NEW champions were crowned at this week’s Mark O’Hanlon Memorial Racing Quiz in The Lord Bagenal Hotel, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, on Wednesday evening.

Just a day after the racing world was shocked by Constitution Hill’s underperformance, the defending champion quiz team of Bobby and Aidan O’Ryan, Ger Connolly and Ryan McElligott appeared to have been nobbled and finished out of the placings.

Taking their crown were the yound guns from Ballylinch Stud, who scored 96 out of 100, and they looked to have plenty more in the tank.

The team consisted of Declan Foy, Charles Weld, Eoin Fives and Shane Power. Ballylinch supremo John O’Connor was seen selling nominations in the bar afterwards.

Runners-up, beaten by just one point, were racing journalists Tyrone Molloy and Mark Costello who formed a last-minute team with Kieran Gleeson of Ardmore Equine Nutrition and local pre-trainer Brian O’Connor.

Over 30 teams took part and the question master was Jonathan Mullin of Horse Racing Ireland.

The quiz raised over €2,000 for the Graham Lee/Injured Jockeys Fund.

Here, with thanks to Joe Foley and Joey Cullen, are the 100 questions posed on the night. The answers are at the bottom.

Round One

1 Which jockey won the Dancing with the Stars trophy on RTÉ last year?

2 King Charles III’s first Royal Ascot winner was ridden by whom?

3 Which famous US racehorse was nicknamed Big Red?

4 Name the paternal grandsire of last year’s Prix du Jockey Club winner?

5 Brian Toomey’s first winner as a trainer was owned by which ex-football manager?

6 Which Irish racecourse recently received planning permission for a new all-weather track?

7 What’s the equine themed name of Wrexham’s football ground?

8 Which trainer has won six Kentucky Derbys but has been barred from having a runner in it for the last two years?

9 How many racetracks are British classics run on in a normal year?

10 Name the famous rock band whose lead guitarist won an ITBA small breeder award?

Round Two

1 When Regional won the Haydock Sprint Cup last September, which trainer did he provide with his first Group 1 winner?

2 Who are the two leading jump jockeys in Britain this season by number of winners?

3 Which current top chaser was named after a Scottish town but they spelt it incorrectly?

4 Alcohol Free is visiting which stallion this season?

5 Name last year’s Aintree Grand National winning jockey?

6 Which trainer had the Thyestes winner this year, 32 years after his father won it?

7 Which horse won the first race at last year’s Royal Ascot meeting?

8 Name the Cheltenham Grade 1-winning jockey who sold the 2020 Molecomb winner Steel Bull?

9 Jessie’s Dream was which trainer’s first Grade 1 winner?

10 Which actress rode National Velvet?

Round Three

1 Innocent Air was which stallion’s first stakes winner?

2 Multiple Punchestown winner Risk of Thunder was owned by which James Bond actor?

3 Which jockey was awarded an MBE recently?

4 Who was Ireland’s champion flat apprentice in 2023?

5 Which champion sprinter sired both the Cheltenham Festival Bumper winner and the French 2000 Guineas winner last year?

6 Which Ballon d’Or winner had a winner in Bahrain this month?

7 Graham Lee rode the winner of the Gold Cup at Ascot for which trainer?

8 The recently announced Gowran Classic to be run next June will carry how much prize money?

9 Name the ‘People’s Champion’ trained at Aughabeg, near Bagenalstown?

10 Dermot Weld has trained the last two Irish 1000 Guineas winners with which fillies?

Round Four

1 Which jockey announced his retirement last March having won 532 races and 39 Grade 1 winners including a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner?

2 Bred by Shadwell, sold at Tattersalls, the last French-trained 2000 Guineas winner at Newmarket, he sired a French Guineas winner in his first crop. Name him?

