A CHANCE encounter with top American steeplechase trainer Leslie Young at the 21 Club in Cheltenham some 10 years ago was the catalyst for what has since been a thriving career for bloodstock agent Hamish Macauley.

Over the past decade, the 33-year-old has sent out dozens of horses to the USA, mostly Irish point-to-pointers. He found a niche in the market that has been hugely successful, so much so it was a major factor in Leslie Young landing the steeplechase trainers’ title three times in a row between 2022 and 2024.

“It was socially in Cheltenham when I first met Leslie,” the UK-based Wicklow native recalled. “She came over to buy a horse, and was unable to do so, so I helped her out.”

First came the French-bred Polstar (by Poliglote), a £5,000 purchase at Goffs UK in September, 2016. He landed the $20,000 Holiday Cup during the Aiken Fall Steeplechase on his American debut a month later. It was a nice return for small money.

“I also bought Invocation privately for Leslie around the same time. He didn’t cost much either and won a novice stakes at Saratoga. I then just ended up buying more to send out and it kind of snowballed from there.”

Macauley now travels extensively to source new horses and, when we caught up on the phone recently, he was back talent-spotting point-to-pointers at Lisronagh and Borris House, not a million miles from his childhood home.

“I grew up at Ballyward House near Manor Kilbride. My late grandparents, William and Diana (Macauley), had a few nice horses, including the 1969 Grand National runner-up Steel Bridge and Royal Highway.” Winner of the Irish St Leger in 1958, Royal Highway later went on to be a prolific sire.

Hunting background

“My father (Rupert) also had a few mares and was involved in hunting. He hunted the Kildare Foxhounds for several seasons and now has his own pack, the West Wicklow Foxhounds.”

Macauley went to the prestigious Headfort School in Kells, Co Meath to board at around the age of seven, and he has some fond memories of his time there. It is the only school in Ireland which allows students to keep their ponies on site. “I remember Mary Kavanagh used to bring us hunting and racing too.”

When he completed his secondary education in the UK (his mother Jules lives there), he further pursued his interest in horses and did a bit of bid-spotting at Tattersalls. “I then went to Australia and did a year at Yarraman Park Stud. From there, I went to Arrowfield Stud for a sales season. That was good fun and there were a lot of Irish over there.”

Macauley then returned to the UK and did a stint at Highclere Stud, as well as a sales season with bloodstock agent Jamie McCalmont. “I learnt a lot from him. It was my first real experience of shadowing another agent.

“I then went away from horses altogether. I just wanted to try something different and went to London, selling off-plan new homes. I was working on commission and it was good money. I did that for two years.”

In the meantime, Macauley bought a few foals to pinhook. “That went okay, I didn’t make anything or lose. I got my money back. It was also around that time I met Leslie.”

He was only in his mid-20s, but that chance encounter with Leslie Young opened a lot of new doors, and he saw that a gap in the market was there for the taking. “I found there wasn’t really anyone doing it - sending jump horses to the States. I was the first person to buy pointers to go out there. That was the main part of our success. A lot had form in Irish point-to-points and went on to do better things in America.”

USA winners

One of the many success stories includes the Jet Away gelding, The Hero Next Door. Placed fourth on his debut in a four-year-old maiden at Loughanmore, he won his next start at Kirkistown for Paddy Turley. He was purchased by Macauley and Young for £120,000 at the 2022 Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale and won his first two starts Stateside over hurdles. He won again on his timber debut last September.

It was in 2022 that Leslie Young, whose husband jockey Paddy Young hails from Co Down, won her first of three consecutive steeplechase trainers’ titles. “The vast majority of those horses came from Ireland and England,” added Macauley, whose younger brother, 31-year-old Archie, is now also a bloodstock agent in Kentucky with his wife, Jessica.

Other prominent winners that Macauley found for Young and her loyal owners include Redicean, winner of the $75,000 Grade 2 David Semmes Memorial at Great Meadow, Colonial Cup Stakes winner Too Friendly, and Monbeg Stream, a winner of the $30,000 Grand National Timber Stakes.

By 2022, Hamish Macauley was also sourcing nice horses for other top American owners and trainers and, that year, he celebrated one of his most successful as a bloodstock agent specialising in that market. Vintage Vinnie (bought privately from Rebecca Curtis) won the $100,000 Maryland Hunt Cup for the second year in a row for trainer Joe Davies, and Chief Justice won the $50,000 Van Clief Memorial for Cyril Murphy. On top of that, Withoutmoreado landed the $25,000 Winterthur Bowl for trainer Kathy Neilson. However, there was more to come from this son of Shantou (sourced at the Cheltenham April Sale in 2019 for £60,000) when he too won the Maryland Cup in 2023 for prominent owner, Irv Naylor.

Another Macauley find, the Malinas gelding Merry Maker was named champion steeplechase horse at the Eclipse Awards in early 2024 for trainer Archibald Kingsley Jnr. He came from Pierce Power after winning his four-year-old point-to-point maiden on his second start at Tipperary.

