Boyz to entertain you; Boy band pack them in after racing - and there's more linking them to the sport.

Byline: Tony Smurthwaite

YOU can take the boy out of Boyzone, but you can't take Boyzone out of the boy.

"Two glasses of champagne and they are asking us to sign their nipples," says Keith Duffy, cruising his battered memory bank for a typical 'Newmarket Nights' audience.

It's quite an image, and one clearly savoured. But what haven't the boys from Boyzone seen? They've experienced the lust and the liquor of life as a boy band, confronted head on the brickbats and bouquets, the sweaty, panting admirers, the break-ups and reunions, the packed stadia and half-empty halls. And, as they advance into their 30s, recently being dubbed a 'naffer manband' than Take That. Ouch.

And still they go on. Last week they finished their third UK tour since ending a seven-year separation and, two hours before final curtain call at the O2 Arena in London, they look ready for a break.

"Stephen's tired," says Ronan as Stephen Gately heads for a hot tea with lots of ginger. "We're all pretty tired now and looking for a rest," says Mikey, as Shane lays out on a dressing-room easy chair looking, beneath dark glasses, fingernails varnished black and tumult of tattoos, decidedly knackered.

Such is life for Dublin's famous five.

They retain the ability to make audiences swoon 15 years on from unbuttoning a torrent of hormones that is still at least a half-convincing tributary after 16 consecutive top five hits, six number one singles, four number one albums and the small matter of 20 million record sales.

With the serious stuff of the UK tour now over, it's time for something completely different, such as a first taste of Cork's Marquee last night.

Then Sandown on August 6 and Newmarket eight nights later offer racegoers the chance to get a proper look at a gang of legends who, if still too cheesy for some palates, are now more Roquefort than the Dairylea slices of old. For the Boyzone boys, such outdoor oddities tagged on to the end of a raceday are as much a workout as a way to have fun.

"It's a proper challenge," says Ronan. "You have to accept there are a lot of people at the racecourse gigs who wouldn't necessarily be your fans. They are racefans and they decide after a few drinks to hang out and see what's what. So you can sometimes get a different sort of reaction to a crowd that has bought the tickets to come and see you, but I love winning people over.

"You haven't got them in your hand and you have to really work for it, and that's nice. Some of them are properly pissed." Ah, yes. The beers. Shane it was who famously claimed the boys "hadn't slept for two weeks" in November due to partying too hard and reportedly getting involved in a late-night punch-up in Sydney. For all that, the Boyzone brand has remained incredibly durable in the face of flak from a music industry ready to pan them for putting cash and cover versions before creativity.

Mikey admits their audience these days is "nine to ninety" when it was once nubile. "Boyzone is what it is," he adds, knowingly. "I am nearly 37 now and at 21 I thought I knew everything. I was determined and self-indulgent in what I listened to, but approaching 37 I am more compromising.

"If someone had told me at 21 that my music was a product, I would have went through them for a short cut. I now understand that it has to be a product." Mikey could be the pop world's Michael Owen. Mad keen on the horses but anxious to show he can still cut it in the world that created him.

Yet there's no doubting the former mechanic has horses on his mind.

"Breeding is what I'm going into," Mikey adds. "I have a granddaughter of Sadler's Wells. She was a gift horse.

I was buying an event horse and this lady had another that she was trying to get rid of. She was a bit shabby looking but you know the saying, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I call her Lola and Lola's Dream is the name we would register for her." Have we a budding John Magnier here? "Well, I'm certainly heading that way. I have a huge interest in the animals, and in bloodstock. My dream job after Boyzone would be to run a stud farm. That is where I'll be going.

" I have a way with horses, I just watch them. I watch the character of the horse, they're like humans. You can read them and see if you can bring them on. I get a real kick out of that. My father- in- law is Italian, a great horseman. He was a stuntman in Rome in all the old movies, Ben Hur and that kind of stuff. Together we look after the horses." I T'S clear that Shane will take a bit more convincing about the racing game, although he clearly loves an adrenaline rush. His buzz comes from drifting, a derivative of Formula One "but sideways at 140mph", and which has taken him to Las Vegas this week to compete.

