Goffs | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘We Want To Drive Membership To The ITBA Next Generation in 2023’

It is commonly known as the junior wing of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, aimed at educating students and aspiring breeders, and its chairperson Orla Donworth is predicting big things for the ITBA Next Generation in 2023.

Donworth is a digital marketing executive at Goffs who has been employed in the industry for 10 years and outlined plans for the ITBA Next Generation to become the go-to place for the future leaders of the industry to gain education and support.

Fellow Goffs employee Conor Wixted holds the position as the vice chairperson on the committee while Taragh Brady, marketing executive at Tattersalls Ireland, Padraic Gahan of Baroda Stud, Yeomanstown Stud's Rob O'Callaghan and Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud feature among the committee.

Donworth, 30, explained, “After a period of inactivity during Covid, the ITBA Next Generation was revived. I have taken over as the new chairperson and we have a 12-strong committee. We have a good mixture of people on the committee, from Flat and National Hunt, breeding and racing, farm managers, students, and people who work for Goffs, Tattersalls, Wetherbys and a Flying Start graduate as well. It's a well-rounded committee. The vice chairperson is Conor Wixted, who is extremely proactive, and the main thing for us going forward is to drive membership and grow the ITBA Next Generation in 2023.”

She added, “The ITBA is the governing body of Irish breeding at government level at home and abroad and the Next Generation is the junior wing of that organisation. The people we can get into the Next Generation are the future of our industry and we will try to nurture people to one day be on the senior council. We will endeavor to represent, support and educate young and future breeders.”

Committee member David Skelly, who is a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start programme and now works full-time for Peter Molony at Rathmore Stud, shares Donworth's passion for the sport and explains how he aims to implement what he learned as president of the horse racing society at Limerick University to his role.

The 27-year-old said, “What I learned from setting up the horse racing society in the University of Limerick is that there is a huge appetite for the sport among young people and that they are especially keen to meet the people who are involved in the industry. Mark Boylan and I rejuvenated the society, which had been inactive for a number of years, and it really opened our eyes as to how popular racing is among younger people.”

Skelly added, “We were very lucky to have a group of roughly 40 people who were extremely keen to go on visits to racing yards, studs or to the racetrack, and it was great to have that network of like-minded friends in the industry. The goal is to try and replicate that but on a bigger scale with the ITBA Next Generation. The level of access in racing is incredible. To be able to visit a stud farm or a racing yard and meet what are essentially the celebrities of our sport is not something many industries have the luxury of. Hopefully we can capitalise on that in the new year and drive membership further.”

The wheels have already been set in motion. A pinhooking seminar went down a bomb in November and Donworth is keen to use that event as a springboard for the new year.

She said, “We had a fantastic panel of pinhookers, made up of Guy O'Callaghan, Vikki Hancock, John Hanley and Timmy Hillman, with Bernard Condron as the master of ceremonies. Over 100 people turned up on the evening and it was a fantastic event with huge interaction between the panel and the crowd.

“It was a well-timed event, too, with a number of young people going on to get involved with pinhooking foals in the following weeks. We also had a great prize, which was a free entry into any yearling sale at Goffs or Tattersalls in 2023 for anyone who pinhooked a foal this year.”

She added, “There is a great cohort of young people and our job is to support that younger generation and provide education and networking opportunities. Our events will be a mixture of social and educational in 2023. The pinhooking panel really put us on the map and we gained a lot of traction on social media from it.

“We're hoping to build on that in 2023, with our first event planned a trip to Coolmore Stud and Castlehyde Stud, and we're looking forward to being the first group to see Blackbeard (Ire). People are registering for that event now and the feedback has been very positive. The plan is to stage roughly six events next year.

“A number of leading stakeholders have been a huge help to us, including Coolmore Stud who are sponsoring that entire trip in the new year, which is hugely appreciated by all of the members. Coolmore's Gerry Aherne, Christy Grassick and Maurice Molony are on the senior council of the ITBA and it's very encouraging that they recognise the importance of the Next Generation.”

Along with educational seminars, Skelly revealed that he would like to help organise more trips to the races and floated the idea of creating a hub at certain racetracks for ITBA Next Generation members where they can network and learn from like-minded people.

He said, “There will be plenty of opportunities in the second half of the year to hold seminars at the sales because everyone will be at the same place and it seems to work well. We could look at having stable visits or potentially some trips to the races in the first half of the year. You have the Dublin Racing Festival, the Punchestown Festival and plenty of good meetings at the Curragh, so I could imagine us organising trips to the races. I'd love to see us have a Next Generation hub in a hospitality box where members can come and network during racing.”

He added, “The one thing I would say is that the Next Generation is made up of a broad spectrum of young people within the industry. That's good in a sense that we all come from different backgrounds and share different connections within the industry.

“Also, as our chairperson, Orla was invited to the ITBA council meeting this year. For the young people of the industry, the future, to have a voice at that level is great. I think that's very important. We care about the future of racing and want to see people going racing in the future.”

The post ‘We Want To Drive Membership To The ITBA Next Generation in 2023’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘Honeysuckle More Likely To Be Retired Than Run In Mares’ Hurdle At Cheltenham’

Peter Molony is best known for being the man who bought the reigning Champion Hurdler Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) on behalf of his client Kenny Alexander. He also works for Sheikh Fahad's Qatar Racing operation, is an agent for Goffs and has had a multitude of top horses through his hands at Rathmore Stud. That may be why the Limerick native signs off on his Twitter bio with the word 'busy'!

Son of the legendary Martin Molony, widely regarded as the best dual-purpose jockey of all time, Peter is one of the most respected judges in the game.

He opened the gates of Rathmore Stud to TDN Europe this week and revealed why Leopardstown is D-Day for dual Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle and explained that retirement would be the preferred option to running in the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham for Henry de Bromhead's star.