3 Name the famous stallion whose namesake were beaten in the recent Super Bowl?

4 Name the horse associated with this song lyric: “I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away”.

5 Aidan O’Brien’s 4,000th winner last autumn was named after which American poet?

6 Jockey Rossa Ryan is from which county?

7 Star Face is the dam of two chasers; one rated 174 and the other 170. Name them?

8 Which former apprentice prepared Breeders’ Cup winner Big Evs for the breeze-up sales before selling him to Mick Appleby?

9 Name the only horse to win the Irish, English and French Champion Hurdles in the same year?

10 Name Andrew Balding’s two English 2000 Guineas winners this decade?

Round Five

1 Which jockey got a 30-day ban for using Twitter on the eve of a big race ride - Damien Oliver or Christoph Lemaire?

2 How many races has Constitution Hill won - six, seven, eight or nine?

3 Which jumps trainer has run the most horses during the current British jumps season - Dan Skelton or Fergal O’Brien?

4 Who was named bloodstock agent of the year for 2023 by the Federation of Bloodstock Agents having been responsible for 10 Group or Grade 1 winners in that year?

5 Jena Antonnuci was the first female to train the winner of which classic last year?

6 According to the Guinness Book of Records, which English racetrack is the oldest still functioning course in the world - Chester or York?

7 How much is the Irish Stallion Farms EBF fund contributing to Irish prize money this year - €1.5 million or €3 million?

8 Which current high class NH racemare is named after a fishing port in Scotland?

9 Which consignor topped the recent Goffs February Sale - Baroda, Ballylinch or the Irish National Stud?

10 Hardy Eustace won the Goffs Land Rover bumper on his second start for which highly talented 3lb claiming amateur?

ROUND SIX - Name the trainers and jockeys in these photos, and the Group 1-winning stallion who has the same name as the person in the final photo.

Round Seven

1 Who trained Invincible Spirit?

2 Which part of a horsebox shares its name with a London airport?

3 Name the only British-trained winner at the 2024 Dublin Racing Festival?

4 Who is the current retained rider for Amo Racing?

5 Name the last colt and filly to win the British Triple Crown (including the fillies’ version)?

6 Which horse with a rating of 135 was officially the highest rated horse in the world last year?

7 The first two-year-old winner at Royal Ascot last year was bred in which county?

8 Which trainer, who trained his first stakes winner last year, is the grandson of a multiple championship-winning owner?

9 Shergar stood at which farm?

10 Who am I? Born in Waterford, the son of a trainer, I was champion apprentice in Ireland and the UK. I’ve won 25 Group 1 races including the British Champion Stakes three times.

Round Eight

1 Kitty Rose provided which trainer with their first stakes winner last year?

2 What was the name of the protest group who delayed the start of the Grand National last year?

3 Name the last trainer to win the Irish Derby having already won it as a jockey?

4 January 1st is the official birthdate of all horses born in the northern hemisphere but what is the corresponding date for horses born in the southern hemisphere?

5 Which Irish racetrack is also known as Powerstown Park?

6 Name the last Nunthorpe winner trained by a Tipperary man?

7 Caldwell Potter broke the record as the highest-priced National Hunt horse sold at public auction earlier this month but which horse held the record before him?

8 Which Irish trainer in 2014 trained both the King’s Stand and Jubilee Stakes winners at Royal Ascot?

9 Name the last Irish- bred Cheltenham Champion Hurdle winner?

10 At which racetrack will the 2024 Breeders’ Cup be held?

Round Nine

1 Two half-sisters topped the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale last November. Name them?

2 Which Kilkenny trainer won the last stakes race of the year at the Curragh in 2023?

3 Lady Beaverbrook was one of the top owners in Britain for many years. What did all her colts have in common?

4 Name Gavin Cromwell’s two Royal Ascot two-year-old winning fillies; one by Profitable and one by Expert Eye?

5 Name the South African and American jockeys who were champion flat jockeys in Britain?

6 Name the four Arc winners standing at stud in Ireland?

7 Name George Boughey’s two Group 1- winning fillies?

8 The owner/breeder of Flying Five Stakes winner Moss Tucker was an Irish international in which sport?

9 Which trainer bred the horse who has been the sire and the grandsire of two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners this century?

