14 minute read
Agent of change
Jerry McGrath’s riding career came to an enforced conclusion after a bad fall at Lingfield in 2021, but the ex-jockey has lost no time establishing himself as a successful bloodstock agent, writes
LIFE AFTER THE WEIGHING ROOM can prove a challenge for some jockeys. Gone is the reassuring structure of the race day schedule, the camaraderie of your colleagues and the adrenaline high of riding thoroughbreds in the heat of competition. Filling the void is no small matter, especially when what comes next is far from guaranteed.
Few have made the transition more seamlessly than Jerry McGrath, who has quickly established himself as a bloodstock agent going places fast. His eye for future talent has been well advertised by the likes of Grade 1 winner Jango Baie and the hugely exciting Sir Gino, to name but two.
The bright start McGrath has enjoyed in his second career is perhaps made all the more striking when contrasted with the way his time in the saddle came to a sudden and violent end.
McGrath had retirement from race riding forced upon him after a fall in a jumpers bumper at Lingfield on January 18, 2021. He was riding Vegas Blue for his boss Nicky Henderson when the evens-favourite ended up short of room on the home turn, clipped heels and, in the ensuing fall, threw McGrath into the path of oncoming runners.
It was such a sickening incident that it is hard not to reflect that, although he suffered a dislocated and fractured left shoulder and hip, it could so easily have been much worse.
“When I was in hospital for those ten days, it was horrendous really,” he says.
“The pain was terrible and because of Covid I wasn’t allowed any visitors. That meant my parents couldn’t travel over and Charlotte, my partner at the time and now my wife, wasn’t allowed to visit.
“So I had to deal with the pain of the fall and then the mental side, too, because you couldn’t see anyone close to you, which was very tough.”
But if these events sound traumatic, the memories are recounted remarkably matter-of-factly. McGrath says he is not prone to indulging in self pity.
“The way I look at it is that it could have been an awful lot worse,” he continues. “I know for a fact it could’ve been. I’m very good friends with Jacob Pritchard Webb, who was obviously left in a wheelchair from a fall at Auteuil.
“There’s no point feeling sorry for yourself and I’m the sort of person who wouldn’t spend too much time dwelling on things like that. There’s a lot worse things going on in the world.”
Although McGrath’s riding career was cruelly cut short, a move into the bloodstock side of the business was something he had been working towards while still part of the Seven Barrows team.
“The way I look at it is that everything was fastforwarded by five years,” he says. “I never planned on plugging away riding until I was 40 because I didn’t want to be too old going into my next career. A lot of this industry is a young man’s game so I was conscious of there being a right time to get into the agent side of things.”
He continues: “So when I was riding it was always in the back of my head to put down a few foundations for what I might do afterwards. I was doing bits of buying and selling while I was riding and I’ve always been fascinated by pedigrees and where the horses were sourced and who they came from. If I ever rode a horse in a bumper or novice hurdle I nearly knew more about the pedigree than the trainer or owner did – and that’s not a reflection on them, I lived a very boring life!”
Where horses come from is an important part of the equation for any bloodstock agent, as is where they go next. On the latter front, McGrath has been able to call upon the support of his old boss, Nicky Henderson. However, when it comes to recruiting future talent, not to mention spending significant sums of clients’ money, there is no room for sentimentality. Nobody gets to buy horses for Seven Barrows just for old time’s sake.
“There was no agreement and no promises, I had to go out and work,” McGrath says on his recalibrated relationship with Henderson.
“I knew if the right horses came along then Nicky would be there to help, and he has done massively. I owe an awful lot to him.”
Henderson may have facilitated a connection with the likes of Joe and Marie Donnelly, whose silks are carried by Sir Gino, and Jango Baie’s owner Anthony Barney, but McGrath still had to find horses befitting connections’ high standards. His eye has been honed not only by his time around the many champions who have passed through Seven Barrows, but by learning at the side of some of the sharpest minds in the business.
“Even before I started doing any sales work I was in Seven Barrows where every horse is good looking and moves well,” he says. “I thought every horse was like that, then you see others and realise the difference. That’s what I look for now though, a ‘Seven Barrows horse’.
“I spent an awful lot of time with Highflyer Bloodstock and they taught me everything I know when it comes to the sales and what happens there, what you need to look for and what you need to avoid.
They were incredible to me, especially David Minton. He played a massive part in all that I’ve learned so far. The amount of good horses they’ve bought is just crazy.”
Buying horses is a high-risk game of snakes and ladders with no set rules. It is clear that McGrath is committed to getting the process right.
“A lot of people think you buy a horse at the sales and that’s it,” he says. “A lot of people think it’s easy; turn up at the sales and put your hand in the air. I was in Wexford at a point-to-point yard the other week and I asked the lads there if they get nervous the night before a sale. They said no because their work is done. The form is in the book, the horses either vet well or they don’t so there’s nothing much they can do then.
“They asked me the same question and I told them that I wouldn’t usually sleep great the night before a sale because I have everything playing over in my head.
"Whether that’s vettings or conformation or if the horse is any good. And then which client should you be putting the horse to, is it the right horse at the right time? And that’s probably a good thing because at least it shows you want it to work.”
Seldom will the sales process turn out as successfully as it has with Jango Baie. The £170,000 Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale signing was bought on behalf of Anthony Barney, who races under the Countrywide Park Homes banner. Less than 12 months after his purchase, the son of Tiger Groom landed the Grade 1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree, which was previously run as the Tolworth.
Reflecting on his first top-flight success as an agent, McGrath says: “It was incredible, I got an absolutely massive buzz off it. You’re always hearing whispers about horses who are going well, whether it’s in Ireland or France, and Mick Goff had put the horse to me before he’d even run in his point-to-point.
