What seems to have happened is he got involved in a tax avoidance scheme which has basically gone wrong and I suspect he owes the British Government a large amount in unpaid tax which he cannot pay and his or his accountant's attempts to reach a settlement with the HMRC have failed. He wouldn't be the first jockey whose financial affairs have caused embarrassment and I suspect he won't be the last.

Thanks for this, my friend. As I've said in my Cheltenham Review, not a dry eye in the horse as MARINE NATIONALE crossed the line on Wednesday and when JAZZY MATTY, who O'Sullivan had ridden to win the Juvenule Handicap Hurdle, won the 3250m handicap chase forty minutes later, you can believe any number were pondering on the reality of divine intervention. TOSEN STARDOM hasn't done much yet as a stallion but who knows? I'll try to keep and eye for any of his progeny.

Day two of the Cheltenham Festival brought another banquet of emotion and drama to Prestbury Park but the crowd numbers were noticeably down on day one with 42,000 in attendance. The course chairman had warned the numbers weren't looking as good as he had hoped but the Wednesday has become the "quiet" day of the meeting for all the quality of the racing remains right up there. Early morning snow, which quickly melted, left the ground unchanged at Good to Soft. Four more championship races starting with the Turners Novices Hurdle over 4200m and the pre-race betting suggested it was between three. FINAL DEMAND represented Willie Mullins who hwas the leading trainer after day one though probably not as far ahead as he had hoped or even expected. THE YELLOW CLAY represented Gordon Elliott for whom the 2025 Festival was shaping up to be as frustrating as 2024 and THE NEW LION, the leading local hope representing Dan Skelton, the leading UK trainer whose strength in handicaps in 2024 was now being translated into the Grade 1 events. One for the home team as THE NEW LION just outbattled THE YELLOW CLAY in a thrilling finish up the final hill. The three market leaders dominated the race and all are, I think, very good propsects albeit perhaps in different areas. It wasn't only a battle between three very good horses but the three jockeys, as we saw in the post race analysis, all rode canny, calculating races not only trying to do the best for their horse but in so doing trying to frustrate their main rivals. FINAL DEMAND was the first to crack going down toward the last and it may be on this decent ground his stamina was blunted but he looks every inch a future staying chaser and if he turned up next year in the Brown Advisory, I wouldn't be susprised. THE YELLOW CLAY was prominent all the way and Jack Kennedy rode a superb tactical race to frustrate Paul Townend on FINAL DEMAND but in the end THE YELLOW CLAY was outstayed up the hill. He looks perhaps more than an Arkle type in the chase department. The winner broke the hoodoo on Challow Hurdle performers winning this - the last twenty who tried all failed. Does that make him exceptional? I'm not so sure - the Challow this year, thanks to the dry winter, was run on reasonable ground (it's often run on heavy turf), indeed, very close to what we've had at Cheltenham this year so the form has carried through and Dan Skelton wisely gave the horse a break after the Challow rather than have another run. THE NEW LION is alos perhaps speedier than the normal Challow type like, for example, BRAVEMANSGAME from the NIcholls yard who has run in Gold Cups. To me, THE NEW LION is more like J P McManus's last winner in this, ISTABRAQ, who won in 1997. NOw, I'm NOT suggesting THE NEW LION will win three Champion Hurdles but I do think he could be competitive in the Champion Hurdle next season and with the likes of CONSTITUTION HILL and STATE MAN getting on in years, there could be a changing of the guard and THE NEW LION might be well placed. On then to the Brown Advisory Novices Chase over 4850m and BALLYBURN, my banker of the week, went off 4/7 to beat a field comprised solely of Irish-trained runners which speaks volumes of the state of British jumps racing currently. MY biggest bet for some time went down in flames but to be honest I'd be more frustrated if he'd been beaten a short head. It all went wrong for BALLYBURN and in truth I was never happy. His jumping failed the test with a couple of serious errors and in the end he faded tamely to finish fifth of the six finishers with the only one he beat, his stable companion, DANCING CITY, also performing well below expectations. Another outsider, another benefit for the bookies but another one for Willie Mullins as LECKY WATSON put up a career best performance to defeat STELLAR STORY and yet another second for Gordon Elliott. LECKY WATSON is unbeaten in three chases and on chase debut beat the useful SLADE STEEL but his Punchestown win was in a Grade 3 and many thought he would be outclassed but he very much picked up the pieces as the better fancied ones failed to fire. STELLAR STORY reversed form with BETTER DAYS AHEAD from when they had run at