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Pretty Polly Stakes (Ireland)
The Pretty Polly Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July. History The event is named after Pretty Polly, a successful filly foaled in Ireland in 1901. It was originally restricted to fillies aged three, but it was later opened to older horses. For a period it was classed at Group 2 level, and it was promoted to Group 1 status in 2004. The Pretty Polly Stakes was part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series from 2009 to 2012. The winner earned an automatic invitation to compete in the same year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. The race is currently held on the final day of the Curragh's three-day Irish Derby meeting. Records Most successful horse (2 wins): * Dance Design – ''1996, 1997'' * Alexander G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curragh Racecourse
The Curragh Racecourse -- usually referred to as simply the Curragh -- is one of Ireland's most important Thoroughbred racecourses. It is situated on the Curragh plain in County Kildare, between the towns of Newbridge and Kildare. History The name "Curragh" comes from the Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ... word ''Cuirreach'', meaning "place of the running horse". The first recorded race on the plain took place in 1727, but it was used for races before then. The first Derby was held in 1866, and in 1868 the Curragh was officially declared a horse racing and training facility by act of parliament. Racecourse redevelopment Redevelopment of the Curragh grandstand and racecourse facilities began in 2017 with completion due in time for commenceme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Goldrun
Alexander Goldrun (foaled 9 February 2001 in Ireland) is a retired Thoroughbred Horse racing, racehorse. Bred by Dermot Cantillon, she was raced by Mrs. Noel O'Callaghan for whom she compiled a race record of 10 wins, seven seconds, and six thirds in thirty-one starts. She retired with race earnings of Pound sterling, £1,900,740 Trained by Jim Bolger (racehorse trainer), Jim Bolger, during her career in racing Alexander Goldrun won five Group One races in four different countries : * ** Hong Kong Cup (2004) * ** Prix de l'Opéra (2004) * ** Nassau Stakes (2005) * ** Pretty Polly Stakes (Ireland), Pretty Polly Stakes (2005, 2006) Pedigree References Alexander Goldrun's pedigree and partial racing stats 2001 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 22-d Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in Ireland {{Racehorse-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Godetia (horse)
Godetia (foaled 14 April 1976 – 1994) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won two Irish Classic Races in 1979. Bred in Virginia, she was sold as a yearling and sent to race in Europe. As a two-year-old she showed promise when finishing second on her debut before winning her next race by twelve lengths. In 1979 she was unbeaten in four races in Ireland, taking the Athasi Stakes, Irish 1,000 Guineas, Pretty Polly Stakes and Irish Oaks, but ran poorly when sent to England for The Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks. She returned to race in the United States as a four-year-old but failed to make any impact in three races. As a broodmare she had some success but produced no major winners. Background Godetia was a "most attractive" chestnut mare with an elongated diamond-shaped white star and two white socks bred by Whitney Stone at his Morven Stud in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her sire, Sir Ivor was an American-bred colt who was trained in Europe and won The Der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Magnier
John Magnier (born 10 February 1948; also known as "The Boss") is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry. Magnier has also been a Senator in the upper house of the Irish Parliament, Seanad Éireann. He is based at Coolmore Stud at Fethard in County Tipperary, considered one of the world's pre-eminent stallion stations, and a nursery of thoroughbreds. Career Origins Magnier was born in Fermoy, County Cork, the eldest son of Thomas Magnier (died 1962) a County Cork landowner (son of Michael Joseph Magnier of The Manor House, Fermoy, County Cork) by his wife Evelyn Margaret Hallinan (born 1925), the younger daughter of Major Thomas Francis Dennehy Hallinan of Ashbourne, Glounthaune, County Cork. His aunt Mary Elizabeth Hallinan married Rupert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton, Senior Steward of the Jockey Club 1982–85, effectively the chief executive of the British horse racing i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Haefner
Walter Haefner (13 September 1910 – 19 June 2012) was a Swiss businessman and a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder in Ireland. As a young man Haefner went to work in the auto industry as an employee of the Swiss division of General Motors Corporation. He eventually moved to England where he acquired an automobile franchise before returning home to open a Volkswagen dealership. Recognizing the important role a computer could play in his growing chain of dealerships, in 1957 Haefner became one of the first in Switzerland to import an IBM system for business use. This led to his 1964 creation of Automation Center A.G., a computer services company in Zurich. In 1976 he expanded operations to the US and, after merging his company with Russell Artzt's and Charles Wang's publicly owned software company, Computer Associates International, Inc., in 1987, Haefner was CA's largest individual shareholder until his death. He continued to own AMAG Automobil- und Motoren, a highly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent O'Brien
