Quiz night

THE annual Mark O’Hanlon Racing and Breeding Table Quiz will take place at 8pm on Tuesday, February 19th in The Lord Bagenal Inn, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow.

Organised by Joe Foley of Ballyhane Stud, the night is a well-established social event attended by plenty of familiar faces from the track and sales circuits. Mark O’Hanlon worked for Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and died in 2015. Funds raised at this year’s event will go to Irish Injured Jockeys.

Shops to close

LADBROKES Coral is reportedly to close to up 1,000 of its 3,500 British betting shops on the back of the decision to cut maximum stakes on fixed odds betting terminals to £2. The Guardian claimed shop staff had been told to sign up as many customers as possible to online accounts if they wanted to avoid being among 5,000 employees being made redundant. It said redundancies “will be decided via a ranking system, with staff grouped by area and competing against each other on a range of criteria to escape the axe.”

Owner passes on

RACING lost a valuable friend with the recent passing of owner-breeder Bill Foley from Newbawn, Co Wexford.

At one time he had a large number of horses in training with Jim Gorman and in recent years he was an owner with Pat Flynn and Liz Doyle.

Penny’s Bill, winner of the Pierse Hurdle in January 2009 for Liz Doyle and Sean Flanagan, carried his colours.

Pat Flynn said: “Bill was an owner with us for the past five years and had success with Mademoiselle Penny, Sleepyhead and Rip’s Dream. His wife, Penny, had died before we got to know Bill and his own health wasn’t great for the past year.

“They have no children. Bill was a great sportsman and a very easy man to deal with.

“He was a great supporter of Irish racing.”