Molony also shares that, for when Honeysuckle is retired to the paddocks, she will visit Walk In The Park (Ire). He also discussed in great detail his role at Goffs, concerns for the industry, Oisin Murphy's eagerly-anticipated return and much more in this week's Starfield Stud-sponsored Q&A.

Brian Sheerin: With your Rathmore Stud hat on, how do you reflect on 2022?

Peter Molony: It was a great year for us. The first big sale was the Land Rover and our horses sold really well there. We'd a good Milan (GB) filly of our own who sold well. We gave 50 grand for her as a foal and we got 150 grand for her at the Land Rover, so that was lovely. The yearlings sold well as well and, considering what's happening in the world, the market held up really well–especially for the quality horses. We were lucky enough to breed a nice winner last year, Wren's Breath (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}), who Henry [de Bromhead] trained for us. We'd a half-sister to her at the Orby by Zoustar (Aus) and she made 300 grand, which was phenomenal. She is a beautiful filly. Our pinhooks went quite well this year so we got stuck in again in November. But, as I said, the market was quite strong so it was hard to buy the ones you wanted.

BS: Any air of trepidation about getting stuck in again? This was a phenomenal year but some people are worried that we might feel a bite in 2023.

PM: We've had a few very good years with the pinhooking on the Flat. We decided that we'd step off the beaten track a little bit because, when we went in for the big, fancy, obvious foals, we had to give too much for them and we just haven't been lucky with them recently. We bought later foals, a few end of April and even May foals, which pinhookers seem to step away from, but they've done very well for us so we did the same again. We didn't just plough on regardless. We thought about what we were going to do and went for that type of foal again. Hopefully it will work out. On the National Hunt foals, we decided to concentrate a little bit more on quality. John Bleahan is a great friend of mine and we were chatting away recently about what the market is going to look like in the next couple of years and his summarisation was good. He said, 'it's either this or sheep,' in that we don't know anything different, so we may as well keep going at what we know best.

BS: The National Hunt market is going through a strange period at the moment. You need to be by Walk In The Park, Blue Bresil (Fr) or one of the good French sires to get well paid. When you were concentrating on the top end, what stallions were you honing in on?

PM: It's very tight. There are only a small number of top-end stallions that people seem to want. We bought a couple of Walk In The Parks (Ire), we could only get our hands on one Blue Bresil (Fr), we got a No Risk At All (Fr) and took a chance on a couple of foals by Order Of St George (Ire)–I really like them, they're really good-looking horses and they seem to have lovely temperaments. But it's a risky time for him as he has a couple of crops ahead and, if they don't work out, it's not ideal. I bought a Soldier Of Fortune (Ire) but didn't give huge money for it and we bought a Maxios (GB) and a Vadamos (Fr), so we have a bit of a spread.

BS: I suppose the best horse you ever bought was outside the box in that she was by Sulamani (Ire).

PM: The difference with her was that she was bought to race. All of those foals are bought to be sold on. There's a big difference between buying a racehorse and a sales horse which shouldn't make sense but it does. You have to buy what the market is going to want in the future.

BS: And speaking about Honeysuckle (GB), there has been a lot said and written since she lost her unbeaten record but what's your own feeling on the whole thing.

PM: All the ratings people seem to believe it was her best ever run in the Hatton's Grace and normally her first run of the season is always her worst run. I suppose she's getting older and it's going to take a little more to get her ready first time out so, taking everything into account, it was one of her highest-rated runs for her first start of the season so we'd have to be happy. If we weren't protecting an unbeaten run, I think we'd have left Fairyhouse cock-a-hoop with ourselves. We haven't lost faith in her. Leopardstown here we come.

BS: Everyone wants that match between Honeysuckle and Constitution Hill (GB) in the Champion Hurdle. Is that still the dream or has the Mares' Hurdle become a more appealing target than it was previously?

PM: First of all, I think the Mares' Hurdle is getting a bit of a slagging off, which I think is totally unfair. If we didn't have the mares' programme that has been built up over the past 20 years, Honeysuckle probably wouldn't be running right now–she'd be out in a field with a foal at foot somewhere. The amount of top-class mares who have come through the system in the past 10 to 15 years, most of those, if not all of them, would never have hit the track if it wasn't for the mares' programme. I think people are missing the point, to be honest, and I think the mares' programme is hugely important. We got a lot of slagging when we ran Honeysuckle in the Mares' Hurdle first time round but, as it happened, we probably ended up running in the tougher race by taking on Benie Des Dieux (Fr) (Great Pretender {Ire}). People were saying we were ducking the challenge of the Champion Hurdle but we just felt she wasn't quite ready to run over two miles at championship pace and that the two-and-a-half-mile option was better at that stage in her career. Her jumping was a bit slow at that time–she was big and novicey when winning her first Irish Champion Hurdle the time before so we did what was best for her. That will be the same this year.

We will always do what's best for Honeysuckle. That's the number one thing. I suppose I will give you a bit of a scoop here, if we don't think that she is up to running to her best, she probably won't run full stop–she'll be retired. Kenny said that last year, that we were going to give her one more season but, if we don't feel she is up to doing herself justice, she is not going to be risked. She is too important to us. We are not going to risk her. We have to think that she will be up to running to her full ability if she runs again.

BS: Is Leopardstown D-Day in that, if she doesn't run right up to her best, she could be retired?

PM: That is a distinct possibility, yes. It's not about ducking competition. There are three scenarios. Number one is that she runs in the Champion Hurdle, number two is that she is retired and number three is that she goes for the Mares' Hurdle. The least likely scenario is that she would run in the Mares' Hurdle. That's where we are at with her. It's all about Honeysuckle. We are all dreaming and we really want to take on Constitution Hill. Nicky Henderson is a great friend and has been a wonderful supporter of mine. We've been slagging each other all summer and nothing would give me more pleasure than going out and beating Constitution Hill as I think he is a phenomenal horse. That's what we really want to do. But let's see what the next few weeks bring. Both horses have to get there in one piece.