10 Frankel won at seven different tracks. Name them?

Round 10

1 The first three in the 2014 Group 1 Fillies’ Mile were Together Forever, Agnes Stewart and Winter’s Moon. Name the three Group 1-winning two-year-olds that they have bred?

2 Who sponsors the Galway Plate?

3 Richard Kingscote rode which two Group 1 winners for Sir Michael Stoute in 2022?

4 Mark Zahra has won the last two runnings of which famous race?

5 My father won an Irish classic; my mother won the Irish National. My grandfather won the Champion Hurdle as a jockey and a trainer and my uncle was a champion jockey too. I even managed to win an Irish classic myself last year too! Who am I?

6 Name the only runner in this year’s Irish Champion Hurdle not trained by Willie Mullins?

7 The last three Irish 2000 Guineas winners all initially retired to which studs this season?

8 The 2023 Epsom Derby winner is linked with the 1987 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner. Name both horses?

9 Which conditional rider won races at the Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown Festivals last spring?

10 The late great Maureen Mullins rode a winner in Gowran on her only ride on the track. Name the winning horse?

Answers

Round 1: Nina Carberry, Tom Marquand, Secretariat; Frankel; Harry Redknapp; Tipperary; The Racecourse; Bob Baffert; Three; The Rolling Stones

Round 2: Ed Bethell; Harry Cobden and Sean Bowen; Hewick; Frankel; Derek Fox; Henry de Bromhead; Triple Time; Andrew Lynch; Gordon Elliott; Elizabeth Taylor

Round 3: Galileo; Sean Connery; Rachael Blackmore; Jamie Powell; Muhaarar; Michael Owen; Ed Dunlop; €200,000; Danoli; Homeless Songs and Tahiyra

Round 4: Bryan Cooper; Makfi: Forty Niner; Givemethebeatboys: Henry Longfellow: Galway; Douvan and Jonbon; Mickey Cleere: Dawn Run; Kameko and Chaldean

Round 5: Christophe Lemaire; Eight; Dan Skelton; Anthony Bromley; Trained Belmont winner; Chester, €3m; Lossiemouth; Irish National Stud; Kevin O’Ryan

Round 6: Picture round - 1. Danny, Patrick and Emmet Mullins; 2.Dan Skelton, 3. Annemarie and Joe Crowley; 4. Harry Cobden; 5. Dylan Browne McMonagle; 6. Frankie Dettori 7. Conor O’Dwyer and Padraig Roche; 8. Billy Loughnane, 9. Alice Haynes, 10. Shaquille

Round 7: John Dunlop; Luton; Madara; David Egan; Nijinsky and Oh So Sharp; Equinox; Kildare (River Tiber, Pier House); Ollie Sangster; Ballymany Stud; Tom Queally

Round 8: Natalia Lupini; Animal Rising; Joseph O’Brien; August 1st; Clonmel; Highfield Princess; Interconnected; Eddie Lynam; Annie Power; Del Mar

Round 9: Alpha Centauri Alpine Star; Dick Donohoe; Seven letters in their name; Quick Suzy and Snellen; Michael Roberts and Steve Cauthen; Sottsass, Waldgeist, Workforce and, Sea The Stars; Cachet and Via Sistina; Rugby (Donal Spring); Jim Bolger (Sholokhov); Newmarket (Rowley), Newbury, Doncaster, Ascot, Newmarket (July), York, Goodwood

Round 10: City Of Troy, Fallen Angel, Earthlight; Tote; Desert Crown and Bay Bridge; Melbourne Cup; David Egan; Bob Olinger; Irish National (McSwiney) Kildangan (Native Trail) Coolmore (Paddington); Auguste Rodin and The Thinker; Ben Harvey; Razzo Forte