Navan - the latter was a neck up that day, the former prevailed by a head this time so they come out pretty much equal. LECKY WATSON has earned the right to go into serious open company next season - could he be a Gold Cup contender? I'm sure connections would like to think so and it'll be interesting to see how Mullins plans his 2025/26 campaign. For BALLYBURN, however, it's been a frustrating and ultimately disappointing season. Is he really a chaser? What is his optimum distance and ground? I really though he'd relish the 4850m but his jumping failings meant his stamins didn't become an issue. It might be he drops to a lower level to regain some confidence and perhaps a race like the King George at Kempton might be more to his liking. The Champion Bumper over 3250m was a chance to see the potential hurdling and chasing stars of the future. Willie Mullins naturally had a strong hand but the money came for the Gordon Elliott trained KALYPSO' CHANCE over the likes of COPACABANA and BAMBINO FEVER. Paul Townend, the main stable rider of Willie Mullins, must have been thrilled as, even though his mount COPACABANA finished mid division, his little sister Jody brought home BAMBINO FEVER for yet another win for Team Mullins. The winner ran on strongly and looks a decent staying novice hurdle prospect for next year. HEADS UP outran his odds of 33/1 in second with SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY going into my notebook with a very promising effort at 66s in third. Amateur David Maxwell, who owns the horses he rides, was close up on EL CAIROS but the eyecatcher was the 4-y-o CABALLERO CLIFF who ran a blinder to finish fourth at 150/1 and looks a real prospect for trainer Ben Jones in the Mares novices hurdle division next season. The feature of the second day was the Queen Mother Champion Chase over 3250m which saw the 2022 and 2023 winner, ENERGUMENE and the 2024 winner, CAPTAIN GUINNESS taken on by the Henderson trained favourite JONBON who had run second in the 2022 Supreme to a certain CONSTITUTION HILL and also runner up in the 2023 Arkle to EL FABIOLO. Adding real poignancy to the race was the 2023 Supreme winner MARINE NATIONALE, ridden that day by the late and much missed Michael O'Sullivan for trainer Barry Connell. Not a dry eye in the house as MARINE NATIONALE returned to the scene of his greatest triumph and winning jockey Sean Flanagan echoed the sentiments of many on and off course by looking up and saying "this one's for you, Mikey". The emotion was almost overwhelming with O'Sullivan's partner Charlotte in the winners' enclosure and trainer Barry Connell fighting back the tears.  The start was farcical and JONBON's rider, Nico de Boinville, asserted he had lost his chance then and there but the video showed he pushed forward onto the tape but JONBON was for me always struggling to go the breakneck pace and when he walked through the second ditch and that was basically his chance gone for all he ran on into second. CAPTAIN GUINNESS had, in all honesty, benefitted from the failings of others in 2024 and ran fairly well for third while ENERGUMENE didn't impress me with his jumping and he stopped very quickly coming down the hill seemingly losing his action. The 2021 Triumph winner, QUIXILIOS, looked to be going well but in my view was booked for second at best when falling at the last and it's worth noting LIBBERTY HUNTER hadn't been asked any questions when falling three out. None of this mattered to MARINE NATIONALE who had looked to have the world at his feet after winning the Supreme but his novice season was curtailed by injury after a poor run in the Irish Arkle so in effect he had to go into open company with barely any experience. HIs four runs this campaign had produced three seconds but he comprehensively reversed form with both QUIXILIOS and SOLNESS on this occasion and stands at the top of the speed chasing tree (though supporters of SIR GINO may argue he faces a serious challenge next season and there's more than an element of truth about that). Whether you believe in fate or destiny doesn't matter but this result meant a huge amount to a lot of people. Indeed, the emotion went up a notch after JAZZY MATTY won the following 3250m handicap chase - two years ago, the horse had won the Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on the same day as MARINE NATIONALE won the Supreme and was also ridden by Michael O'Sullivan. The two horses on whom O'Sullivan had won on his greatest riding day in 2023 won consecutive races on the card in 2025 - who'd have thought it?  This was a day which belonged to the Irish in every sense and in the Prestbury Cup, the Irish, by virtue of winning six of the seven races, now led the British 9-5.

fair call . Merlin pipped DSD in the Derby and the Race by Grins so might have the edge. DSD getting stronger though and a BIG Cup threat this year.  Mo'unga only battling tonight , but the Republican Party looks to have come back strong , (fast finishing 4th just now) and will be a force at Cambridge from a better barrier.

