Tag: Ado McGuinness

‘We Breed Them Tough Here’ – Marnane Brews Up A Storm At Bansha BBQ

Dozens of flights were cancelled, 34,000 homes were left without power, roads were closed due to fallen trees and race meetings were lost as Storm Kathleen raged across Ireland.

Only Con Marnane could organise a BBQ in the middle of one of the worst storms the country has faced in months and it be deemed a success.

The plan to stage Saturday's open morning at Bansha House Stables was first hatched when the Marnane family visited the Magic Millions Sale in Australia and, despite the weather in Tipperary, Con couldn't have been happier with how the idea was recieved by buyers and racing fans alike. 

He said, “We're absolutely thrilled with how the day went. Weather-wise, it was the worst day we've had all year. People were ringing me at seven o'clock this morning wondering if it was going to go ahead or not but I told them that they are bred tough down here. We had about 500 people here this morning and, while the weather was horrendous, we had a lovely time.”

Marnane added, “I was at the Magic Millions Sale in January and they looked after us so well over there–I was blown away by the generosity of the sales company. I said to myself when I came home that we are not doing enough to promote our own industry here which is why I decided to have an open day with a nice BBQ and drink for whoever wanted to visit us. About 20 people–agents and trainers–came over from England and I very much appreciate them giving us their time.”

John and Sean Quinn, Dylan Cunha, Jamie Piggott and Jeremy Brummit are just a few of those who made the trip across the Irish Sea. It was actually the latter, who, in showering Marnane with praise, said, “It's just a pity more British trainers didn't make the trip to see how it's done because the majority of people with a training licence in Britain wouldn't have been able to pull off what Con has done today. It's a bloody credit to him.”

South African native Cunha was happy to have returned to the man who provided him with his big hope for the season. The Newmarket-based handler's El Bufalo (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) was led out unsold at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale by Marnane's Bansha House Stables 12 months ago at 22,000gns. Fast forward to this spring, and the Wolverhampton maiden winner holds an entry for the 2,000 Guineas, albeit he is a 100-1 shot for the early-season Classic. 

Cunha explained, “We bought El Bufalo from Bansha House last year. It's a very good farm. El Bufalo is still in the Guineas and is a horse we like a lot. We got a nice Ten Sovereigns from Con and he is very nice as well. We bought three horses from the breeze-ups last year and they have all done well so we're hoping to buy more this year.”

The trainer continued, “We don't have a big owner behind us so we are trying to find value. Basically, we don't look at the times. We just look for the ones who move nicely. We have to be shrewd–El Buffalo hung in his breeze because he cut his mouth. But we liked how he moved and we ended up buying him pretty cheaply. Hopefully we can find another.”

Cunha was not the only man returning to Marnane in search of more big-race riches. Trainer Ado McGuinness, who snapped up Rush Queen (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) and Tiger Belle (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) from Marnane last year, was busy scouting the barns.

Meanwhile, bloodstock agent Hubie de Burgh, who looks after the interests of Bronson Racing, the buyer of Givemethebeatboys (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}), was also making the most of the occasion. 

De Burgh said, “Con is the best in the business at this sort of thing. But, at the end of the day, the results speak for themselves and buyers will return to a place that is having results on the track. We've been working with Con for years and he just keeps coming up with good horses.”

He added, “What's also so impressive about Con is, he doesn't have success by buying a lovely Dubawi (Ire) or something, he does it by going out and buying a bloody good-looking horse by a lesser stallion. We're involved in some small little way with Givemethebeatboys but how on earth did Con buy that horse for what he did as a yearling? I have no idea.

“Not only that but, we're down here in the middle of a hurricane, and not one of those young horses looked like they were going to buck their rider off. I don't know how he does it but it's just pure professionalism and the horses are a credit to him. Long may it last.”

McGuinness was similarly impressed by the professionalism on show, describing the four or five lots of two-year-olds that were put through their paces as “similar to old handicappers” given how not one of the youngsters as much as turned a hair.

But we'd all be kidding ourselves if we came away from the morning without acknowledging the huge degree of poignancy in the air given it is just five months since Theresa, Con's wife, passed away aged 61.

McGuinness said, “We've dealt with Con these past few years and have been successful. When you get results working with somebody, you're always more likely to come back. He's just a great guy.

“Man, he hasn't had an easy year but he's just a top-class man. To be able to pull this all together given what they have all been through in the past few months is incredible. Fair play to them.”