BS: Kenny seems to be a great character. From saying he was extremely confident on Racing TV the evening before Honeysuckle won her first Champion Hurdle to being magnanimous in defeat after the Hatton's Grace, he is quite refreshing.

PM: He is genuinely a lovely guy and very down to earth. After Honeysuckle won the Champion Hurdle last season, he led her in with his shirt hanging out and the Racing Post rolled under his arm. I think some people had thought that some interloper had run into the winner's enclosure to lead Honeysuckle back in. But that's him–no airs or graces about him. I am very lucky to have met him and to be working for him.

BS: How did that relationship come about?

PM: The first time I met Kenny was at this kitchen table 12 or 14 years ago. He rang David Redvers around the same time Sheikh Fahad got involved. David told him that he was concentrating on the Flat but recommended that he come and visit us here at Rathmore Stud. He told me about his dream to breed top-class National Hunt horses and I told him he was nuts. I advised him to buy foals so at least he'd know what he was getting and therefore he could concentrate on the thing a little bit. The first thing we did was buy two National Hunt foals at the Tattersalls February Sale to pinhook together. We bought a Kalanisi (Ire) and a Flemensfirth.

At the time, we had been buying National Hunt foals to pinhook as yearlings but the National Hunt yearling market fell flat on its face. This was about the time when that happened. They cost 17 grand each and, when we brought them back to the November Sale, we couldn't get what we paid for either of them. Kenny must have been thinking, 'oh my God, what idiot am I after getting involved with?' I told him that we had two lovely horses on our hands but the National Hunt yearling market had gone. We kept them on as 3-year-olds and sold the Kalanisi privately. He paid for himself and the Flemensfirth and went on to be named Champagne Express (GB) for Nicky Henderson. He was a good horse. We brought the Flemensfirth to the Land Rover Sale, I think it was the first year I was working as an agent for Goffs, and he made 130 grand. We sold him again to Nicky Henderson and David Minton, funnily enough, and he turned out to be O O Seven (Ire). From thinking I was an eejit, Kenny must have suddenly thought that I was a genius, but maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle.

For the next few years after that, I was only doing bits and pieces for Kenny and I bought him a mare called Asturienne (GB) (Sleeping Car {Fr}) off Alan King. She was his first broodmare and ended up breeding his first black-type horse, Carrie Des Champs (Ire) (Robin Des Champs {Fr}), and she's also bred Doddiethegreat {Ire}) (Fame And Glory {GB}). Typical of Kenny, he named that horse after Doddie Weir and all of his prize money will go towards the Doddie Weir foundation for motor neurone disease.

It was five years ago when I went up to Kenny's box at Cheltenham. I'd noticed he'd started to spend a few quid through different agents, which was all fine, but he wasn't having any success. He'd given a lot of money for a few horses with no results. There was another bloodstock agent there that day chatting him up. He's actually a friend of mine and I've told him this story since and he laughs about it. But I kind of saw red a bit that day. I just felt that the whole thing was disorganised and that Kenny was going to get cheesed off with the whole thing because he'd things coming at him from every direction. It was just too disorganised.

When that bloodstock agent left the box, I pulled Kenny aside and told him that he needed to get somebody to pull it all together and organise it for him. I can tell you, I was not looking for the job myself because I had Rathmore, Qatar and Goffs to concentrate on. He asked me to do it and, after saying no a good few times, I rang my wife Sarah to see if she thought we could take it on or not, and we decided to give it a go. The following day, I was walking through the Cheltenham enclosure and met Henry and Heather de Bromhead. I invited them up to meet Kenny and they got on like a house on fire. We bought Sinoria (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) at the Cheltenham sale that week and then we bought Honeysuckle the following month at the Goffs Punchestown Sale.

BS: It has snowballed, hasn't it?

PM: Yes, and the idea is to concentrate on well-bred National Hunt mares, which is why I had no interest in Honeysuckle initially because I didn't think her pedigree was good enough. The idea is that they go back to Kenny's stud as broodmares. With those mares, you might have to give a lot of money for them after they win their point-to-point but, if they stand on a nail in the morning, they still have a residual value whereas the geldings don't. There's a certain safety net.

BS: Halka Du Tabert (Fr) (Balko {Fr}) was impressive at Naas on Tuesday and looks another smart recruit for Kenny. What other running plans are there for over Christmas?

PM: She was very good and she'll go to Fairyhouse for the Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle next. We've a nice juvenile hurdler, Gala Marceau (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), who won a listed juvenile hurdle for fillies impressively at Auteuil. She's smart. Gauloise (Fr) (Samum {Ger}) is also back from injury and will hopefully run over the Christmas as well.

BS: And you must be sick of re-telling the story of how you came to buy Honeysuckle at this stage.

PM: Our scouts told us about how impressive she was in winning her point-to-point and, I'll have to be honest, I didn't even look at her race. I took one look at her pedigree and didn't think it was good enough. As a Goffs agent, I wanted to show support to the sale so I went down to look at her and she was a big, raw and narrow thing–she was like two boards slapped together. I thought, 'if she could win as impressively as they are all telling me that she won, she must be good.' I went and watched the race and she was unbelievable. I rang Henry and Kenny and told them that maybe we should reconsider her.

BS: Being by Sulamani she could go to any stallion, couldn't she? Have you thought that far ahead or do you want to get her racing career over and done with first?

PM: I have already talked to a stallion master. All you need to do is look at the National Hunt sales to figure out who she will be going to see. She's booked in to Walk In The Park, all going well. That's the plan.

BS: And what about Henry's role in the whole thing? I know that you are very close with him.

PM: I can remember the first time I met Henry and it's probably not far off 40 years ago when we were in school. I was in fifth year and I think he was in first year. I can remember that he had a pudding bowl haircut! I remember him because he was a de Bromhead and we all knew his father Harry as being a successful trainer. Henry was a cheeky little pup! We've always been friendly and, I've said before, great horses bring people together and between Honeysuckle, Sinoria, Minella Melody (Ire) (Flemensfirth), we've had huge success with the de Bromheads and have become closer and closer with them and the kids down through the years. They are such a lovely family. They are phenomenally strong people. I am full of admiration for them.

