12 minute read
It's Leo
Shock and delight
A mixed month for Leo – he enjoyed the ITBA Awards (and was a surprised recipient) but then had to miss Cheltenham due to an unexpected hospital stay
WHAT A ROLLER-COASTER MONTH it has been. Looking back, and even as I document the happenings of this period, there are large doses of disbelief still.
There have been incredible highs and some disappointments, both personally and professionally. For certain, there has been little time for boredom, and I will attempt to put into words, and share my feelings, on some of these happenings. Best to start at the top.
For many years, more than it is good to recall, I have had the honour of acting as master of ceremonies at the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s (ITBA) National Awards ceremony. It is a personal highlight each year, helping to celebrate the best of the Irish breeding industry. Ten awards are presented for the top equines, Flat and National Hunt, while there are four awards given to people for their personal achievements.
Such is the importance of the evening that it is attended by senior members of the Irish Government, their presence showing how valuable the breeding sector is to the economy, delivering as it does significant exchequer revenue, providing employment throughout the island, and also delivering on the green agenda; the success of Irish horses around the world an ongoing good news story.
For those of you who have been to the evening, it is truly spectacular. Some 400 guests attend wearing blacktie, the event is streamed live globally, and the 14 awards are accompanied by superb video footage celebrating the successes and achievements of the recipients. Often, and again this year, there is a high degree of emotion in the room.
This was especially evident at the start of the evening when we paid tribute to the ITBA’s recently deceased chief executive, Una Tormey McElroy.
The ITBA’s Next Generation wing is a vibrant group of young professionals engaged in many aspects of the industry, and in recent years they have a member who is honoured for their work. This year’s recipient Amy Marnane has not only made a name for herself, but she continues to keep her family name to the forefront of the business.
Amy’s dad, the hugely popular Con, was the proudest man in the room and emotions were high as everyone recalled Con’s late wife Theresa, who died last year; how proud she would have been.
GREAT FRIENDS Meta Osborne and Dermot Cantillon were inducted into the Hall of Fame, a special moment for Meta as she joined her father Michael on that roll of honour. This “power couple” have made such a variety of contributions to the breeding, racing and veterinary areas, and they have much still to offer. They were surrounded by family and friends to join in the revelries.
The Wild Geese Award celebrates Irish men and women who have made a significant contribution to the industry away from their native shore. Littleton Stud’s David Bowe was this year’s recipient, the man who has guided the fortunes and successes of Jeff Smith’s farm for a long time now. How appropriate it was that he should be acknowledged so soon after his boss was presented with the Cartier Award of Merit.
The final “human” award is that for Contribution to the Industry, and somewhat unusually it was the only one on that night for which the recipient was not named in advance.
As master of ceremonies I was one of the few who “knew” the name of the winner, and the unusual veil of secrecy was due to the fact that the man getting it would have been too bashful to accept it. As the “supposed” winner was someone I have known all my professional life, I was excited for the presentation.
Imagine the pure shock when, turning the tables, the awards committee led by Ballyhane Stud’s Joe Foley started to show the tribute footage, and I was announced as the recipient. The following minutes on stage were a complete blur, and it was only in the days afterwards that I got to hear so many kind words spoken about me.
As great as the award itself is, proudly taking centre stage at home, hearing the likes of Kirsten Rausing, Robert Hall, Jacqueline Norris, Nick Nugent, Joe Connolly and Matt Dempsey speak of me and my career was truly humbling.
To each of them I offer my sincere thanks, to the ITBA I say this has been the honour of my life to receive, and to the hundreds of people from around the world who offered me congratulations I cannot tell you what they mean to me.
Whatever about my contribution to the industry, I am deeply moved that my peers in this wonderful world of thoroughbred breeding, racing and sales saw fit to recognise my lifetime involvement.
I love the industry, I adore its participants, and I will continue to make the best efforts I can to it in the years ahead. Oh, and who says you cannot keep a secret in this business?
Missing Cheltenham was literally a pain
The disappointment of the past month was my inability, for just the second occasion in more than four decades with the exception of the pandemic, to attend Cheltenham. This annual pilgrimage to the shrine of jump racing is set in stone in my calendar.
Instead, I languished in a hospital bed, my only access to the racing coverage being on my mobile telephone.
An unexpected dash to A&E instead of a trip to Dublin Port to catch the ferry to Holyhead signalled the end of my hopes to travel to Prestbury Park. My nice room with a view of the Cotswolds replaced by a bed in a public ward of the Tallaght University Hospital.
An elevated infection and severe pain was the cause of my late withdrawal, but thankfully my return to full health is now well advanced.
It is typical of life in Ireland that there are few places you can go, even hospital, where some connection to horses is not immediately evident.
One of the senior nurse managers on the Lane Ward in the hospital was from a well-known family of bookmakers, and she would pop her head in to tell me of her latest winning wager, starting with Grey Dawning. She had foregone a trip to Cheltenham herself in order to attend Aintree instead.
One of the staff nurses told me, after I bemoaned for the nth time that I was missing the Festival, that she was a neighbour of Jessica Harrington, and had as a young girl been a keen pony racing participant. Stories such as this are all too common.