Thats something isn't it, just goes to show it's not always about the stakes and group glory but having an enjoyable day out at the beach races.

Seriously?

That was last year Blaird.  I've seen the fields for this year and they look even stronger! There is 16 in the Cup and the top rater is 100 [from memory] and that's higher than most on Champions Day 😂

https://loveracing.nz/News/44284/CastlepointBeachRacessettomakewelcomereturn.aspx sounds like a great day out 

Who cares about "their market", back your own choice and make a killing.  Sadly the "no deductions" for scratchings was canned, otherwise the killing would have been even better. My problem is: How do I get a bet on my horse in the Castlepoint Beach Cup?  😂

Great if that's what the experts think. I am sick and tired of the "tall poppy" syndrome that permeates NZ Racing.

Friday This is the fourth time that John O’Connor of Ballykelly Stud has appeared in Good Morning Bloodstock. I make no apology for featuring him so often, though, as he is a fascinating character with an awful lot going on.   To refresh your memory, he formerly worked in the aerospace industry until he sold his business to Arnold Weinstock in 1994 and since then has worked with governments in Africa and South America on setting up infrastructure projects such as mining ventures or renewable energy schemes.   He calls himself an industrial diplomat, but what exactly it is he does isn’t quite clear. His friend Paul Webber, who trained his homebred Cheltenham Festival winner Indefatigable, was probably closest to the mark when he once described him as “an international man of mystery”.   O’Connor bought Ballykelly Stud in County Tipperary from John Magnier – he thinks he is probably the last person to have purchased a prime piece of farmland in Ireland from the Coolmore supremo – and has bred numerous high-class horses on the Cashel property.   Best of the bunch is undoubtedly Marine Nationale (pictured below), an eight-year-old son of former Darley Club stallion French Navy and the useful, multiple-winning Definite Article mare Power Of Future.    O’Connor retained him and sent him into training with Sam Curling with the intention of advertising his ability to potential purchasers in point-to-points, only for Covid to hit and racing between the flags to be cancelled.    Instead, the horse was sold privately to Barry Connell, who sent him out to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle two years ago, when he was partnered by the much-missed Michael O’Sullivan, and to record an emotional second victory at the Cheltenham Festival in the Queen Mother Champion Chase under Sean Flanagan on Wednesday.    On the first occasion that the always eminently quotable O’Connor appeared in this email he was making mercy dashes to war-torn Ukraine to deliver much-needed supplies under the Irish tricolour.    “The idea is for Ireland to have a bit of a presence and to make it felt, because the Ukrainians will remember who was there when they needed them, and who were the Johnny Come Latelys who arrived when it was safe,” he said.   A few months later he stood aside so that his highly valued stud manager John Fitzell could take the spotlight. Fitzell suffers from multiple sclerosis, but doesn’t let the illness stop him, as he runs the farm and rears all the stock from a wheelchair and specially adapted Jeep.    When I asked O’Connor whether he was ever worried that onlookers might think he employed Fitzell as an act of charity, he replied without hesitation: “I’m the net beneficiary of our relationship. There’s no doubt about that. I couldn’t have done anything at Ballykelly Stud without John Fitzell.”   The last time I interviewed him in this space he explained how he bred the magnificent Marine Nationale, and came out with some crackerjack lines.   “I just love hard-knocking stallions like French Navy, and I like sending them mares who have a bit of class about them, even if it’s close up in their family and they didn’t show it on themselves, so I thought Power Of Future would be ideal for him,” he related. “I suppose you could say my ideal mating is Rocky Marciano meets Helen Mirren’s sister, and that’s what this was.”   O’Connor’s latest out-of-the-box innovation, discovered when I rang to congratulate him on Marine Nationale’s heroics at Prestbury Park this week, might end up being another one for the greatest hits.   He has identified a little-used sire as the one who will deliver him a capable athlete both on the Flat and over jumps, as Marine Nationale was intended to be, and supported him strongly with his small broodmare band.   “My version of Royal Ascot is a horse who’ll run at the Galway Races on the Monday, in the amateur handicap, and again at the meeting at the end of the week, in the Galway Hurdle: that’s what I’m trying to breed, a tough dual-purpose horse,” he says, outlining his ambitions.   “In fact, when I bred Marine Nationale what I was trying to do was produce a bumper winner and dual-purpose horse. So now he’s just got to win the Irish Cesarewitch in order to prove me right.   “The stallion I’m leaning on to achieve that is Tosen Stardom. He’s a Japanese horse by Deep Impact and is a lovely, big, loose-walking individual who raced a lot of times over multiple seasons and won a couple of Group 1s in Australia. He was a tough, tough horse, a French Navy type of horse. He’s my bet.”   Tosen Stardom, who struck in the Toorak Handicap at Caulfield and Emirates Stakes at Flemington at six, first arrived in Ireland two years ago. He stands with Tom Wallace at Zenith Stallion Station in County Westmeath, and covered 32 mares in 2023 and another 24 last year.     O’Connor is sending him three of his mares this season: Caraboss, a winning Cape Cross half-sister to Australian Group 1 hero Kingdom Of Fife descended from Elizabeth II’s blue-hen mare Highclere; Tap Dance Way, a winning Azamour half-sister to stakes scorers Charleston Lady and Live Concert; and Twice Certain, a winning Lawman half-sister to Prix Saint-Alary second Epic Love.   Tap Dance Way has a yearling filly by Tosen Stardom and Twice Certain was covered by the sire last season.   “Tap Dance Way’s yearling is really lovely, and encouraged me to go back,” reports O’Connor. “Twice Certain is from a good family that has done well in Japan, with Epic Love producing the champion two-year-old Danon The Kid and another high-class horse in Mikki Brillante, by Deep Impact's son Deep Brillante. So it made sense to go to another son of Deep Impact, and luckily there was one on my doorstep.    “Caraboss was bought from the Royal Studs. She’s got a really nice yearling colt by Shaman, who needs to pull his socks up as he hasn’t set the world on fire, but you’d have to hope that his stock will be better at three than at two.   “Those are three middle-aged, middle-distance mares who should suit Tosen Stardom and might give me a decent dual-purpose performer. I know he’s not all that popular and the foals won’t be commercial, but I like him and I’ll be more than happy to race them myself and maybe get them sold later. He’s my idea of another Rocky Marciano to introduce to Helen Mirren's sisters.” O’Connor also has belief in connections of Tosen Stardom.   “I first met Tom [Wallace] when I sent a mare to him a couple of years ago and I just thought to myself that he was a real grafter, and that this was the sort of smaller operation I enjoy supporting,” he says.    Among the more commercial Ballykelly Stud mares are Catwalk, a winning Pivotal half-sister to Flying Childers Stakes scorer Sir Prancealot, and Young And Fun, a winning daughter of Lope De Vega and Crimson Rosette, who in turn is a Listed-winning Teofilo half-sister to Gold Cup hero Courage Mon Ami.   “I bought Catwalk because I always wanted a Pivotal mare, and she’s from a really fast family," says O'Connor.   "She has a lovely yearling filly by Inns Of Court, who’s no longer considered commercial and now stands in Italy, but I kind of don’t care, as I’ve always wanted to have a horse by a fast sire out of a Pivotal mare that I can go racing with, and now I’ve got one.   “Young And Fun has gone to Dark Angel, and we’ll find out next week if she’s in foal. She’s from an absolutely beautiful Hascombe and Valiant Studs family, and is probably my one genuinely red-hot commercial mare."   Marine Nationale’s dam Power Of Future died from a severe form of laminitis in the year of his birth and both of her only daughters, Perfect Summer and Ballinderry Moth, were sold. But O’Connor has maintained an association with the family through Arnemviden, an unraced daughter of French Navy and Ballinderry Moth, thus closely related to this week’s Cheltenham victor.   It’s only a tenuous grip on the pedigree, though, as he explains: “We just couldn’t get her in foal last year, we tried everything, and until Wednesday she was on her way to a riding school in Wales for a new career.    “I really was at the point of giving up with her, but seeing Marine Nationale bound up the hill at Cheltenham I said to myself maybe she’s worth holding onto and giving another spin. She’s got to be worth persevering with, as a three-parts sister to him, even if it takes until June to get her in foal.   “I don’t know what stallion I’ll use. I think it'll just be the most fertile one I can find, regardless of who he is and what he’s done. I’m even thinking of sending her off to run loose with Irish draughts. I know from speaking to other people that it’s worked before. Once you’ve got them in foal that way the first time, you can then revert them into a thoroughbred herd.”   Linguists, history buffs and even dog racing fans might have noticed that O’Connor takes great care over naming his equine charges, drawing on a range of sources before making his registrations.   Marine Nationale is, appropriately, the French navy, while Arnemviden was a sea battle fought in 1338 that was the first to use artillery, to continue the theme. Ballinderry Moth was meanwhile a brilliant greyhound of the 1970s trained by O’Connor’s father Barney – “beautiful, bouncy and just too fast for her own good,” wrote Monty Court at the time.   No doubt about it, O’Connor is an original thinker who takes satisfaction in doing things on his own terms. He has had to rely on others’ help a little more this year, though, due to circumstances beyond his control.    “All the broodmares are being boarded with other people in various parts of the country now,” he reports. “The problem is simply that the staffing situation is so dire, especially here in Cashel as we’ve got Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien on the doorstep, and one of Sheikh Mohammed’s studs across the road, so the really good people get spoken for very quickly.   “I’ve therefore had to outsource the breeding. I’ll still pick the matings but I can’t look after the actual conceiving – dealing with vets, getting mares in and out of stocks, putting them to a teaser and so on – or the foaling process any more, without the right kind of assistance.    “They’ll come home when they’re weaned and then I’ll give them what I call the Ballykelly treatment: wintering them out and feeding them hard.   "I don’t bring any of my young horses in, they stay outside, on the basis that if my horse and another horse that’s been mollycoddled all its life turn for home together at Cheltenham, and there’s a blizzard like we've seen this week, I know which one is going to come out on top.”   O’Connor’s right-hand-man isn’t retiring any time soon, despite the need for outside help this season.   “Oh John Fitzell is flying,” he says. “He was in uproarious form when he rang me after the race on Wednesday. We’re always arguing, as ever. If he was in the peak of health we wouldn’t board the mares out, but he’s not, that’s the way it is, and we’ll work around it. There’s always a way.”   I was on the phone to O’Connor for only half an hour but he still managed to fit in a disquisition on the British royal family, extensive quoting of political theorist Isaiah Berlin and some ruminations on the nature of atheism.   It’s a breeder interview, Jim, but not as we know it.    “I don’t think along conventional lines, and I hate following the herd,” says O’Connor when it is put to him that he’s not all that much like other mare owners.   “It’s the same when it comes to breeding. I do what I believe will create an equine athlete. I think more about what will produce an athlete than what will hit in the sales ring, probably to my cost.”   Good Morning Bloodstock endorses free thinking like that. After all, it was by being unorthodox that the likes of Boussac, Tesio and Bolger helped shape the breed.   For that reason, don’t be surprised when O’Connor features in the email for a fifth time – perhaps for an update on those Tosen Stardom foals.

Outsmarted them again . Great drive on Rubira 

I expected Merlin to be the best pacer in NZ this season, but his form has tapered right off. I'd place The Pub Party above DSD however. DSD largely disappointing other than his NZ Cup run for 2nd to Swayzee.  

The list is - The LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings for 3yos and upwards which raced between 1st January 2025 - 9th March 2025 - so it is a bit skewed but still quite an achievement for an owner breeder in NZ. Congratulations to them.

Ferguson would do 6 months for that drive on a 1.40 favourite in Australia. Only had to mooch around and sit parked to win that by lengths.

The list doesn't include Via Sistina or Mr Brightside who I thought would have been rated up there  

https://www.ifhaonline.org/resources/WTRRankings/LWBRR.asp?batch=128 link to the top 20

10th= with 9 others. Don't see why not? What else would you put above him?

Don't see why? You can either frame it as is knowing the market you are betting into or without them knowing the betting market (after known deductions) if you assume they will scratch. Can't see the problem. Same with scratchings in any other event.

10th best rated horse in the world? Really?