Tom Court on his Lions memories, making a return in red and how much he misses rugby and Ireland
It seems short-sighted to reduce Tom Court's 44 years to just one engaging yarn when so many colourful tales have shaped his journey to this point.
Like how his maternal Irish bloodline ended up on the other side of the world in the first place. How his Catholic grandfather, Patrick Carey, from Limerick, fought for the British Navy in World War II before moving to England with his wife from Clare, working in a brewery in Burton-on-Trent only to then up sticks once more to become a sugar cane cutter in Australia.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
10 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Pádraig Harrington wins Senior Open to join double club
Pádraig Harrington has joined a select club who have won both the Open Championship and its senior equivalent, after completing victory at Sunningdale on Sunday. A -3 final round gave Harrington a three-shot win from Justin Leonard in second, having led by two going into the final round. It's double only previously done by Darren Clarke, Tom Watson, Gary Player and Bob Charles. Harrington becomes the third Irish winner of the Senior event, after Clarke and the late Christy O'Connor Jnr, a two-time winner. Harrington won the Senior US Open last month, his second victory in the event. Report to follow
Irish Daily Mirror
40 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
The 10 golden rules of having a successful Galway Races
THE Galway Races is truly one of the most unique events on the Irish sporting calendar. 53 races over seven days it's a Mardi Gras or a 'sane madness' as once described and has been a fixture at the Ballybrit racetrack for 155 years. The €270,000 Tote Galway Plate and Guinness Galway Hurdle are the main events on Wednesday and Thursday and around 125,000 punters are expected through the gates. Many things have changed at Galway over the years, some for the better and some for the worse, but it remains a summer highlight and the quality of the racing has improved. I've been going to the Galway Races for over 25 years, and here's my ten golden rules of having an enjoyable and indeed profitable week, whether you're a paying customer or a stay at home punter. 1 - Follow the smaller trainers that target Galway. 2016 was a significant year at the Galway races as champion jumps handler Willie Mullins achieved the then unthinkable by wrestling the leading trainers' prize away from Dermot Weld for the first time in over 20 years. Since then Mullins has won the award every year but he doesn't win every race and there are many progressive yards who target this meeting and are worth following. Ross O'Sullivan left last year with four winners from his six horses across the Festival and he'll have a strong team again with recent Tipperary winner Strong Link likely to go for a race on Thursday. Other trainers with good recent records are Ado McGuinness, Emmet Mullins and Peter Fahey, who trained four winners at the meeting in 2022 and 2023. 2 - A wide draw in the flat races can be curtains Galway is a sharp track with a relatively short uphill home straight and some horses drawn wide can nearly be ruled out of a race before it even begins. A low draw is a massive positive for horses in the contests run over seven furlongs and a mile as it helps jockeys get a good early position at a track where being prominent is crucial. The statistics show that winning from a high draw is tough to achieve. In the day two feature, the Colm Quinn Mile, last year's winner Mexicali Rose was drawn in stall one while the Corrib Stakes winner over 7f came from stall 5. Horses can win by being drawn wide but you're at a disadvantage before the race begins. 3 - Huge priced winners have been common in recent years. There are, incredibly, over fifty races over the seven days at the Galway Races and they won't all be won by the fancied horses. Ladies Day punters went home stunned 12 months ago when Brave Crogha became the Festival's biggest priced winner ever when winning the Bumper at odds of 200-1. It ended a five-year drought for local trainer Iggy Madden and was the longest priced bumper winner in Ireland or the UK since records began. There were also two 50-1 winners. Sirius in the opening day feature and Bessie Abbot giving Wesley Joyce a welcome return to the venue where he almost lost his life. Racegoers attempt to shield themselves from the rain during The Galway Races Summer Festival (Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire) 4 - Horses for courses Galway's undulations and twists and turns aren't for every horse and keeping an eye on animals with course form is a shrewd route to success. Jesse Evans is a fascinating runner this week. Noel Meade's gelding has finished second twice in the Galway Hurdle and was fourth in 2021. He won a Beginners' Chase here last year and holds entries for both the Plate and Hurdle. The Emmet Mullins-trained Teed Up has incredibly appeared eight times at Galway — winning three times and finishing second three times too. He's entered in the Boylesports Handicap Hurdle on Saturday. Sylkie, trained by Danny Howard, has posted three career successes with all three coming at Ballybrit. One of those wins was at last year's Galway Festival, in an extended mile handicap, and Howard is hoping Sylkie can repeat the feat this year. 5 - Back the Mee-owned horses It's no secret that horses owned by Galway natives, Pearse and Annette Mee, always demand close inspection at Galway. Mee is a software engineer, whose fortune was estimated at €139 million by the Sunday Times Rich List in the past, and the couple adore Ballybrit like nowhere else. Their green and purple silks have been in the winners' enclosure dozens of times in the past decade for trainers like Emmet and Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead. As mentioned above Teed Up is a regular here while other Mee owned horses to watch for are Arctic Gale, Sea Music, Enfranchise and Toll Stone — who ran a very good race in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November. 