 

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Kavanagh: ‘I Agree With Johnny – We Can’t Rest On Our Laurels With Prize-Money’

Brian Kavanagh has said that he agrees completely with Johnny Murtagh's assertion that Ireland should not be “resting on its laurels” when it comes to prize-money while Irish Racehorse Trainers Association [IRTA] chief Ryan McElligott expressed a wish that the Curragh boss's decision to up the minimum prize fund at the track to €20,000 could stir up similar change among other racecourses. 

Leopardstown, Ireland's only other Group 1 Flat track, has followed the Curragh's lead in raising its basement prize-money levels to €15,000. However, leading trainers Joseph O'Brien and Ado McGuinness echoed Murtagh's point that prize-money needs to rise at every level in order to keep the higher-class horses in training in Ireland. 

O'Brien said, “We are very lucky in Ireland to have the prize-money levels that we have and to have a government that appreciates our industry. Going forward, we have to be sure that the owners in Ireland–as they do now–want to continue to race their high-class horses in Ireland. “The fundamental thing, when encouraging people to breed and race in Ireland, is to have attractive levels of prize-money. At the moment, we are very lucky to have good prize-money but it could be better, and it is something that everyone has to be very conscious of going forward.”

He added, “We need to encourage owners to race horses in Ireland for their two- and three-year-old careers at a minimum. As the horses get older, they can compete on the international stage. The best way to encourage that is by increasing the prize-money levels across the board domestically. There are good incentives, like the Ballyhane Stakes for example, and there are other target races out there, but we need more of them. We need valuable races to encourage people to keep their Listed/Group 3 horses here and racing for longer. It is prize-money that drives investment in the industry which trickles all the way back down to trainers, jockeys, work riders, farriers and everyone else who is employed within the industry.”

When announcing that no race at the Curragh would be contested for less than €20,000 this season, former Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Kavanagh referenced how the money generated from World Pool helped drive extra income which was then regenerated into prize-money at the track. 

It is speculated that the gross revenue generated from World Pool is €500,000 per fixture. That figure is split roughly 70-30 between the racecourse in question and the Tote. 

Joseph O'Brien: says he was forced to trade a lot of his Classic prospects | Tattersalls

Kavanagh commented, “We would put a priority on prize-money and would like to do more going forward. This year, we've grown our prize-money from €14.2m to €15.3m for the year. We've upped a couple of the Group 1 races as well-the Tattersalls Gold Cup goes up from €450,000 to €500,000 and the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes will go for €300,000 to €350,000. But across the board, we have tried to increase the prize-money. We try to ensure a sponsor for every race–that's our objective here–and that helps. 

“Also, we are putting some of our own resources here at the Curragh into driving prize-money forward. That has been well received but it's only a step in the right direction. We'd like to do more in the coming years on that front. The good thing about raising prize-money, it creates momentum. So, when we raise the minimum value of races, it has a knock-on effect on the next level and the next level after that.”

When asked if the extra income generated by World Pool was the main contributing factor to raising the minimum prize-money levels, Kavanagh responded, “It's a help. We generate media rights through a number of different sources and the World Pool has emerged in the past couple of years as a source. That is one of the areas where we draw our revenue from and that's how our media rights revenue has grown. Look, it's very simple from the Curragh's point of view, we see ourselves as the industry's racecourse. If we make money, it goes to either promoting events here, developing our facilities or driving prize-money. We will always want to offer competitive prize-money and we need to take an international view towards prize-money. If you look at other jurisdictions, we need to ensure our prize-money is competitive in comparison.”

The latest media rights deal for Irish racing is rumored to be worth roughly €250m over a five-year-period with around 80 per cent of the money said to be going directly to the racecourses. 

Only a handful of Irish racecourses have the luxury of being selected for World Pool races with Kavanagh outlining a hope that the number of races added to the international schedule can grow in future. 

“That's the objective,” he said. “That is dependent on legislation in Hong Kong in particular. They have had restrictions on the number of World Pool days that they can offer. Those restrictions have loosened slightly. Last year for example, we had the Irish Derby card, but this year we have added two races-the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Tattersalls Gold Cup-to the World Pool, so that is very welcome. 

“We will always work with the Hong Kong authorities and the UK Tote Group to drive that further but it is contingent on quality international racing and strong field sizes as well.”

