| Ballad of the Irish Horse | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Recorded | Windmill Lane, Dublin, Ireland | |||
| Genre | Celtic | |||
| Label | Claddagh Records | |||
| Producer | Paddy Moloney | |||
| The Chieftains chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Ballad of the Irish Horse is an album released by the Irish musical group The Chieftains in 1986. The album serves as the soundtrack for a National Geographic documentary, The Ballad of the Irish Horse, which documented the history and tradition of horses in Ireland. [2]
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in the UK and steeplechasing in the US. Jump racing can be further divided into hurdling and steeplechasing.
The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous with traditional Irish music. They are regarded as having helped popularise Irish music around the world. They have won six Grammy Awards during their career and they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Some music experts have credited The Chieftains with bringing traditional Irish music to a worldwide audience, so much so that the Irish government awarded them the honorary title of 'Ireland's Musical Ambassadors' in 1989.
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK, the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Galway Races is an Irish horse-racing festival that starts on the last Monday of July every year. Held at Ballybrit Racecourse in Galway, Ireland over seven days, it is one of the longest of all the race meets that occur in Ireland.
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. It usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day and is particularly popular with Irish visitors.
Best Mate was an Irish-bred, English-trained racehorse and three-time winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was a popular horse, and his sudden death while racing made front-page news.
Rupert "Ruby" Walsh is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time, Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.
Skewball was the name of an 18th-century British racehorse, most famous as the subject of a broadsheet ballad and folk-song.
A point-to-point is a form of horse racing over fences for hunting horses and amateur riders. In Ireland, where the sport is open to licensed professional trainers, many of the horses will appear in these races before they compete in National Hunt races. Consequently, the Irish point-to-point tends to be used as a nursery for future young stars: a horse that wins its debut point-to-point in Ireland will often sell for a high price. Whilst professional trainers are specifically excluded from running horses in point-to-points in Great Britain, the days of the farmer running his hunter at the local point-to-point are gone.. Increasingly, horses are run from "livery yards" - unlicensed but otherwise professional training establishments, sometimes closely allied with a licensed yard.
A hurdle race in Great Britain and Ireland is a National Hunt horse race where the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles or flights that are over three and a half feet high. They are typically made of a series of panels made of brush and are flexible. Hurdle races always have a minimum of eight hurdles and a minimum distance of two miles (3.2 km).
A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles. Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia, and France. The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside.
Tears of Stone is an album by the Chieftains, released in 1999. Each track features a different female guest artist or group, with the exception of Jim Corr of the Corrs, Jimmy and John of the Rankins and longtime Bonnie Raitt bassist James Hutchinson. Guests are listed below in parentheses.
"I'll Tell Me Ma" is a traditional children's song. It was collected in various parts of the United Kingdom in the 19th century and again appears in collections from shortly after the turn of the 20th century. In Ireland, especially within Ulster, the chorus usually refers to Belfast city and is known colloquially as "The Belle of Belfast City", although it is also adapted to other Irish cities, such as Dublin. Other versions refer to the "Golden City" or "London City". This song is Roud Folk Song Index number 2649.
The Chieftains 9: Boil the Breakfast Early is an Irish folk album by The Chieftains. This album featured a big change in The Chieftains sound, because two of the founding members, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy, had left the group. The replacement for Tubridy was Matt Molloy, who had just been a member for both The Bothy Band and Planxty.
The 2002 Epsom Derby was a horse race which took place at Epsom Downs on Saturday 8 June 2002. It was the 223rd running of the Derby, and it was won by High Chaparral. The winner was ridden by Johnny Murtagh and trained by Aidan O'Brien. The pre-race favourite Hawk Wing finished second.
Pat of Mullingar is an Irish rebel song has been sung and recorded by several folk artists and groups, including the Irish Rovers, Derek Warfield, and The Wolfe Tones. The initial rendition of the song typically featured a portrayal of an Irish carman praising the exceptional attributes of his horse.
A sporting song is a folk song which celebrates fox hunting, horse racing, gambling and other recreations.
"The Ballad of East and West" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologized since.
"The Galway Races" is a traditional Irish song. The song's narrator is attending the eponymous annual event in Galway, a city in the west of Ireland. The song was made famous in the UK in 1967 by The Dubliners.
The Essential Chieftains is a career-spanning greatest hits album by The Chieftains first released in 2006. It is part of the ongoing 'The Essential' Sony BMG compilation series, their last release for RCA ending a 20-year history since signing with the label in 1986.