“He was out early even though he was big and weak and he was probably an unlucky loser on the day [ran second at Knockanard] as Derek O’Connor’s ride on No Flies On Him was incredible, he just pounced from the back of the last.
I actually enquired about buying Jango Baie privately, even though sometimes you can buy a horse cheaper at the sales, but with him we probably paid about the same. Tony Barney was looking for a few nice horses and he fitted that bill nicely.
Sir Gino came from a completely different source, having been purchased privately after winning the Listed Prix Wild Monarch for Carlos and Yann Lerner.
Explaining the backstory, McGrath says: “I linked up with Toby Jones, who I’d done a bit of business with before, and told him I’d like to do more with the French angle if I could. I’d ridden out in France a small bit but this was my first time looking to source horses. I didn’t speak a word of French at the time either, which didn’t help!
“We’d actually been told about Sir Gino before he ran and he was very impressive on the day, and obviously he’s a very impressive physical as well, a big, scopey horse.
"We were happy to get him bought as quickly as we could. It took him a while to adjust to training on an uphill gallop, as a lot of French horses do, but from day one his work was always very good. He always showed an awful lot of speed and natural ability.”
McGrath’s services have also been utilised by the rapidly expanding Noel Fehily Racing and the agent signed for the group’s dual Grade 2 winner Love Envoi, whose successes include victory in the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, at just £38,000.
These banner results have seen McGrath’s client base extend beyond connections from his riding days, having bought for trainers like Chris Gordon and Ben Pauling, and owner Simon Davies, who races under the DahlBury banner.
“Initially everyone I was buying for were connections I had through my riding,” says McGrath. “When you’re riding you have a great reason to make contacts with trainers and owners. People probably know me from my riding days too, which is a big help because I dread the thought of cold calling and people not having an idea of who you are. But on the back of buying a few nice horses I’ve opened a few new doors.”
Alongside his own talent-spotting duties, McGrath is a part of Goffs’ British-based team. He joined the company as a bloodstock manager shortly after his riding career came to an end.
“At the time that was a massive lifeline – when you’re riding, yes I was self-employed but I was earning a good old living from it,”he says.
“I was going from earning a decent enough living to earning nothing, so at the time I was thinking what do I do next?
“The job came up and it was brilliant timing. I’m very grateful to Goffs and I love working for them. It is a great company and they really look after us.
“When they offered me the job I didn’t really know what it entailed, but it’s as far from nine to five as you get. At the moment we’re flat out looking at all the store horses for those sales. Prior to that I was out inspecting the breeze-up horses for the sale in April, then it won’t be long before you’re back out looking at yearlings for the Premier Sale. We’re kept busy but thankfully I can work that in with my agenting and it coincides very easily.”
There is no doubt that McGrath was a talented rider, as highlighted by his Cheltenham Festival triumphs aboard Beware The Bear and Une Artiste, while he also registered Grade 2 victories on Constantine Bay, Santini and Verdana Blue.
But he has already achieved Grade 1 success as an agent, and it is hard not to feel the best is yet to come.
“When a lot of people stop race riding, they struggle to find something to replace it,” he says. “Thankfully I’ve been lucky to buy some lovely horses for some lovely people, and I’ve had the chance to see plenty of these horses go to the big days. I get a massive kick out of it all and just want to keep doing everything right and going in the right direction.”
Stallion investment: Herostar the full-brother to Jonbon and Douvan
BESIDES HIS OWN AGENCY WORK and his role within the Goffs team, McGrath is also involved with Herostar, the full-brother to Jonbon and Douvan who is standing his first season at stud at Haras de la Vallee Verte. McGrath reports the son of Walk In The Park to have taken well to his new role.
“He’s covered six or seven mares now and the first few are scanned in foal already, which is brilliant news,” he says.
“He’s obviously going to have to do it the hard way because he didn’t get to the racecourse, but he’s a full-brother to two champion racehorses and there’s still a lot to happen in the pedigree.”
Despite boasting one of the best jumps pedigrees around, Herostar was sourced from the Arqana Autumn Sale in 2022 for just €6,500.
Taking up the story of how he came to buy such a blue-blooded prospect for such a modest amount, McGrath says: “I’d bought three or four form horses on the day and the sale was going over very late, so it probably got to half seven or eight o’clock in the evening when Toby came up and asked how Jonbon was going.
“I told him he was going to a novice chase at Warwick the following week and that he jumps well at home and that we’d struggle to find something to beat him. Anyway, he turned around and asked if I’d be interested in buying his full-brother.
“I said ‘Definitely, what part of France is he in?’ and he said ‘He’s in the ring in 12 lots’ time!’ He was a late entry into the supplementary catalogue so I’d missed that he was even in the sale.
“We looked at him outside and Toby did a bit of digging and there weren’t any issues so we thought we were going to have to give a lot more for him.
"I’ve never had so many phone calls about a horse after I’ve bought one.”
McGrath says there was no plan in place when they purchased Herostar – the horse inititally went into training but the decision was taken to call time and send the horse to stud as a completely unique proposition.
“We very nearly gelded him but thankfully we didn’t,” he says. “We tried our best to see if he’d get to the track but it reached a certain point where we thought that because he had such a good pedigree and a bit of size and substance that we should just crack on and go down the Plan B route.
“A lot of breeders in France tend to use stallions who are close by to them, and that’s the beauty with this lad is that he’s standing in Normandy so he’s surrounded by lots of nice studs.
“He’s had a good reception and he’ll cover a few mares from Britain and Ireland too from people who want a bit of angle. The man who owns the stud, José Lardot, bought another four mares at Arqana in February, so he’ll cover 50 or 60 in his first season.
“Toby and I have sourced a few mares to support him as well.”
