There She Goes: Honeysuckle Leaves Cheltenham in Raptures

CHELTENHAM, UK–One champion crowned as another exits. But there was no quiet shuffling off, stage left, for Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}), who was roared home, roared in, and roared out of the Cheltenham winner's circle that provides no better setting for equine coronations. 

Just forty minutes earlier the new king of the hurdling division, Constitution Hill (GB), had delivered exactly the performance expected of him but one which can never be guaranteed in the hurly-burly of championship races at the Festival. Plenty of commentators are already suggesting that the son of Blue Bresil (Fr) is the greatest hurdler of all time after he has made just six spotless starts under Rules. Whether he is or isn't is almost irrelevant. The horse who gave Nicky Henderson his record ninth win in the Unibet Champion Hurdle is the best there is right now by a long way: nine lengths, in fact, if we take his winning margin as a measure. And on any other day, in any other week, his superb round under Nico de Boinville would have been the stand-alone performance that gave all comers at Prestbury Park that special I-was-there moment. 

Who, after all, will forget that flamboyant, spring-heeled leap at the last, not because he needed to but just because he could? The image of that split second alone will linger on, serving as it did to underline the untapped reserves of Constitution Hill at the end of a race that had his rivals hard to the pump in fruitless pursuit. Then along came Honeysuckle.

“This is just a horse race and a bit of fun, it's not real life,” said the great mare's owner Kenny Alexander in the aftermath of the Close Brother Mares' Hurdle, and his may have been the coolest head there, for all around him others were losing theirs. “We knew it would be Honeysuckle's final race, and those who have adored her and Rachael Blackmore–because, let's face it, this is a dream double act–will have shared the pain of her two defeats this season, even though her mighty record now stands at 19 for 17. Honeysuckle owed us nothing, but there was a score to be settled nonetheless. 

When the headstrong Love Envoi (Ire) (Westerner {GB}) looked as though she would have her freewheeling way all the way to the line, there was for a moment a feeling of resignation, that this would be okay, to see Honeysuckle finish second for the second time; an honourable swansong. But Honeysuckle herself, driven by Blackmore and responding all the way from the back of the last, had other ideas. 

“She's tried to kill me for five years now,” said her trainer Henry de Bromhead, and you could see that feisty mare dig deep to give everything she had left to power up the hill for one glorious last hurrah. Four runs at the Cheltenham Festival: two Champion Hurdles, two Mares' Hurdles. What a girl. 

With Blackmore still breathless after her own heroic effort, she immediately understood that this was about more than just winning a horse race. 

“We all wish a very special kid could be here today, but he's watching down on us,” she said, with thoughts of Jack de Bromhead, the 13-year-old son of Honeysuckle's trainer and his wife Heather, who lost his life last September in a pony racing accident. He is officially commemorated at Cheltenham on Thursday with the running of the Jack de Bromhead Mares' Novices' Hurdle in which his father will field five of the 21 runners. 

For the de Bromhead stable, Honeysuckle's work is done, but she will remain very much within the Alexander fold. The owner-breeder, who some years ago bought New Hall Stud in Ayrshire from the Thom family, has, with the help of Peter Molony, set about establishing an elite band of National Hunt broodmares. Now that colony has its queen, who will head to Scotland eventually once she is safely in foal. Molony confirmed in the winner's enclosure, lump in throat as he spoke, that Honeysuckle would return to Ireland to his Rathmore Stud initially, and that she is already booked for a first tryst with Coolmore's Walk In The Park (Ire).

Alexander added, “She's retired now and I've had an absolute blast owning her. I'm lost for words to be honest, the celebration was out of control. If you can't lose it a bit after winning a race like that though, you probably shouldn't own racehorses.

“It just shows you how great the sport is when she's getting a cheer like that. They don't love me, that's for sure. They may love Rachael, and even Henry a bit, but they really love that horse.”

As one industry stalwart put it as Honeysuckle took a final lap of honour of the Cheltenham parade ring: “What an hour of magic.”