A week before my hospitalisation, I was in another such institution to have a small procedure. When I was in the recovery room, the nurse in charge turned out to be a first cousin of Ger Lyons.
These are among numerous examples I could list of how close people in Ireland are to the land, and to someone in the racing or breeding industries.
While the world is becoming increasingly urbanised, we are fortunate to have so many in the population who are only a generation or two removed from the land.
Needless to say, I was bombarded each day of my stay in hospital with requests for a tip. As a non-punter I don’t usually concern myself with tipping, but there was no escaping on this occasion.
Mercifully, I did manage each day to give my fellow patients one each-way shot at odds of 5/1 or better, and while none of them won, all managed to place. I could at least hold my head up.
A downside of being confined to bed for the week of Cheltenham was that I had more time than was healthy to be on social media.
The four days left me feeling quite despondent. Negativity about the meeting was everywhere, and while I do not always wear rose-tinted spectacles, I fail to understand why so many professionally engaged in the sport can only see the downside.
For starters, I would like to see less talk about domination. The whole Ireland versus Britain narrative around NH racing is not needed. We are co-dependant on each other, and the fortunes of racing in both jurisdictions are cyclical.
Instead of bemoaning the successes enjoyed by horses trained in one country, or even in one yard, the challenge is for everyone else to raise their game and be the next to reach the summit.
If the sport and industry keeps putting out a negative image of racing, how are we going to attract new blood into ownership?
The onus has to be on the authorities getting the fundamentals in place to make owning a racehorse an attractive proposition. One of the keys to this continues to be prize-money, while also having all stakeholders working towards a common goal.
Having all sectors in Ireland working side by side under the umbrella of Horse Racing Ireland is a tremendous advantage, and while not everything is perfect, the template is a good one.
Taking on a new challenge
While I continue to be contributing editor to The Irish Field, my move away from being the overall editor last year has opened up new opportunities, one of which is being a columnist here.
Another new role that has presented itself, and been accepted by me, is that of independent chairman of the Bloodstock Industry Forum (BIF). This body was established in August 2021 following the Felice Report, commissioned by the British Horseracing Authority, into the buying and selling of bloodstock. The principal manifestation of the BIF’s work since then has been the adoption of the Bloodstock Industry Code of Practice at all Tattersalls and Goffs sales in Britain and Ireland.
BIF is made up of representatives of the main players in the British and Irish bloodstock industry, with members from sales companies, bloodstock agents, owners, consignors, and regulatory and promotion bodies.
BIF’s role is to monitor the effectiveness of the Code of Practice, oversee the structures that support the code, and to make recommendations for actions.
In a world that increasingly demands transparency and good governance, the objective of the BIF has never been more important, ensuring the integrity and reputation of bloodstock sales in Ireland and Britain.
Whitsbury on the crest of another wave
AN EARLY START to the season saw the Curragh open the Flat Turf season just after our celebration of St Patrick’s Day, with the first two-year-old race sponsored by Ger O’Neill’s Capital Stud and run in the names of two of his young sires, Alkumait and Castle Star. The race was run just days after the first juvenile race in Europe was staged in France. The winner at The Curragh deserves a special mention on a number of fronts.
Named by Sue Magnier in honour of the Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, Sergei Prokofiev is a Whitsbury Manor Stud sire whose son Arizona Blaze, in the silks of Amo Racing and Giselle de Aguiar, won the opening two-year-old race of 2024 in Ireland. Adrian Murray trains the winner, and last year he sent out Bucanero Fuerte to win the same race.
I hardly need to remind you of what Bucanero Fuerte achieved subsequently. He added the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes and Group 2 Gain Railway Stakes to his tally of victories, while he placed in the Group 1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes and the Group 2 Coventry Stakes. Could this year’s winner be as successful?
Showcasing and Havana Grey have catapulted Ed Harper’s Whitsbury Manor Stud into another stratosphere in terms of stallions, and while it is early doors yet, the former Ballydoyle inmate Sergei Prokofiev could be another star in the making. Trained by Aidan O’Brien and bought for $1,100,000 as a yearling, Sergei Prokofiev was a group winner at Newmarket as a two-year-old, while the Canadian-bred son of Scat Daddy won a listed sprint in Ireland at three. He went to stud at the very reasonable fee of £6,500.
Sergei Prokofiev has some 121 juveniles to potentially represent him this year, and covered an average of 150 mares in each of his first three seasons at stud.
He must surely be short odds to become the leading first season sire, and the changing face of that title race will engage me and many others for the months ahead.
Where is the biggest challenge to Sergei Prokofiev likely to come from? The obvious choices are Pinatubo and Earthlight. An unbeaten champion at two when he memorably won the Group 1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh by nine lengths, Pinatubo has 109 two-year-olds to represent him.
Fellow Darley stallion Earthlight, like Pinatubo a two-year-old Group 1 winner by Shamardal, has 108 juveniles. Both will attempt to emulate the achievements last year of Blue Point. While these three stand out, could there be a dark horse among the likes of Far Above, Ghaiyyath, Arizona, Kameko, Mohaather, Sands of Mali, and Shaman?