Vincent O'Brien (9 April 1917 – 1 June 2009) was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the ''Racing Post''. In earlier ''Racing Post'' polls he was voted the best ever trainer of national hunt and of flat racehorses. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby, won three Grand Nationals in succession and trained the only British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, since the Second World War. He was twice British champion trainer in flat racing and also twice in national hunt racing; the only trainer in history to have been champion under both rules. Aidan O'Brien (no relation) took over the Ballydoyle stables after his retirement. The National Hunt years His training career started in 1944. That year, he did the Irish Cambridgeshire/Irish Cesarewitch double with Drybob (dead heat) and Good Days. In his early days Vincent O'Brien was a trainer a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Trainer
A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which may include contests and other riding purposes. The level of education and the yearly salary they can earn for this profession may differ depending on where the person is employed. History Horse domestication by the Botai culture in Kazakhstan dates to about 3500 BC. Written records of horse training as a pursuit has been documented as early as 1350 BC, by Kikkuli, the Hurrian "master horse trainer" of the Hittite Empire. Another source of early recorded history of horse training as a discipline comes from the Greek writer Xenophon, in his treatise On Horsemanship. Writing circa 350 BC, Xenophon addressed starting young horses, selecting older animals, and proper grooming and bridling. He discussed different approache ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seamie Heffernan
James Anthony "Seamie" Heffernan (born 17 July 1972) is an Irish flat racing jockey who rides mainly for horse racing trainer Aidan O'Brien. From a family with no racing connections Heffernan was introduced to the sport when he took a summer holiday job with the National Hunt trainer Arthur Moore. He began his racing career as an apprentice jockey for P J Finn and rode his first winner on 10 August 1988 at the age of sixteen. When Finn retired he moved to the yard of Jim Bolger and shared the Irish champion apprentices title in 1994. He was runner-up in the same competition in 1995 and moved to Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle stable in 1996 where he was second jockey after Christy Roche. Heffernan has remained at Ballydoyle since then and rode his first Group One winner on Beckett in the 2000 National Stakes and his first Classic winner on Imagine in the Irish 1,000 Guineas in 2001. He has ridden a further nine Irish Classic winners, including four victories in the Irish Derby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Kinane
Michael J. Kinane (born 22 June 1959, Killenaule, County Tipperary) is an Irish former flat racing jockey. He had a 34-year career, retiring on 8 December 2009. A prolific winner of the Irish, English and French Classic races over two decades, Kinane has ridden winners in the 2,000 Guineas four times, The Derby three times, the Melbourne Cup in Australia and, in the United States, the Belmont Stakes once. Kinane also has four wins in Breeders' Cup races. He has been Irish Champion Jockey on 13 occasions. He first came to prominence as the stable jockey to Liam Browne winning the 1982 Irish 2000 Guineas and St James Palace Stakes at Ascot, both on Dara Monarch, and finishing 2nd in the 1983 Epsom Derby on Carlingford Castle, before moving to Dermot Weld. He was later retained by John Magnier and Aidan O'Brien as stable jockey at Ballydoyle for many years prior to joining leading Irish flat trainer John Oxx. He became one of the world's elite jockeys and exc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christy Roche
Christy Roche (born 3 December 1949 in Bansha, County Tipperary) is a retired Irish flat racing Champion Jockey and racehorse trainer. Over his thirty-year career between 1968 and 1998 he won the Irish Derby three times, in 1982, 1992 and 1997. His 1997 victory was on Desert King. In Britain he won the Epsom Derby on Secreto in 1984 and the Epsom Oaks on Jet Ski Lady in 1991. By the time of his retirement as a jockey Roche had already begun a career as a trainer. Amongst the major winners he trained were Like-A-Butterfly in the 2002 Supreme Novices' Hurdle and Grimes in the 2001 Galway Plate. He retired as a trainer in January 2018 and handed over his training licence to his son, Padraig. Major wins (as a jockey) Great Britain * Derby Stakes - ''Secreto (1984)'' * Fillies' Mile - ''Icing (1975)'' * International Stakes - ''Ivory Frontier (1993)'' * Oaks Stakes - ''Jet Ski Lady (1991)'' * William Hill Futurity - '' Sandy Creek (1978)'' * Yorkshire Oaks - ''Sarah Siddons (1976 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Piggott
Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest flat racing jockeys of all time and the originator of a much imitated style. Popularly called "The Long Fellow", he was known for his competitive personality, restricting his weight and, on occasion, not sparing the whip, such as in the 1972 Derby. Piggott was convicted of tax fraud in 1987 and sentenced to three years in prison. He served just over one year. Early life Piggott was born in Wantage, Berkshire, to a family that could trace its roots as jockeys and trainers back to the 18th century.p45, David Boyd, A Bibliographical Dictionary of Racehorse Trainers in Berkshire 1850–1939 (1998) The Piggotts were a Cheshire farming family who from the 1870s ran the Crown Inn in Nantwich for over 30 years. Piggott's grandfather, Ernest Pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Roe
Johnny Roe (26 March 1938 – 23 April 2017) ''Racing Post''. retrieved 25 April 2017. was an Irish jockey who competed in . Roe was Irish flat racing Champion Jockey on nine occasions and won the |