At times, it is easy to get ground down by some of racing's woes, from major issues to petty bureaucracies. But on days like Tuesday, when the winter sun finally showed its face after weeks of brutal weather, as if to say, “Go on then, have your fun”, the fun never felt so good. From Marine Nationale (Fr) (French Navy {Ire}) in the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle and two victories on the day for his engaging young jockey Michael O'Sullivan, to a dust-up in the last between another three of the best amateurs in the game, it was a day to remember exactly why we love this great sport. A day that belonged, equally, to Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle. 

 

 

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One Last Festival Hurrah for Honeysuckle 

Kenny Alexander's dual Champion Hurdler Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) will make her swansong in the G1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle at next month's Cheltenham Festival.

The 9-year-old was beaten for the first time in 16 starts when tackling the Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse in December, in which she was third. She went on to finish runner-up to State Man (Ire) in last weekend's Irish Champion Hurdle, a race she had won for the three previous seasons.

A 12-time Grade 1 victrix, Honeysuckle is also a treble winner at the Cheltenham Festival, having won the last two Champion Hurdles and the Mares' Hurdle in 2020.

Peter Molony, racing manager to Kenny Alexanxder, announced the news on Tuesday morning.

He told PA Media, “I think after Sunday, on mature reflection, most reasonable people would agree she has taken a step back. She still fought her heart out and when Vauban came to take second off her she put her head down and her ears back and went 'not on your life'.

“So she still has that competitive spirit, she's still a racehorse and that's why we've decided to give her one last hurrah. She deserves it and Cheltenham would be a lovely place to bow out.”

He added, “The whole day on Sunday, strangely enough, even though we got beat, was one of the best days we've had on a racecourse with Honey. The reception she got, the cheer when Rachael got legged up, the roars as she cantered down to the start–Rachael said when she got down to the start she had a stupid grin on her face from the huge reception they got.

“The public have really taken her to their hearts and it's wonderful, so Cheltenham is probably the right place for her to finish her career.”

Honeysuckle will retire eventually to Alexander's New Hall Stud in Scotland, where the owner-breeder is assembling a formidable team of National Hunt mares. The Ayrshire farm was the birthplace of Group 1 winner Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), who was bred by Gordon Thom and later found ever greater fame as the dam of Japanese Horse of the Year Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

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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.

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McManus, Manning Honoured With Horse Racing Ireland Awards

Leading owner J.P. McManus and the recently retired jockey Kevin Manning were among those honoured Monday at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards.

McManus, who is a 19-time champion National Hunt owner in Ireland, received the Contribution to the Industry Award. He has been associated with many of the top jumps horses for over 40 years with more 4,000 winners, including Mister Donavan (Choral Society {GB}), Jack Of Trumps (Kings Theatre {Ire}) and Deep Gale (Deep Run {GB}). He is a six-time Champion Hurdle-winning owner, two-time Grand National winner with Don't Push It (Old Vic [GB}) and Minella Times (Oscar {Ire}), and the Cheltenham Gold Cup went his way with Synchronised (Sadler's Wells).

Manning, who concluded his 40 years in the saddle this fall, was bestowed the Irish Racing Hero Award. He was champion apprentice in 1984 and 1987 and he won 36 Group 1 winners over his remarkable career, including the Epsom Derby aboard New Approach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in 2008, the Irish Derby on Trading Leather (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) Hong Kong Cup on Alexander Goldrun (Ire) (Gold Away [Ire}) in 2004.

The Kenny Alexander-owned Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) was crowned Horse of the Year for the second consecutive year after extending her winning streak to 16 races. She remained unbeaten for a fourth season and added Hatton's Grace Hurdle for a third time, the Irish Champion Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival for a second time, and the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.

Jockey Sam Ewing received the Emerging Talent Award, the National Hunt Award went to Henry de Bromhead, the National Hunt Achievement Award was won by John 'Shark' Hanlon, Liz Lalor earned the Point-To-Point honor, the Flat Award went to Billy Lee, the Flat Achievement Award was given to Dylan Browne McMonagle and Wayne Lordan was honored with the Ride of the Year for his effort aboard  Waterville in the Friends of The Curragh Irish Cesarewitch.

 

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