While the raising of the minimum prize levels at the Curragh and Leopardstown was welcomed by IRTA members, it doesn't get away from the fact that many premier handicaps, listed and Group 3 races continue to be run for the same money-and in some cases less money-than over a decade previously. 

The Group 3 Park Express S. is a good example of that. Run for a total purse of €100,000 in 2007, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Brilliant (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) took home just €41,100.00 for winning the prize at Irish racing's HQ on the opening day of the season. The total prize on offer was €68,500.

IRTA boss Ryan McElligott | Tattersalls Ireland

McElligott said, “Prize-money is unquestionably a pressing concern for trainers throughout the country. There exists a substantial level of concern that prize-money levels have dropped off from the levels they were at in the first decade of this century. Admittedly, the fixture list has grown, and obviously more fixtures means that the slices of the cake gets smaller. As a major racing jurisdiction, we have to be able to present a prize-money schedule that is attractive to international owners and incentivises people to keep horses in training in Ireland. That is vital.”

He added, “The Curragh have taken the decision to put a minimum value on every race run at the track this season, which is commendable, and I would hope that this could lead to similar movement up and down the country.” 

McGuinness, one of the most upwardly mobile trainers in the country, was responsible for five of the 23 Irish-trained runners at Lingfield, Newcastle and Chelmsford on Good Friday. 

The second most successful trainer at Dundalk behind O'Brien throughout the past five years, McGuinness pointed to a lack of valuable end-of-season targets on home shores on the all-weather for the horses he travelled to Britain last week. 

He explained, “I won three races at the end-of-season fixture at Dundalk and I got €27,000 for the three races in total prize-money. I sent out Star Harbour (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to finish fourth at Newcastle last week and he earned €14,000. I just feel that something has to be done.”

McGuinness added, “I have to clap the Curragh on the back for raising their minimum prize-money levels. Fair play to them. Maybe other tracks will take note and do the same. But, the prize-money for the listed and Group 3 races in Ireland remains too low compared to England and abroad. 

“Not only that, but I won the Joe McGrath Handicap at the Curragh in 2009 with Toufan Express (GB) (Fraam {GB}). He picked up €34,503 for that success. Laugh A Minute (GB) (Mayson {GB}) won the same race last year and picked up only €26,550. How does that make sense?”

O'Brien concluded that, in its current format, the domestic prize-money on offer is not enough to sustain a training operation as big as his Owning Hill.

He explained, “Ultimately, we are traders. It's obvious when you look at our top two-year-olds from last year and where they are in training now. A lot of them have been traded on to Hong Kong and America. 

“Sadly, that means we won't be as well-represented as we could have been in the Classics this season because those horses are now racing abroad. That is the bottom line. We understand that and we do what's right for our owners. A lot of that time, that means we have to trade. Sometimes that means we race them on. But the fact of the matter is, people have to trade the way things are with prize-money at the moment.”

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‘People Started To Question Me When The Horses Weren’t Running Well – That Was Tough’

Last year was a big one for John McConnell. He fulfilled a lifelong ambition when Seddon won a race at the Cheltenham festival. That bargain buy went on to win at the Punchestown festival before bringing the trainer to the American Grand National at Far Hills. 

Fennor Cross was another horse to fly the flag for the stable with great distinction. Again, a cheaply-bought recruit, Fennor Cross won races at the Punchestown and Aintree festivals. 

However, in what came as a bitter blow to all associated with the horse, Fennor Cross was killed at home in the spring. 

What started out as a brilliant start to 2023 turned into something of a nightmare as another promising young novice hurdler, Kinbara, suffered a fatal injury while prominent owner Derek Kierans decided to move the talented Encanto Bruno to rival trainer Gavin Cromwell.

Not only that, but the McConnell stable struggled for form in the second half of the year due to aspergillus in the hay. It never rains but it pours. 

Thankfully, things have been going a lot better for the Naul-based trainer, who splits his string between Flat and National Hunt horses, with three winners in the past two weeks alone.

From blooding future Group 1-winning sprinter A Case Of You, wanting to break into the top bracket of the training ranks and dealing with the disappointments that come along the way, McConnell makes for a fascinating interviewee with Brian Sheerin in this week's Q&A.

Seddon | Racingfotos.com

How would you reflect on 2023?