When asked about the types of horses that suit US jumps racing, Macauley noted: “We don’t like them over-big. We want horses that have plenty of speed on good ground. Some of these races are only over two miles.

“The hunt meetings are slightly different and are more like glorified point-to-points with incredible prize money. The Iroquois Steeplechase in Nashville in May attracts a lot of Irish trainers each year.”

Grand National

Closer to home, Macauley has sourced some very decent horses for both Irish and UK trainers, with some of those being found during Covid in 2020. “I think I bought about 12 stores that year. One of those was Monty’s Star, whom I bought privately.”

By Walk In The Park, the now nine-year-old finished runner-up in his two four-year-old maidens for Colin Bowe before moving to Henry de Bromhead. He runs in the same colours of his half-brother Monalee - who won plenty for Barry Maloney - and holds an entry for the Randox Grand National. “He could have a live chance if he runs at Aintree,” Macauley commented.

In partnership with Wexford owner/trainer Matty Flynn-O’Connor and Charles Shanahan, Macauley sourced the Shantou gelding Stay Away Fay at Goffs UK in 2020 for £39,000. He had scored impressively on his debut at Lingstown - beating Monty’s Star by six lengths - and brought a nice return at Cheltenham in December 2021 when secured by the Paul Nicholls team for £305,000. He went on to win the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2023.

“I have often owned pieces of them myself,” Macauley said. “You have to put your money where your mouth is when you are getting others to spend money on a horse. It doesn’t always go to plan, but they are some of the good stories.”

Macauley has since done some other business with Shanahan and, at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale last November, paid €48,000 for a Sioux Nation filly on behalf of Rockfield Farm. “I also bought a few others for Charles in December to go breezing.”

Macauley loves a bargain and last December at the Arqana Online Sale purchased lifetime breeding rights to Mehmas (one nomination per year) for €160,000 on behalf of Derek Veitch of Ringfort Stud in Co Offaly. “It was savage value. He has some very good crops to come yet and quite easily it could be worth a lot more in a year’s time.”

Derek and Gay Veitch have had some incredibly successful mares over the years, including Pardoven, dam of the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup winner Minzaal from Mehmas’s first crop. Minzaal now stands at Derrinstown Stud.

Macauley buys on average 20 horses a year between mares, foals, pointers and stores. As far as purchasing at breeze-ups is concerned, he doesn’t mince his words. “You need a hell of a lot of money to buy at the breeze-up sales - £100,000 won’t get you very far when you have to take on the big guys. So, unless you have those huge budgets, you are better off to buy yearlings.”

Flat horses

Catering for the demand, Macauley doesn’t specialise in jump horses alone and has had a lot of success with sourcing flat horses too. “It’s about 50/50 now.”

Some of note include Cape Ashizuri, a winner of a six-furlong maiden on his debut in Ayr last July for John and Sean Quinn. From the first crop of St Mark’s Basilica, he had been a €75,000 purchase at the Arqana Deauville Yearling Sale. “I actually went to Ampleforth College in York with Sean and have bought a few others for them too.”

Macauley has bought for Noel George in France and had also done business with Amo Racing. “I had some good success with Amo, with the likes of Group 2 Prix du Calvados Stakes runner-up Sparkling Beauty, who I bought at the Arqana October Yearling Sale for €160,000. I also sourced Ornellaia, third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh. She was purchased for £260,000 at Tattersalls October Book 2.”

Finding potential Group-winning horses for top trainers and owners takes a considerable talent, and Macauley’s keen eye has often paid off handsomely.

“I work with some of the traders like Tally-Ho, Yeomanstown and Eddie O’Leary. Hilitany, who I had bought for Tally-Ho, won a listed race at Lingfield for trainer George Boughey recently. He was bought for £70,000 at the Tattersalls October Book 2 and sold at Goffs UK Breeze-Up last April for £300,000. He looks like quite a smart horse. I very much admire the O’Callaghans of Tally-Ho Stud and they are very good to me.”

Macauley also signed for the 2022 Cartier champion two-year-old Lezoo as a yearling for just 77,000gns and he was entrusted with the purchase of Crypto Force for £900,000 on behalf of Amo Racing at the Goffs London Sale.

These days, Hamish Macauley sees little of his base in Whichford, in the North Cotswolds, and spends much of his time between Ireland, France, Newmarket and the US. Meeting potential new customers is equally time-consuming, but it keeps the show on the road. “Socially is where most of our business comes from now. I get on the plane and go out and meet people. I am trying to do more in Ireland and always looking for new customers.”

The life of a bloodstock agent may seem fascinating to the outsider, but Macauley admits there are always stumbling blocks around the corner. “The biggest challenge for bloodstock agents as a whole is that there is a hell of a lot of information there for everyone between the internet and social media. And everyone has an opinion.

“Long ago, a catalogue came out and off you’d go to the yearling sales. Now you have photos and videos of all the horses beforehand.

“Then you have all the data from the breeze-up sales. Back in the day, you might get a tape from a point-to-point. Now 20 minutes after the race, footage and interviews with jockeys are online.

“It still makes a big difference if you are there, but the internet is a bit of a killer for us,” he concluded.