BS: What will the next few months entail with a view towards the Land Rover? A lot of work has gone into that sale in the last number of years and it's amazing how much the quality has risen as a result.

PM: There is a great team at Goffs and everyone is really enthusiastic. The first thing we did was target the horses. The year we sold O O Seven, we also had Tombstone (Ire) (Robin Des Champs {Fr}) in our draft and a lot of people at the time were asking me why I didn't have them in the Derby Sale. My attitude was, Eddie O'Leary, David Minton and Nicky Henderson were all at Goffs, so why would I need to go anywhere else. John Bleahan and I had a horse four or five years prior to that, Virginia Preuil (Fr) (Saint Preuil {Fr}), and we got €120,000 for him at the Land Rover. I think he was the first ever National Hunt store to make €100,000 or more at Goffs. So I had confidence that, if you had the right horse at Goffs, you were going to get well-paid for it. It took seven or eight years but slowly the confidence in the sale began to grow and people started to send better horses. The marketing team does a great job at getting the trainers and the agents in and the momentum has really grown.

BS: And obviously a huge amount of work went on behind the scenes to attract the American buyers to Goffs for the Orby and it told with the record-breaking trade. Could you see that sale developing further?

PM: A couple of years have passed since the Orby debacle at Doncaster and it was a debacle, it was an absolute disaster and nobody is denying that, so there was a lot of soul searching after it. A lot of Irish vendors were really good to us the following year and brought some lovely horses to the Orby to help revitalise it and it worked. It worked really well. This year was a step up again. The one thing people will say to you, and they said it when we were trying to build the Land Rover, is that traditionally, all the best horses have been sold at the Derby Sale or that, throughout history, all the best yearlings have been sold at Newmarket. My question is why? If the horses are in the Orby well then the buyers will come. It's an awful shame that millions of euros worth of yearlings pass the door at Goffs on their way up to the ferry every year. I believe there's no need for that. Since I have joined Goffs, I've sold everything there–at the Orby, Sportsman's and the Land Rover.

BS: The Goffs Million was reintroduced this year and I think people recognised that. Is there anything else in the pipeline or do you think they are gimmicks?

PM: I think gimmick would be an unfair word and those incentives are needed. Thinking outside the box is needed. Henry Beeby is such an enthusiast and such a hard worker. He's passionate about the whole game and is desperate to get the Orby where it should be. I've no doubt that there's going to be a lot thrown at the sale over the next five years.

BS: If you were to think big, look at how well a race like The Everest has been received in Australia. I'm not saying something like that would work here but I do think there's a bit of a disconnect between racing and bloodstock and the more we can fill in those blanks, it has to have a huge upside for the industry.

PM: Absolutely. When you mention Australia, I think that is where we need to look towards. I know they have a different funding model but one man I hugely admire, and what he did for Magic Millions and how they caught up on Inglis, is Gerry Harvey. He's done something that should be admired hugely and maybe even mimicked.

BS: And how do you view the future of Irish racing?

PM: With the way society is going and with the demonisation of gambling from certain sections, I think we need to be looking at different ways of funding the industry. I'm not sure if I am bright enough to figure it out but I think racecourses–with notable exceptions–are relying a little too much on media rights and not working hard enough on getting people through the turnstiles. There were suggestions that there might be racing behind closed doors in Britain not too long ago because it would be easier on the racecourse in question not to employ staff etc for punters on the track. I asked the question recently about what the GAA's main revenue stream was. It's people through the turnstiles. That's something we need to work on big time. If you look at Australia and the crowds that go racing and the atmosphere they can generate on course, I think it's something we need to try and emulate. The racetracks really need to work on this. I've a very good friend who doesn't have anything to do with racing and he asked me recently if our industry was totally reliant on gambling. When I told him it was, he made an interesting face, and that's the way society is going so we need to be aware of that. We really need to be actively thinking about different ways of funding the industry.

BS: And speaking about international jurisdictions, Sheikh Fahad has had heightened success in America this year.

PM: Fergus Galvin and Adrian Regan in Hunter Valley Farm have done a wonderful job. Sheikh Fahad has done a good bit of trading there recently as well. The likes of Ocean Road (Ire) (Australia {GB}), who was a high-class filly in England but goes over there and wins a Grade I. The prize-money over there is phenomenal and, when you win your Grade I over there, you can see what they are worth. She made $1.6 million at the sales. It's hard to argue with that model.

BS: And closer to home, can you tell me a bit more about Rathmore Stud? There is great history to this place.

PM: Apparently the first mention of us here is back in 1682–so we've been here a while! My grandfather William trained a couple himself. He'd a good horse Hill Of Camas and another called Timber Wolf, who I think won a Galway Plate. My grandmother owned Knight's Crest who my father rode to win the Irish Grand National when he was just 16 years' old. That was his first major win as a jockey. So there was Martin, my father, and his brother Tim, who won four Champion Hurdles in a row and I'm pretty certain he's the only person to have done that. He was crowned champion jockey five times in England and was actually left this place but decided to move to England and sold it to my father.

BS: Martin was arguably the greatest dual-purpose jockey of all time.

PM: He had already retired 13 or 14 years by the time I was born. He was only 26 when he retired and we couldn't really appreciate all that he achieved in the saddle but we certainly saw it here at home. He was gifted and was still riding 2-year-olds for me here when he was 75. People used to say to me that I was nuts to put him up but the answer was that he was much less likely to get a fall than anyone else. I think he was a horse whisperer. What he could do was phenomenal. The likes of Paul Carberry and Ruby Walsh, they have something, it's a gift. Horses just relax for them. You'd put my father up, aged 75, on a 2-year-old who'd been bucking and kicking and, as soon as he'd sit up on him, the horse would just relax. It was phenomenal to watch. He used to drive us mad as kids. He'd send us out to get a horse from the field and we'd be running around for an hour trying to catch it. He'd come out and, next thing, the horse would walk over to him. It used to drive us bonkers! He wasn't very generous with his talent–he didn't pass it on!