It was a year of two halves, really. It was a brilliant first half of the year but a very average second half. On one hand, we had a winner at all of the top spring festivals–Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown–and then on the other, we lost some talented horses–Fennor Cross (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}) and Kinbara (Ire) (Mahler {GB})–while Derek Kierans moved a smart horse in Encanto Bruno (Ire) (Mahler {GB}) to another stable and then we hit a bad patch of form. It was very up and down. 

It's the old cliche that this is a game that would tame lions. How do you deal with all of those ups and downs that come with training?

I don't know how other trainers do it but I tend to lock myself away into a cupboard or something to think about what has happened! Obviously I'm only messing but it is very hard for a stable like ours to lose a few 140-rates horses in the one year. They were Saturday horses and we don't have them anymore. Replacing them is not easy. But, to be honest, I think I was better prepared than most people associated with our yard were. I knew we were overachieving with the resources that we had. I was ready for it, but that doesn't mean it was easy to take. What was difficult was how people started to question you when things weren't going well. We found aspergillus in the hay. It was a difficult few months but thankfully we got to the bottom of it and the horses are back healthy and well, which is the main thing. I also think we had a below-average bunch of horses running at the time and that maybe over-egged how bad we were going over the winter. I can remember a pundit on Racing TV talking about my lack of form and he made the point that, if you looked at the prices of the horses running, they weren't running any better or worse than market expectation. I think it was a combination of those two things. You don't become a bad trainer overnight but it certainly tested my view of humanity because there were some people who were wobbling in their faith. That was frustrating.

You feel like you have been over achieving with the horses you have?

Yes, definitely. With the money we have to work with, I think we have done well with the horses. Okay, Encanto Bruno cost a lot of money [£210,000] but, to do what we did with Fennor Cross and Seddon (Ire) (Stowaway {GB}), both of those horses over-achieved. When you don't have a batch of those six-figure horses coming through the system, you know it's going to be hard to hit the heights at some of the bigger festivals, so I am a realist in that sense. It doesn't mean I am okay with that because I am extremely ambitious and I want winners on the big stage. 

You are not on your own, certainly in terms of National Hunt racing in Ireland, in feeling frustrated by not being able to compete at the top level. The Dublin Racing Festival, where Willie Mullins completed a clean sweep of all eight Grade 1 races, is a case in point. 

Ambition is a curse because you never want to settle. It would be worse if I thought I was not capable of training those big horses or if I was underachieving but I don't feel I am. At the end of the day, you need to have the backing and, at the minute, I don't and it's very frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I have some great owners and the majority of them are very supportive and obviously Derek Kierans has put a lot of money into our yard as well. The McNeill family and loads more people have been very supportive of me but, the reality is, the top yards have stacks of six-figure horses and only a small percentage of those horses go on to be good horses. You need the numbers coming through to give yourself a chance. 

I would put you down as a good man to get owners into the yard. 

I suppose everyone has a different mindset and some are hungrier than others. That's cool but I never wanted to be second best. That's just the way I am, be it playing a computer game or training horses. I often wish I was easier to please but I suppose that's what keeps me so driven to keep going and keep searching for that next nice horse. If you looked at it logically you might say you may never get to where you want to be but, the great thing about this game is, it might only take one horse or a couple of different things to spiral and you could be operating at the next level. For all bar about four trainers over jumps in Ireland, it probably looks a long way away. 

What's your approach to getting owners into the yard? Is it as simple as just putting yourself out there?

It's wide scale harassment! I talk to as many people as I can when I go to the sales or the races and I have made contact with a lot of owners through Instagram and Facebook. We have gotten horses through social media, with the McNeill family and Jimmy Fyffe good recent examples of that. You just have to have a brass neck. You are going to get a lot of nos but I find, even if people don't send you a horse, they respect you taking the time to reach out and put your neck on the line. If you don't ask, you are never going to get. 

Just how difficult is it to compete against the bigger stable over both codes in Ireland? 

It's borderline impossible, which is why we try to run a lot of horses in Britain. If you have a 120-rated horse in Ireland, you could run in six maiden hurdles in Ireland throughout the winter and not win one of them. That same horse could win two races in Britain in the same space of time. That's just the way it is and I don't blame Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott for that. They've gotten to where they are on merit.

What did Seddon winning at Cheltenham mean to you?

I probably enjoy it more now than I did at the time. When things were going bad for us in the autumn, it felt like a long time ago. But winning a race at the Cheltenham festival was something that I had dreamt about as a kid so, to go and achieve it, it was better than I ever thought it could be. 