6 - Pace your punting Having a bet in all 53 races is definitely not recommended and some races are best left alone for punting purposes, the 7f Handicaps in particular. Punters need to be disciplined and patient and not be afraid to change their mind due to changing ground conditions or stable form or the draw. JP McManus' pre-Cheltenham advice is worth another look. He said: 'I have a more considered approach now. I used to have my mind made up about things. That's dangerous. When you have your mind made up, it means you can't change your mind. These days I would delay making a decision until one has to be made. A view of the crowds during the races (Image: ©INPHO/Tom Maher) 7 - Back Willie Mullins' runners in the Amateur Handicap on Monday Willie Mullins has a special relationship with Galway, his uncle Luke was manager for many years and he rode plenty of winners there himself, including the Amateur Handicap 40 years ago on Pargan. In more recent times he's dominated the opening night feature, winning it five times since 2017, interestingly with four different jockeys. Not many could have predicted David Dundsdon winning at 50-1 last year but Too Bossy For us looks very interesting for Closutton this year. The 330,000gns purchase was second on the flat at the Curragh on Derby weekend and was a useful hurdler last term, making the frame behind Lulamba at Punchestown and running well in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. 8 — Classy horses now win the Galway Plate The Galway Plate is no longer a race for good summer jumpers. The days of horses like Sir Frederick winning off a mark of just 126 appear to be long gone. A mammoth prize-fund of €270,000 has made the big boys send the heavy artillery and 2022 Plate hero Hewick went on to win a King George at Kempton Balko Des Flos went on to capture the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham. Other recent winners like Carlingford Lough and Road To Riches went on to win big winter Grade 1 contests while 2016 Grand National winner Rule The World would have went very close in the 2015 Plate only for slipping up in the dip. Runners and riders during the 2023 Galway Hurdle (Image: ©INPHO/Tom Maher) 9 - Watch the the traffic It may seem obvious but Galway's weather patterns are increasingly unpredictable. It can go from summer sunshine to downpours in minutes and because the crowds are so big there's not much cover for punters who come unprepared. Bringing a brolly is the best tip anyone can get going to Ballybrit for the first time. Traffic in Galway is also horrendous, even outside race week. So leaving early should be part of everyone's plan. Even those that have spent months preparing their outfits. For those who can't afford a helicopter, the shuttle buses in and out of Eyre Square are a usually reliable service and much cheaper than a taxi. 10 - Go racing Monday or Tuesday night The Monday and Tuesday night at Galway are two of the most enjoyable race meetings of the year and well worth checking out for any first time visitor. They usually have a more gentle and relaxed atmosphere than the madness of Ladies Day or the Friday night and the crowd is usually a bit older. There is a bit more room in some of Galways's great pubs like Tigh Neachtain or Taaffe's apres racing and there's time for a nice lie-in the next morning too.
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Oscar Piastri holds off Lando Norris to win rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix and extend championship lead
Lando Norris' world championship bid was dealt a blow in Belgium after he allowed rival Oscar Piastri to breeze past him and win Sunday's rain-hit Grand Prix race. The start of the 13th round in Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by one hour and 20 minutes due to heavy rain in the Ardennes. But when it eventually got under way - following four precautionary laps behind the safety car - Norris was found wanting when a sloppy exit at the opening La Source corner provided Piastri with a race-winning opportunity too good to turn down. Despite being in Norris' spray, Piastri held his nerve and kept his foot on the accelerator at 170mph up through Eau Rouge and into Raidillon before jinking to his left and sailing clear of his McLaren team-mate on the Kemmel Straight. It was brave and superb in equal measure from Piastri but one Norris will be disappointed after seeing the his rival's championship advantage increase from nine points to 16 ahead of the final round before the summer break in Hungary next weekend. Norris crossed the line 3.4 seconds behind Piastri with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished fourth, one place clear of Mercedes driver George Russell with Alex Albon an impressive sixth in his Williams. Lewis Hamilton started 18th and finished seventh following a string of fine moves in the early inclement conditions. At one point, there were fears the race - initially pencilled in for a start time of 3pm locally (2pm Irish time) - could be abandoned after it was suspended following the formation lap due to poor visibility. Verstappen described the decision as "silly" and "too cautious". However, there have been 49 fatalities at this track in the last 100 years - most recently Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023. And race director Rui Marques could be excused for taking that grizzly statistic into his consideration. The drivers returned to their respective garages, and as the rain lashed down, memories were cast back to the event in 2021 - one which was abandoned after only two laps behind the safety car. But the grey skies parted, the sun broke through, and at 16:20, pole-sitter Norris emerged on track, albeit behind the safety car, to huge cheers from the record-breaking crowd with 389,000 spectators over the last three days. With visibility quickly improving, the safety car peeled in after four laps, and Norris bunched up the pack before attempting to put distance between himself and Piastri. The advantage was in Norris's hands with Piastri having to navigate his team-mate's spray. But a scrappy exit at La Source from the British driver provided Piastri with the momentum and he soared past Norris and into the lead. Piastri was 1.5 seconds quicker than Norris on the first racing lap leaving the Englishman - who arrived here hoping to claim a hat-trick of wins - facing a mammoth and improbable task. Further back and Hamilton, armed with a new engine, passed both Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto in only a handful of corners before breezing clear of Nico Hulkenberg on lap eight for 14th. That became 13th a lap later following a fine move on Pierre Gasly. On lap 11, Hamilton, who had described his Q1 elimination on Saturday as "unacceptable", was then the first of the major players to move to the slick tyres. A slingshot manouvere on Liam Lawson in the moments after he left the pits promoted him to a net seventh when it all shook out. In came leader Piastri for dry tyres on lap 12, with Norris in on the next lap. Norris took on the hardest tyre compound - the only driver to do so - in the hope that Piastri's medium rubber would not make it to the end. But in a blow to Norris, Piastri's rubber lasted all 44 laps as he claimed his sixth win of the season - two more than Norris - with the championship momentum swinging back to Australia.