BS: I suppose we're seeing something similar with Rachael Blackmore in that horses seem to just run for her.

PM: When Rachael rode Honeysuckle to win the Grade 1 novice hurdle at Fairyhouse, Richard Pugh came up to me and told me that, in his reckoning, she was the first lightweight jockey to be as successful over jumps as my father was. Horses are so balanced under her and she's got a phenomenal tactical brain. I can't really compare her to my father because I never saw him ride in a race.

BS: Speaking of jockeys, a certain Oisin Murphy is back next year.

PM: Listen, he's a brilliant rider. He's stayed here a few times this year and we've gone around looking at breeze-up horses together and things like that. Please God he can keep on the straight and narrow and realise his full potential because he's a wonderful rider. He's seriously gifted.

BS: That famous Kieran Fallon anecdote from an interview with David Walsh comes to mind. He described Pat Smullen as being “the person who gives his whole life to the job to the best of his ability,” before adding, “no distractions. Great professionalism. I don't know how they do it. I've had my quirks. Pat has had his tractors.”

PM: Oisin is not alone in that a lot of supremely talented people, be that riders, footballers, musicians, actors, whatever, seem to have a bit of a kink. My father certainly had one. He was incredibly religious. It's about channeling their talent as best they can. Sheikh Fahad, David Redvers and Andrew Balding, they've all been unbelievably patient with him and he's got a great support team. It's up to him now to make the most of it.

The post ‘Honeysuckle More Likely To Be Retired Than Run In Mares’ Hurdle At Cheltenham’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘Trainers Are Finding It Tough But You Can’t Wave a Magic Wand’

One of the most respected racing and bloodstock journalists in Britain and Ireland for over 20 years, Ryan McElligott bid adieu to the press room at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale as he embarked on his new role as Chief Executive of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association.

Admitting there was some emotion surrounding the move, McElligott looks back on over 20 years reporting on the sport he loves and looks ahead to the challenges he faces in his new position as the IRTA chief.

The 41-year-old wears many hats. As well as being a talented journalist, he knows the programme book better than most, a skill that David Wachman and more recently Gordon Elliott have utilised by securing his services in that department.

McElligott has also been a jockey's agent for his close friend and multiple Group 1 and Classic-winning rider Wayne Lordan for the majority of his career and has enjoyed notable success in the pinhooking department with another good friend in Luke Barry of Manister House Stud.

All that and more, including his thoughts on the National Hunt and Flat market, are discussed below in this week's Starfield Stud-sponsored Conversations Q&A.

Brian Sheerin: The Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale marked the end of your journalism career as you move on to pastures new. Did you feel any emotion in closing that chapter?

Ryan McElligott: There would have been. Sales have been an integral part of my life for well over 20 years so there was an eerie feeling at Goffs in knowing that it was going to be the last sale I was going to write about.

BS: How did you get into racing journalism?

RM: I was very interested in racing from an early stage and, in my heart of hearts, knew that I wanted to do something in the sport. When I was in Transition Year in secondary school, I did three weeks work experience with The Irish Field back when it was based in D'Olier Street in Dublin, and I enjoyed that. I actually shared an office with Mark Costello [current deputy editor of the paper] during that time. The following summer, I did more work experience with The Irish Field and at that stage I had my heart set on doing racing journalism. I wasn't really thinking of doing journalism in any other sphere other than racing. Just as I began my journalism degree, I got some freelance work for The Irish Field and did my first ever sales report for the EBN-the Derby Sale at Tattersalls in 2000. When it came to graduation time, The Irish Field's chief racing reporter Cliff Noone retired so it was all a question of good timing and I ended up getting a lot of work very early on in my career. I was unbelievably fortunate that a lot of things happened to fall into place for me.

BS: Any particular highlights?

RM: As I look back on it now, it was a great time to be covering racing because you had so many powerful yards from Ireland competing on the big stage. On the Flat, you had Aidan O'Brien, Dermot Weld, Jim Bolger, Kevin Prendergast and John Oxx. They were all operating at the peak of their powers at that time. It was remarkable when you think back about it now.

BS: Journalism can be a thankless job at times and invariably you might end up writing something that somebody doesn't agree with but you got through your career without any major bust-ups. How so?

RM: I don't know. There was one thing that I really didn't enjoy writing about and that was the sale period of autumn 2008 through to 2010. It was bad. It wasn't good for anybody. It wasn't good for the sales companies, breeders, pinhookers, nobody. You can't get away from the fact that the figures have gone through the floor but all you can do is try to handle it in a humane manner. I was at one sale in 2009, now it would have been a low-key sale, but after three hours one of the senior guys went into the office to check what the figures were and they were zero. The figures were zero after three hours. I was covering that sale for the Racing Post at the time and I can remember ringing the Bloodstock Editor at the time to tell them that there was nothing happening there. We decided to give it just 150 words. At that stage, an acceptance had formed that the world was in freefall and a bad thoroughbred sale in Ireland was just symptomatic of what was going on.

“That was pretty sobering stuff but, bit by bit, we managed to get ourselves back in the game.”

BS: Were you pinhooking at that time?

RM: We would have been and 2008 would have been pretty grim. By my recollection, we had a Hawk Wing filly who I think cost seven grand as a foal and we sold her for 30 grand as a yearling. Lolly For Dolly (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) was the other one to get sold. The rest of them, we either gave them away or put them into training. It wasn't good. As the market is contracting before your very eyes, even the slightest mistake is going to be punished severely. I'll never forget, the night before the Orby, the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihen addressed the nation to basically tell us that we were F****d. That was pretty sobering stuff but, bit by bit, we managed to get ourselves back in the game. We bought very little in 2009 but we gave small money for a Diamond Green (Fr) colt at Goffs who ended up making 60-odd grand at Book 2. We're talking small sums, relatively speaking, but that provided the little bounce that we needed to get back on our feet. Luke [Barry] and I will always recall selling that horse. We knew he was nice. It happens when you have a good one because you're standing there and, all of a sudden, the sales ring fills up around you and you know something is going to happen. Dwayne Woods outbid Sir Mark Prescott for the horse.

