APOB article from todays Irish Times

My, what a wordsmith - very flowery, lyrical stuff, but it paints a fascinating portrait of AOB, who sounds as if he's on an almost existential plane. A curious life in some ways - if he weren't married with children, almost a monkish existence with just the horses, always the horses, instead of prayer. I get the sense of someone living very much in the here and now, in a narrow world but happily confined by it, not interested even in the fame the horses have brought, but in the minutiae of their lives. Certainly incredibly modest - I love the remark about not feeling he knows more than anyone else, because then he can't learn from them. Not putting up false barriers of superiority in any way at all, with anyone. And as for the care and Ritz Hotel-like attention to the animals - you know what - I can't wait to pop off and come back as the next bright 2 y.o. at the stables!
 
Thanks for the link - interesting indeed.

I wonder how readily Ballydoyle staff criticize AOB though.

It sounds as if Yeats is trying to tell them something - like maybe he's more than ready, willing and able to move over to Coolmore and different duties. :)
 
My last horse used to do exactly that with the tongue trick inc when he was a 2yr old - it was his idea of a joke! Yeats is a racehorse - and has given no indication yet that he's tired of racing. Great link, thanks
 
Crimplene's brother, Dutch Gold, also used to do it although he didn't bite afterwards! Some horses seem to like it.

Fascinating read though.
 
Cheers Luke.

I enjoyed the Aidan O'Brien quotes very much, and are quite illuminating.

The 'journalist' is nothing of the sort, and shouldn't be let near what is usually a very fine paper.
 
Hamm said:
Cheers Luke.

I enjoyed the Aidan O'Brien quotes very much, and are quite illuminating.

The 'journalist' is nothing of the sort, and shouldn't be let near what is usually a very fine paper.
Click to expand...

Maybe I misunderstood but if your suggesting Tom Humphries is a a bad journalist your in a very small minority.:confused:
 
I find his writing in that article embarassing.

I don't buy the Irish Times much anymore (can't get it where I am), and I don't have the same opinions of their writers as I do, say for the Guardian or Telegraph.

I'm more than happy to be in the minority.

I would have liked an article of that length and one which conerned so many interesting areas of AOB's life to be written and conducted by a better journalist.
 
One thing to slightly bugs me about the Irish Times when I'm back in Ireland - why do they use the Guardian for a lot of sporting articles? I buy the Guardian whenever possible (including paying €5 for it twice a week at the moment) and it's frustrating to see so much overlap. Cost efficiencies I presume?
 
No idea, I don't get much time to read the papers these days but when I do it's the Irish Times or the Irish Field. Haven't bought the racing Post in ages........different thread I think....
 
Always assumed it was a cost issue too. Read their Saturday sports pages every week and can't ever remember them not using it. Makes sense really.
 
Hamm said:
I find his writing in that article embarassing.

I don't buy the Irish Times much anymore (can't get it where I am), and I don't have the same opinions of their writers as I do, say for the Guardian or Telegraph.

I'm more than happy to be in the minority.

I would have liked an article of that length and one which conerned so many interesting areas of AOB's life to be written and conducted by a better journalist.
Click to expand...

A little harsh, but a bit Mills and Boon for my taste also. I would have like to have seen the author coax a little of the complex relationship between him and his paymasters in the shape of the Mafioso (Magnier/Tabor and associates). Not many Nationals would afford the author the luxury to witter on as he has, although at least a part of me is glad that they did. There is some endearing homespun wisdom here despite being overly long and slack.
 
In relation to the Times using the Guardian, it's just plain and simple economics. Could any Irish newspaper afford to have journalists at every single press conference in England, every Premier League match, every rugby international not involving Ireland, and so on....of course not. It's just a by product of being a small country - the majority of copy in most Irish newspapers comes from their English parent paper or from whatever paper they have a deal with - the Guardian in the case of the Times. It's as simple as that; once there remains such a massive demand for English/foreign sports - and of course there always will be - then that will be the case.
 
Tom Humphries would be one of my favourite sports journalists(obviously racing isn't his speciality).There is nothing like winning a big G.A.A. match waking up the next morning with a stinking hangover,giving work a miss and settling down to read Toms verdict on the match.
 
Back
Top