What drives you?

The ambition is to find a top horse and compete on the big stage but, I have to say, when Together Aclaim (GB) (Aclaim {Ire}) won at Dundalk last week, I got a great kick out of that as well. He was a 30-raced maiden coming into the race and, for him to finally get his head in front, it was a great feeling for everyone involved with him. The guys who own him were there and they got a great thrill. I just love horses and love racing and winning. Obviously, I'd love to be winning the big races but I get a thrill out of winning any race. Gordon Elliott is the same. He loves to win any race. It's a bit of an addiction. 

Depending on what way you look at it, some might view it as a weakness to keep a 30-raced maiden on the go. That's the one thing I would say about you, you always look for the positives in a horse whereas plenty of people would have been happy to move Together Aclaim long before his day in the sun came at Dundalk. 

You have to back what you believe in and, what we try and do when it comes to buying horses at the sales, is find angles and horses who may not be obvious, because that's the price range we are dealing in. It doesn't work every time but we have had a lot of success with small-money buys. I know what you mean about Together Aclaim but the syndicate were happy to keep going and so was I.

Well Seddon is an advertisement for what you can do with those second-hand small-money buys. How did you get him to train?

I was in contact with the McNeills and their manager at the time told me that they were moving some others on. The Galaxy Racing Syndicate had expressed an interest in finding a National Hunt horse and Seddon fitted the bill because he had a good enough rating to bring us to the big festivals. I thought he'd win somewhere but I didn't think he'd win twice at Cheltenham, again at the Punchestown festival and then run in the American Grand National. He has been some horse for us. 

What are the plans with Seddon and Coral Gold Cup runner-up Mahler Mission?

Seddon wasn't one hundred percent after America but he seems fine now again and hopefully we'll get him and Mahler Mission back for the spring festivals. Mahler Mission could run in the Grand National at Aintree. 

To a certain degree, A Case Of You (Ire) (Hot Streak {Ire}) put you on the map. I'd imagine if a horse of his ability came through your system now, you would have enough owners to call upon to be able to keep him?

That was a very tricky situation because the horse had failed the vet to go to Hong Kong and America after he won the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh. It became very hard to push him onto owners. If Ado [McGuiness] hadn't come along, we probably would have been able to put together a syndicate or something, but fair play to him for taking a chance and I'm glad it worked out for him. That came at a very different time of my life. For starters, I had never owned anything before, so selling him provided me with some security in terms of buying a home. He did so much for me at the time but, I don't need anything else in life now so, if another A Case Of You came along now, I don't think I would sell him. 

How did you find him in the first place?

I was at Goffs for the Open Yearling Sale and I was standing down at the chute. I can remember this gorgeous horse walking down to the ring and opening up his page and thinking, 'ugh, Hot Streak.' I let him go in and he didn't sell. I ended up buying him privately and he just kept getting better and better. We never trained a Group 1 horse before him but we always felt he was very good. 

That goes back to your outside-the-box thinking. 

A bit like Seddon, we didn't expect A Case Of You to do what he did. We were thinking that, if he was placed in a maiden, we would have been able to get him away for anywhere between 30 and 50 grand and we would have been thinking 'happy days.' He was one in a million. 

Have you worked in many yards before setting up on your own or are you essentially self taught?

I worked for Michael O'Brien when I was younger but that's the only racing yard I have worked in. Obviously being a qualified vet helps and I did a lot of reading about training before I started. But, yes, I am basically self-taught.

There was a long time you were muddling away. What was the catalyst?

I don't know if there was one specific thing. Derek Kierens came into the yard and decided to put a good few quid in which meant we were able to buy nicer horses for a start. That was one thing. I got a lot of good young staff at the same time, the likes of Siobhan Rutledge, Ben and Alex Harvey, Thomas Reilly, Martin Fox and loads of others. That was another. That definitely helped. We have just developed a system that seems to work.

It's a vibrant yard with a lot of young people working for you.

We have great staff and everyone seems to be happy. I like having young people around the place because they are not soured and they are hungry. You can mould them to how you want things to be done rather than someone who has worked in five or six different yards and has their own ideas on how to do things. A lot of what we do is very different from other yards. We are way more relaxed and the lots go out a lot quicker than in other places, even for the jumps horses. When somebody comes to our yard, they think we are on Mars, but it works. They go quite quickly every day but they don't do many hard pieces of work, if that makes sense.