BS: How did you get into pinhooking?

RM: Luke was a year ahead of me in primary and secondary school so we were always very friendly. He spent some time in America and when he came home was trying to get the whole pinhooking thing going. I was working at the time but had zero responsibilities and no family so had some cash to put in and that's how it started. The first horse we bought was a Danetime (Ire) foal who ended up being called Danish Express (Ire). He won a Bath maiden for a man called Peter Winkworth and was a grand little horse. We actually lost money on that horse. He cost €28,000 as a foal in 2003 and was sold for 22,000gns as a yearling. That was the first year of it. I think we'd two the following year and then two becomes three and then three becomes five and so on. I'm involved more on the National Hunt side of things now. That's just the way it has evolved.

BS: That was a conscious decision of yours, to concentrate more on the National Hunt stock.

RM: The National Hunt horses come here to me for a couple of years and I like having them around the place. You could have questioned what way the market was going to go on the Flat and, as it happened, it way outperformed what I thought it would this year. Circumstances changed as well. I have other concerns now that I wouldn't have had when I was younger in terms of the fact I have a young family and I suppose, with work, I got a bit disconnected with the whole pinhooking thing. For example, going to a sale in Newmarket just didn't suit me. It's a lot easier to keep a handle on the National Hunt sales as it's all happening on your doorstep but the Flat is vast. The pinhooking is very much Luke's thing.

BS: I know you say it's more Luke's thing than yours but it's something that has gone well for almost two decades now so what has been the approach.

RM: Well, you need to try and buy something that is going to be acceptable to the market. That's the first thing. Okay, proven sires are going to cost a premium but it's always good to have a sibling running for you the next year and a lot of great touches have come from that. It's great when horses we've pinhooked go on to success. We pinhooked Lolly For Dolly. Fozzy Stack bought her off us as a yearling and she won the Windsor Forest S. at Royal Ascot. We went back some years later and bought her Sir Percy (GB) half-sister for 27,000gns as a foal before selling her for €210,000 as a yearling so the family was good to us. In terms of Luke, his family had Starfish (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who bred La Collina (Ire) (Strategic Prince {GB}), Astadash (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and many more black-type horses. That was their family. Starfish was really good to them and they bought her as an unraced filly out of Stack's. At that time, Luke and I would have had many conversations about Starfish because Decado (Ire) was in the pedigree. He won a Tetrarch S. and was placed in an Irish Guineas for Kevin Prendergast. Luke's Dad Frank was very close with Kevin so there would have been an affinity with the family given Kevin had Decado. Starfish ended up being an incredible success story for them. That's something that stands out. I like seeing Luke do well.

Lolly For Dolly winning at Royal Ascot under Wayne Lordan | Racingfotos.com

BS: Have you tried to buy many siblings to some of the younger horses who might be showing up well at home at Gordon Elliott's given you have an insight to the yard?

RM: You try and work every angle you can but it's very rare that it happens. If you know there's a good one, chances are that 10 more people know it as well. I remember a few years ago we tried to buy a half-brother to what Gordon thought was a smart horse in Pencilfulloflead (Ire) (Shantou). Half the sales complex knew about it as well, though. Kevin Ross bought the horse for €36,000. He was by Califet (Fr) and we thought we'd be very clever buying a half-brother to the then unraced Pencilfulloflead but we didn't get him. You would have had a chance of doing something like that 20 years ago but not any more.

BS: Are there any stallions you've done particularly well with?

RM: Beat Hollow (GB) was very good to us. Choisir (Aus) and Danetime (Ire) on the Flat as well.

BS: You were a Blue Bresil fan before it was cool to be one.

RM: We had that Blue Bresil (Fr) horse who ended up making £340,000 after winning his point-to-point, Willmount (GB). He was out in a field with The Four Sixes (Ire) (Westerner {Ire}), who we put into training with Gordon before selling privately to the McNeill family after he placed in a Leopardstown bumper. We sold Willmount at the Land Rover Sale to Rob James for €46,000 and he won his point for Colin Bowe.

BS: And is there anything coming through on the Flat that you like?

RM: I am a big Cotai Glory (GB) fan. I think he's a really nice sire. If you bought a mare it would be a fair start if you sent her to Cotai Glory. I think he's a good idea. He got the Group 1 winner, The Platinum Queen, in his second crop. I only realised the other day that The Platinum Queen (Ire) was the first two-year-old to win the Abbaye in 40-odd years. That's a fair feat. I've never owned a Cotai Glory but he's a stallion I like.

BS: Tell me a bit about your new role as chief executive of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association.

RM: I had been writing for over 20 years and just began to look at other avenues. This position came up and a number of aspects of the role interested me. You are representing a significant body in Irish racing. You are representing a body where some of its members are global names. It's a body with the capacity to drive change and positive change at that. I thought it was a role with potential.

BS: It's a role that comes with its challenges.

RM: Absolutely. It's an organisation that has gone through a difficult period. It has endured some very challenging times but a representative body for one of the most significant cohorts of people in Irish racing, that's got to have potential.

BS: Have you had a chance to pick up the phone to many people who have maybe lost faith in the organisation down through the years or is that something that will happen a bit further down the line?

RM: That's going to be an ongoing thing. I started on Dec. 1 and am trying to feel my way around at the moment but the hope would be to, over the course of time, instill a newfound confidence in the organisation.

BS: And you continue to do the race planning for Gordon Elliott who you work well with.