"I know nothing about the racing game," he confesses. "Absolutely nothing." Stephen, in contrast, has a pedigree, if not in an immediate hurry to go racing. "My uncle was a jockey,"

he ventures between text messages.

"He rode a few winners and rode in the Grand National. He actually died when he fell off a horse." It's clear the boys have a gig on their mind. The last in the tour. Two hours of singing as prelude to a monster penthouse party.

The concert opens with the boys descending from the clouds on a conveyance that looks like a window cleaner's gantry. It judders slightly when hitting the stage. The 02 looks full. Middle-aged women forget themselves for a while.

At the centre of their desire is Ronan, a worldwide celebrity who retains that gleam in his eye. He may yet have more to savour after buying a yearling at the Goffs Million sale last autumn.

"The name I'm toying with at the minute is Credit Crunch," he says. "I think tongue-in-cheek names like that are great fun. I hope Fozzie Stack will train it and my good friend Frankie [Dettori] has said he'll ride it for me in the Goffs Million race..

Epsom, Thursday July 2 Status Quo Epsom, Thursday July 9 Bjorn Again Newbury, Friday July 10 Bjorn Again Hamilton, Saturday July 11 The X-Factor featuring Ruth/JLS and Diana Epsom, Thursday July 16 The Saturdays and Alesha Dixon Newmarket, Friday July 17 Pussycat Dolls Haydock, Saturday July 18 Bjorn Again Sandown, Wednesday July 22 Simply Red Doncaster, Thursday July 23 Status Quo Epsom, Thursday July 23 Scouting For Girls Newmarket, Friday July 24 Status Quo Carlisle, Sunday July 26 The X Factor featuring Ruth/Euoghan and Laura Sandown, Wednesday July 29 Pussycat Dolls Epsom, Thursday July 30 UB40 Newmarket, Friday July 31 Simply Red Sandown, Thursday August 6 Boyzone Newmarket, Friday August 7 Scouting For Girls Newmarket, Friday August 14 Boyzone Newbury, Saturday August 15 Simply Red Summer line-up of racecourse concerts Status Quo: rockin' all over the racecourses

Ronan Keating Favourite racehorse Rock Of Gibraltar Favourite racecourse Galway. I really enjoy it there and we've a tent for the Marie Keating Foundation there this year.

Favourite jockey or trainer Frankie Dettori. He is a real good pal. I've known him for probably ten years. We go on holiday to Dubai together with the kids.

Best-ever bet Galway last year. I won quite a few pounds on My Valley (at 10-1).

Worst-ever bet Sizing Asia, 6.30 at Newton Abbot (tip from photographer Edward Whitaker - it lost).

If you were a racehorse who would you be? I would be in John Magnier's stud or Godolphin. The way they get looked after is unbelievable. Electrocutionist maybe.

What puts you off going racing? Nothing. I love racing, it's a great day out.

What would be your ideal job in racing? It would have to be an owner.

What's the secret to enticing the Newmarket nights crowd back to the races? We have rammed it every year and I know it has sold well again this year.

There are a certain number of people there for the racing and some would come for us that are not necessarily racegoers, and I think it's great that you can get crossover like that. That's the whole idea, and they are about to do it in Formula One. That's a big step, to have bands play at every event on a Sunday evening.

Mikey Graham Favourite racehorse Sadler's Wells Favourite racecourse Newmarket Favourite jockey or trainer Lester Piggott Best-ever bet I don't remember the name of the horse but it was in the Grand National and I got 40-1 and I had pounds 20 on.

Worst-ever bet One day down in Ireland, when nothing came home for me and over the course of the day I lost about pounds 500.

If you were a racehorse who would it be and why? Red Rum. He was fantastic.

What puts you off going racing? Very bad weather.

What would be your ideal job in racing after you have sung your last song? Stud manager - I'm serious about it - along with music producer.

What's the secret to enticing the Newmarket nights crowd back to the races? Let's just say the Boyzone fans get an adrenaline rush at a show. It's trying to convert their interest so they can receive that rush through horseracing as well.

Questionnaire We quiz two Boyzone members on their racing loves and hates

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Boyzone pictured by Post photographer Edward Whitaker moments before going on stage at the O2 Arena in London last week