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Parish Hall (foaled 7 February 2009) is an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred, owned and trained by the Bolger family he won one of his first four starts as a two-year-old in 2011 before recording an upset victory in the Group races Dewhurst Stakes. He was regarded as a serious contender for the 2012 Epsom Derby but sustained a serious leg injury in the spring and missed the whole of his second season. He returned to the track in 2014 and in the next three seasons he proved himself to be a consistent middle-distance performer although slightly below top class. He won the Alleged Stakes and the Diamond Stakes in 2013, the Meld Stakes in 2014 and a second Alleged Stakes in 2015. Apart from his victories he was placed in numerous good races including the Tyros Stakes, Futurity Stakes, Mooresbridge Stakes (three times), International Stakes (twice), Royal Whip Stakes, Cumberland Lodge Stakes and Silver Stakes.
Like his sire, Parish Hall was trained by Bolger in County Carlow and raced in the colours of Bolger's wife Jackie. He was ridden in all but one of his races by Kevin Manning.
After a three-month break Parish Hall was stepped up in class for the Group race Tyros Stakes at Leopardstown on 21 July and finished second to the filly Remember Alexander. Just over two weeks later he was promoted in class again and started a 14/1 outsider for the Group One Phoenix Stakes over six furlongs at the Curragh. He was among the leaders approaching the last quarter mile but the faded from contention and finished eighth behind La Collina, a filly who won by a neck from the favoured Power. In the Group Two Futurity Stakes over seven furlongs at the same track on 20 August he stayed on in the closing stages without looking likely to win and finished second, one and three quarter lengths behind the winner Dragon Pulse.
On his final run of the year, Parish Hall was sent to England for the Group One Dewhurst Stakes over seven furlong at Newmarket Racecourse and started the 20/1 eighth choice in a nine-runner field. Power, having beaten Dragon Pulse in the National Stakes, was made the 15/8 favourite ahead of Bronterre (Stardom Stakes) whilst the other fancied runners included Most Improved, Trumpet Major (Champagne Stakes) and Red Duke (Superlative Stakes). The outsider Spiritual Star set the pace, with Manning settling Parish Hall just behind the leader before going to the front approaching the final furlong. He held off several challengers in the closing stages before prevailing by half a length from Power, with Most Improved, Bronterre and Trumpet Major finishing close behind. After the race Bolger who was winning the race for the fourth time said "The ground is the key to this horse and, on good ground, I thought we had a serious chance. He is right there with his father – there's no doubt he's in that league. I think this fella's chance of staying a mile and a half is at least as good as New Approach had. He is a very sound horse, so I would be looking at him as an Epsom Derby horse."
After a four-month absence Parish Hall returned in the Irish Champion Stakes on 7 September in which he started a 33/1 outsider and finished fourth behind The Fugue, Al Kazeem and Trading Leather. In October the colt was dropped in class for the Group Three Diamond Stakes on the Polytrack surface at Dundalk Racecourse and started second favourite behind the Aidan O'Brien-trained Alfonso de Sousa. After racing in third place he overtook the favourite approaching the final furlong and won "comfortably" by one and a quarter lengths from the three-year-old Manalapan. The colt ended the year with a trip to England to contest the Champion Stakes at Ascot Racecourse on 19 October. Starting a 50/1 outsider he was in contention for most of the way and was still in third place in entering the straight but faded badly in the closing stages and finished ninth of the ten runners behind Farhh.
In August Parish Hall started favourite for the Royal Whip Stakes at the Curragh but finished third behind Hall of Mirrors and Kingsbarns. In the following month he was dropped back in distance for the Clipper Boomerang Mile at Leopardstown and finished sixth of the eight runners. In October he contested the Cumberland Lodge Stakes over one and a half miles at Ascot and produced one of his best performance. After racing in last place for most of the way he produced a strong late run and failed by only a neck to peg back Pether's Moon with Encke taking third place. Parish Hall ended his season with an appearance at Sha Tin Racecourse in December, making little impact as he finished eleventh to Flintshire in the Hong Kong Vase.
In May Parish Hall was placed for the third successive year in the Mooresbridge Stakes as he finished second to Fascinating Rock and then came home fifth of the six runners behind Al Kazeem in the Group One Tattersalls Gold Cup. On 7 June Parish Hall started odds-on favourite for the Listed Silver Stakes at the Curragh but was beaten a neck by the Dermot Weld-trained three-year-old Postulation. An unusual feature of the race was that Parish Hall lunged at his younger rival and attempted to bite him in the final strides. On his final racecourse appearance three weeks later Parish Hall finished second to the British-trained Air Pilot in the International Stakes at the Curragh.
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