RM: He's very easy to work for. There's never been a cross word between us. He's a singular talent. Gordon actually rode a few point-to-pointers for my Dad back in the days when he was riding. I remember doing a pre-Cheltenham feature with him in 2007 when he had Silver Birch (Ire) (Clearly Bust {GB}) running in the cross-country. That was the year Silver Birch won the Grand National. We kept in contact after doing that feature and I would have recommended the odd horse to him here and there. We just became firm friends over the course of time. It was in 2015 that he asked me to do some race planning for him. Before that, I had been doing that role for David Wachman. David actually announced his retirement that season and, as it happened, Gordon had approached me about the role the week before.

BS: In many ways, Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott have brought National Hunt racing to a new level. Could you give us an insight into how Gordon operates and how your relationship with him works?

RM: Gordon is always concentrating on getting the next winner or the next good horse. It's never a case of basking in the afterglow for a considerable period of time after any big win. He was at Cheltenham the other day and I think he bought seven horses. He's got serious drive. In terms of race planning, when a meeting is closing, I'd give him a ring and propose a list of entries. He's the one who is looking at the horses every day so he says yes or no. The list is refined and there are plans for different horses at every level. It's fairly collaborative.

Apple's Jade fights off Vroum Vroum Mag to win the Hatton's Grace Hurdle | Racingfotos,com

BS: Is there any victory that you can look back on and say, 'that really cemented our relationship,' or is it something that has grown organically?

RM: It has grown organically and it's a great help that the yard is just a conveyor belt of winners. I remember we had a lot of discussions about Apple's Jade (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}). Gordon obviously got her off Willie and she had been a brilliant juvenile hurdler the season before. She got beaten by Rashaan (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}) in the WKD Hurdle at Down Royal on debut for Gordon before running in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle where she was beaten by Irving (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}). So that still wasn't great but it was a step in the right direction at least. The Hatton's Grace Hurdle was just a week after the Fighting Fifth and I can remember we'd a lot of back and forth as to whether she should go to Fairyhouse or not. She was taking on Vroum Vroum Mag (Fr) (Voix Du Nord {Fr}) and, eventually, we came to the conclusion that it was a good idea. It worked out and she won the first of many Grade 1s for Gordon. That was a good day.

BS: It's fair to say you've been in Gordon's corner for the good days and the bad. You spent a lot of time at Cullentra just before he was suspended in 2021.

RM: I did spend an awful lot of time there. For him, it was obviously a very challenging week, extremely so. I think the phrase he uses at times to describe the whole thing is 'a moment of madness,' and yes it was, but he just found himself at the centre of a storm that I don't think anyone could have foreseen.

BS: And it was a big season for your jockey Wayne Lordan, who scooped the prize for ride of the year at the HRI Awards last week for his heroics aboard Waterville (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the Irish Cesarewitch.

RM: Wayne has been there towards the head of the jockeys' standings for quite some time. He's a very modest and self-effacing character and is quite happy to just go out there and do his thing and let the horses do the talking for him. I was thrilled for him last week because that was a great ride.

BS: Was there ever a temptation to take on more riders or was it always the intention to have just one top-tier jockey like Wayne on the books?

RM: I never really set out to be a jockey's agent. It was actually David Wachman and Fozzy Stack who were keen for me to take over Wayne back in the day because they felt it would be handier to pick up the phone to me. I ended up doing Wayne by default in a way. I wasn't the one who came up with the idea. That was in 2008 or 2009. I've been doing it since. A long time.

BS: Sole Power was the first big one.

RM: He was the first Group 1 winner. He won the Nunthorpe at 100-1 and was the longest-priced Group 1 winner in Britain for 30-something years at the time. If you look back, the Nunthorpe took place on the same day of a really low-ley Killarney meeting, so there wasn't anything going on in Ireland that day. Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) was trained by Eddie Lynam, who was a big supporter of Wayne down through the years, and it's actually funny because Wayne was meant to go to York to ride another one of Eddie's, Notalossonya (Ire) (Cadeaux Genereaux {GB}), that day. Notalossonya had won the good 3-year-old handicap at Galway that season and was very much the one that Wayne was going over to ride. Anyway, Notalossonya got balloted so Wayne ended up going to York for this one ride, a 100-1 shot in a Group 1, and it happened. I don't think Wayne won another race on Sole Power after that but he got on Slade Power (Ire) for Eddie as well. Slade Power was a hell of a horse-winner of the Diamond Jubilee S. and the July Cup.

BS: And how did the move to Ballydoyle come about in 2017?

RM: Again, that was all around the same time when David Wachman announced his retirement. Wayne ended up in Ballydoyle and it has worked out well for him. He rode Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to win the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in his first year at Ballydoyle. Winter had won her two-year-old maiden at Dundalk under Wayne when she was based with David. She transferred over to Ballydoyle and Wayne kept the ride for the Guineas. He actually won the Guineas on Winter and then beat her in the Matron S. later that season on Hydrangea (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

BS: Iridessa was another important filly for Wayne.

RM: To win a Breeders' Cup race was big. Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler Of The World) {Ire}) was a great filly for Wayne. He won four Group 1 races on her. She was an unbelievable filly and, when you think about it, Joseph O'Brien did an unbelievable job with her to bring her all the way from winning a median auction maiden at Killarney to landing a Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Luckily, Wayne happened to be on her for many of those good days and they built up quite the relationship. I was out for dinner the night she won the Breeders' Cup. I've only watched that race about a thousand times since! But there's Wayne's record, he's won Classics, Breeders' Cup races, big winners in Australia–he's a top jockey.

BS: Getting back to the market, how do you see the next 12 months playing out? A lot of people have been driving on regardless at the sales but perhaps concentrating more on the high-end bracket. What way have you played it?