You've trained everything from a top-notch sprinter in A Case Of You to a cross-country chaser in Some Neck (Fr) (Yeats {Ire}). Is there a particular path you'd like to continue down or do you like both codes equally as much?

Not really, I get as much kick out of watching the two-year-olds as much as I do the National Hunt horses schooling. Both would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I love the jumps because it's not as much of a business. I do that more for a love of the sport whereas the Flat is very much business. It's much easier to train on the Flat and you don't get as many injuries. There is something very special about seeing a good two-year-old work. There are pros and cons to both codes and I love them as much. 

And how do you get to the next level in both codes?

Harass more owners maybe! Listen, there's not much more you can do bar keep trying. We've had some Grade 1-placed horses but finding that horse who could take us to the top level is what we really crave. There's no question that, the guys who are doing the best, they have the biggest backing. In many cases, they earned that backing and we just need to try and prove ourselves worthy of similar backing so we can kick on again. 

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‘A Group Horse In A Handicap’ – McGuinness Upbeat On Galway Big Guns

Ado McGuinness has described the Galway Festival as a place for the ordinary man to make a name for himself and revealed that he will be aiming up to 20 horses at this year's seven-day bonanza, headed by the remarkable Current Option (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). 

Bidding for a fourth successive triumph in the “Ahonoora” Handicap next month, Current Option will be joined by Galway regulars Saltonstall (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Sirjack Thomas (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and Casanova (GB) (Frankel {GB}), all of whom were seen stretching their legs on the Rush Beach near the trainer's County Dublin base on Thursday morning. 

Speaking at the launch for the summer highlight, McGuinness said, “When I started off, I was a small, ordinary fella, and it was very hard to get yourself going at a big track like Cheltenham or places like that. I actually won an Imperial Cup at Sandown and never got another horse out of it.

“Galway is a place where an ordinary fella can get results. You can have a nice, well-handicapped horse who can do very well at Galway. An ordinary fella can make a name for himself at Galway.”

He added, “The amount of recognition you get when you have a winner during race week at Galway is unbelievable, it's better than three or four winners at one of the ordinary country tracks. It's a place where you can make a name for yourself. 

“There is no place like it to have a bit of fun and craic. A lot of our guys who are involved with horses, the Dooley brothers, Bart O'Sullivan, Jim Fairchild, James O'Sullivan, the Shamrock Thoroughbreds, they all love the place. The Dooley guys are bringing 24 or 25 over this year.  It is just spiraling for those guys.”

The red and black silks of Dooley Thoroughbreds, major supporters of the trainer, are expected to be once again in the spotlight at Galway next month with Current Option reported to be bang on target for the meeting by McGuinness. 

He said, “Current Option really comes to himself from this time of the year onwards. He was third in the Sovereign Path last year and the two horses who beat him were two English horses.

“This is a Group 3 horse, and a Listed winner, that's running in a handicap. If you drop a Group 3 horse back into a handicap, he's usually the best horse in the race and usually when you have the best horse in the race they win. You very often find Group horses running in premier handicaps off top weight and they often win them. 

“I'm privileged that I have horses like Current Option who can run in premier handicaps. Being a Group 3 or Listed winner, getting more black type, that makes no difference to me. I won a Listed race at Leopardstown last year and got 29 grand for it. I finished second in the big mile handicap at Galway last year and we got 26 thousand, so we target the money for these quality horses.”

Sirjack Thomas sprung a 50-1 surprise for McGuinness in the Galway Mile a couple of years ago and typifies the trainer's approach to these big-money handicaps. 

He explained, “You can only win the Lotto with one ticket, but the more tickets you have, the better chance you have of winning. That's the way I look at it.”

On other runners to keep an eye on at Ballybrit, he added, “Casanova has probably been the unluckiest horse I've ever had in these premier handicaps. He was second in the Mile last year and second in the “Ahonoora”. He was placed in the Lincoln, placed in the Cambridgeshire, but he just can't seem to get his head in front.

“He'll go for the two races, the Mile on Tuesday and the “Ahonoora” on the Sunday. The Mile race would be his forte, but he was placed at Tipperary over seven and I'll drop him back to seven on the Sunday if the ground is slow. 

“Sirjack Thomas is not going to get into the Mile but he will run in two handicaps there over the week. He's actually won twice down there and been placed twice. He loves it, so watch out for him wherever he shows up.”

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