Sportblog | The Guardian — Michael O'Leary RSS

Feb 05, 2020

Talking Horses: in defence of the Gigginstown racing operation

While some are sanguine about the planned withdrawal of Michael O’Leary, much can be said for his ownership vehicleThere was a certain amount of criticism by Talking Horses regulars of the O’Leary brothers, Michael and Eddie, when I raised the topic of Tiger Roll’s participation in the Grand National in this space last week. I can see the subject boiling up again on Tuesday, when the weights for the Aintree race are published and we find out what the O’Learys think about it.Evidently, there is a deal of resentment about the Gigginstown team applying pressure to the handicapper through occasional public announcements that their great little horse might not actually turn up in April. Some appear to see the O’Leary...

May 15, 2019

Talking Horses: O'Leary exit is biggest blow for jump racing in decades

The loss of one of the biggest owners in the game is arguably the first truly significant setback for National Hunt racing since its bandwagon started to roll in the mid-80sToo big, some said of Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud racing operation. Too powerful, too all-pervasive, a threat to the spectacle and the competitiveness of the game. Well, over the course of the next five years, we will all come to discover what an O’Leary-less jumping game looks like and his detractors may well end up concluding that you need to be careful what you wish for.Few who follows the sport closely, in Ireland above all, will not have seen several races over the last couple of years which looked a...