RM: You are looking at what is going on around the world and obviously we have this tech thing going on. Maybe that isn't too dissimilar to the horse business. Obviously you have the war in Ukraine and its many destabilising effects. The cost of living crisis has been the main news story in Ireland over the past number of months. People's gas and electricity bills have gone through the roof. We haven't seen that bite in the thoroughbred industry, which is obviously good, but there has to be a point where it manifests itself in some shape or form. I am wondering did we see a little bit of it creep into the National Hunt foal market towards the end of the year. Clearance rates were running at around 60% so you were dealing with sales where a third of the horses were not selling. That market is of course predominantly Irish with a bit of English thrown in there so I am just wondering did we see a little bit of tightening there. Obviously the Flat is much better insulated because it's an international market. Even the most low-key of Flat sales had an international element to it. Take the Open Yearling Sale at Goffs, there was a major international element to that with the Eastern Europeans and so on.

BS: I know you are only two weeks in your new role but what sort of calls have you fielded from trainers? There must be serious concerns out there.

RM: I have had a number of calls outlining how tough it is for trainers to make ends meet at the moment. Insurance premiums are a major concern as they have gone up again. Unfortunately, a lot of trainers are finding it very tough but you can't wave a magic wand and make it better. I hope over the course of time that the organisation can make a difference. Maybe we could look at staging races for trainers who do not have more than 40 horses in training or something similar. Would that be a better way to do it rather than races for trainers who have had 10 or less winners the previous season? Maybe races confined to a certain echelon could work well. It's something that could be refined over a period of time but that's certainly something we could look at. It was put to me years ago that we should have a premium 45-65 at something like a Galway festival and make it worth €22,000. I thought it was a great idea. You'd have a hell of a handicap in that you'd have 16 or 18 horses who've either won or come second on their previous start as that's what you'd need to do in order to guarantee a run with the balloting system. It would be a real thing to aim towards Galway with those hoses. It could just work and it would create a tremendous betting race.

BS: I'd love to see more claimers in the programme.

RM: I don't think that would be a bad thing. There seems to be a good turnover of horses in claimers and the culture to these races has definitely changed. They are reasonably regular on the Flat but they remain somewhat infrequent over jumps. I'm not sure if claimers need to be worth more money but there could be more of them. The system as it is is functioning and growing.

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New Breeze-up Alliance Of Halpin And Davis Enjoys Early Success At Dundalk

The spotlight was cast on the burgeoning breeze-up operation of jockeys Gary Halpin and Sean Davis, best known for riding winners rather than producing them, when their graduate Song For Whoever (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) ran out an impressive winner of the opening six-furlong maiden at Dundalk on Friday evening.

Song For Whoever, who Halpin and Davis bought for €28,000 at the Goffs Sportsman's Sale last year before selling to Howson & Holdsworth Bloodstock for £42,000 at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale, was getting off the mark at the third attempt for trainer John O'Donoghue in the colours of Genesis Thoroughbreds.

Although he was consigned by Tally-Ho Stud at the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale, Song For Whoever was sourced and produced by the riders, who will be consigning under the name GS Bloodstock from their new base at Ulundi Lodge on the Curragh next year.

“Your judgment is on the line–you are telling people what you think the horses can do and it's important that they back you up,” – Gary Halpin

A delighted Halpin said on Friday evening, “We bought him at the Sportsman's Sale under Rushway Stables for €28,000. We were looking for something that could breeze and he looked sharp enough to do that. We had him on our list and Roger O'Callaghan, who we have worked closely with for a number of years, had seen him as well. It was a help that he liked him.”

He added, “I prepped him at Kevin Prendergast's yard in Friarstown on the Curragh. He was there all winter and did most of his early work while I was riding out in Kevin's and he went from there to Doncaster where he sold to Matt Holdsworth for Noel Hayes. We were very fortunate that Tally-Ho were happy to consign him for us.

“He was actually popular enough to a point at the sales. George Boughey and Mark McStay had a go on him. I think George was the underbidder and I'm pretty sure that Mark was on him for a long while as well. The right people were interested in him, thankfully.”

Halpin enjoyed his best ever season as a rider in 2016 when partnering 36 winners domestically while his biggest success came aboard the Ross O'Sullivan-trained Rocky Sky (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) in the Listed Salsibil S. at Naas last term.

Davis has returned to Ireland after a successful spell in Britain, where he rode 56 winners in 2019, and alongside Halpin, will continue to ride whilst preparing the breezers.

However, the name Halpin will not be seen on a racecard anytime soon, with Friday's victory proving a timely tonic for the man sidelined with a fractured jaw.

He explained, “We've 11 in at the moment but there are a few more due back to us in the next few days and we will add another one or two in January. We are looking at having around 15 2-year-olds to breeze next year.

“Sean and I will consign under GS Bloodstock next year. It's exciting. Especially now that everything is cantering and broken in, we can see them progress. Unfortunately, I'm not riding them myself at the minute because I'm out of action with a fractured jaw, but I'm getting to see plenty on the ground.

“I think we've amassed a bunch of horses who are going to get to a good level. The Inns Of Court (Ire) colt that we bought at Doncaster has had three updates since we got him. He's now a half-brother to Believing (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who has done really well to be multiple stakes-placed for George Boughey and Highclere Thoroughbreds.

“She's one we'll be keeping a close eye on next year. Mick Fitzpatrick sold her for 115,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale in April so, all things being equal, we'd be hoping to get our own lad to the Craven safe and sound.”

On the rest of the breeze-up battalion, he added, “We've a lovely Cotai Glory (GB) colt who we gave €65,000 for at Tattersalls Ireland. He was consigned by Tally-Ho and is out of a half-sister to Fairyland (Ire). He's going to be exciting.

“We've been sent a Kodiac (GB) filly who's out of a half-sister to Middle Park S. winner Supremacy (Ire) and there's a nice Dandy Man (Ire) colt from the family of Slade Power (Ire). We've a nice bunch and there's a couple of others there as well.”

Asked how riding winners compares with producing them, Halpin said, “It's totally different. It's a different feeling altogether. Your judgment is on the line–you are telling people what you think the horses can do and it's important that they back you up. As a jockey, your judgment has to be right when you ride a horse work or ride it in a race, your feedback has to be good. This is a little bit more added pressure. It's a different sort of pressure.”

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