arabian, Barb, and Turkoman breeding. All modern Thoroughbreds can trace their pedigrees to three stallions originally imported into England in the 17th and 18th centuries, and to a larger number of foundation mares of mostly English breeding. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Thoroughbred breed spread throughout the world; they were imported into North America starting in 1730 and into Australia, Europe, Japan and South America during the 19th century. Millions of Thoroughbreds exist today, a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Leopardstown Racecourse
Leopardstown Racecourse is an Ireland, Irish horse-racing venue, located in Leopardstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, 8 km south of the Dublin city centre. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing. The course, built by Captain George Quin and modelled on Sandown Park Racecourse in England, was completed in 1888 and acquired by the Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Racing Board of Ireland in 1967. Many important races are held here and racing takes place all year round, with about 22 meetings per year. In 1941, noted Royal Air Force pilot Hugh Verity, who flew many secret agents at night into and out of farm fields in France, force landed on the Race Course. He was interned briefly before escaping back to England. The ''Leopardstown Hall of Fame'' honours famous Irish horse racing trainers, jockeys and horses like, Vincent O'Brien, Tom Dreaper, Pat Taaffe and Pat Eddery, Arkle, Dawn Run, Levmoss and Nijinsky II, Nijinsky. Facilities Leopar ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

180
__NOTOC__ Year 180 ( CLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Condianus (or, less frequently, year 933 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 180 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * The Quadi are chased westwards, deeper into Germania. The Praetorian prefect, Tarutenius Paternus, achieves a decisive victory against the Germanic tribes. * March 17 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius dies after a week's illness at his camp in Vindobona (modern Vienna). He is succeeded by his son Commodus (age 18). * The Era of the Five Good Emperors ends. * Rome creates a 4-mile wide buffer zone by the Danube. * Work begins in Rome on the building of the Column of Marcus Aurelius. * 180–395 – Late Empire i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]