54-Year-Old McCullagh Says ‘Fire Still In The Belly’ After Big-Race Win At Galway

They say the Galway Festival has an unrelenting ability to provide a springboard for young jockeys. Ride a winner at the Galway Festival on terrestrial television and it's worth 10 around the country tracks. 

Think of the baby-faced Colin Keane storming to Topaz Mile glory aboard Brendan Brackan (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) for his boss Ger Lyons back in 2013 as a five-pound claimer. 

Just last week, we had local boy Danny Gilligan earning the plaudits for his front-running masterclass aboard Gordon Elliott's Ash Tree Meadow (Fr) (Bonbon Rose (Fr) in the Plate. Another star of the future, for sure.

But this year's meeting also provided a much needed boon for one of the elder statesmen of the weighing room, Niall McCullagh, who propelled himself back into the spotlight with an ice-cool victory aboard Brazil (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in a premier handicap on Friday night. 

At 54 years of age, McCullagh is the oldest jockey still operating in Ireland and victory aboard Brazil quashed any talk of retirement. 

“I'm still on a high, to tell the truth,” McCullagh said on Wednesday. “I suppose you don't realise how much it means until you go and have a big winner like that. There was a lot of emotion involved. I got a great kick out of it and it just shows you that it still matters, it still means a lot and the fire is still in the belly.”

McCullagh added, “Things have been slower this year. It's getting tougher but I've been a bit more selective as well in that I'm not going racing to ride something with no chance or for a horse or trainer I don't know something about. I'm a lot busier in the mornings than in the afternoons but I like being busy.”

To illustrate McCullagh's point, it wasn't until the end of July that he tasted his first winners of the season, and they came in rather fortuitous fashion. 

After Rory Cleary was stood down to ride at Down Royal last Friday week, McCullagh came in to partner Golden Spangle (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Eastern Legend (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) to victory for Jim Bolger. It was from there that things snowballed into Galway. 

“If you told me last Friday week that I'd ride two winners for Jim Bolger at Down Royal and then ride the winner of a premier handicap at Galway for JP McManus and Paudie Roche, I'd have laughed. It just goes to show you that this is a great game but you have to keep going. You have to keep trying and grafting and, if you do, it will turn. All you need is a bit of luck.”

He added, “A few times this year, I wondered if I would keep going. It came to Derby weekend at the Curragh and I didn't have many rides. I got one horse placed for Donal Kinsella and I got a good kick out of that–when I get a horse to run well it's a great feeling and then you're hoping that maybe there will be a next day. 

“But, when you have the few winners, it makes all the hard graft worthwhile and makes you feel better about yourself. When you had been going well, riding thirty and forty winners, when you're back down struggling to get a ride, you have to deal with the devaluation. I've a strong mind and have dealt with it. You have to remember as well, it's evolution, and just like in nature, the auld stags get pushed out to the periphery by the young stags.”

But even the young stags would have been proud of that ride you gave Brazil, Niall?

“Well that proved to myself more than anyone else that, if I have the horse, I'm fit enough and strong enough to be able to get the job done. Listen, I gave Brazil a good ride and I'm not afraid to say it. It all worked out and I will be in good humour now for a month!”

It is the progress of one particular young rider, his son Scott, that has particularly pleased McCullagh this year. Scott has partnered five winners all told and has struck up a good relationship with Jessica Harrington. 

McCullagh commented, “It's great. We sit close together in the weighroom and we both have Dave Fox as our valet. It's a great feeling to be heading out to ride in a race with your son. I'm competitive but he's even more competitive than me. It's special riding alongside him. That's why I am enjoying the last few years of my career so much. Let's face it, I'm 54, so I don't have long left. 

“But I'm proud as a kitten these days as my daughter graduated with first class honours in business in law from Maynooth University, so she got all of the brains. I'm very lucky that the two kids are going great because that gives me great pleasure.”

Brazil may have postponed any talk of retirement but McCullagh knows better than most that he can't go on forever. Just what he plans to turn his hand after riding, however, is even less certain than where his next big winner might come from. 

He said, “I have been asking myself that question for the past 10 years. I can't find anything else that I want to do so, while I am able to continue riding, I will. I will worry about life after retirement when it comes. 

“I just know that, one day, I'll be driving to the races and I'll say, 'today is the day.' I don't know when that will be. It could be this year or next year, I'm just not sure. I still have a few things I'd like to accomplish in my career. There are a few races I need to win.”

He added, “I ride out for Mick Halford and Tracey Collins, Johnny Murtagh, Ken Condon and I ride a lot of work for Jessica Harrington. They seem to appreciate the feedback and I feel like I am part of the team. They all try to give me rides whenever they can but they have their own owners to try and keep happy as well. I am happy enough to pitch up whenever they need me.”

You could say that things have turned full circle for McCullagh, who burst onto the scene at Galway as a young seven-pound claimer back in 1988, and there is no danger of him failing to soak up his latest moment in the spotlight there.

“Galway is where I got going back in 1988 by winning the McDonogh Handicap as a seven-pound claimer aboard Feverstown for Paddy Mullins. Every year, a young lad seems to announce himself at Galway, and young Danny Gilligan and Jack Kearney did that this year. 

“I don't know what it is but everyone seems to watch Galway. It's just an iconic meeting and I've never had so many texts and congratulations for winning aboard Brazil. Everyone I meet, the well wishes have been unreal. You could ride a winner anywhere else and they wouldn't know anything about it but Galway is different.”

 

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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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