WINSTON Churchill famously said that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, and owner Pádraig Clancy can attest to that.
When his family’s six-year-old mare Unquite Dreams got off the mark with a display of real courage in a Killarney mares’ bumper last month, it was the culmination of major patience paying off, and a welcome reason to smile after a most challenging year.
“It was something else to see her win,” Clancy tells The Irish Field.
“To be honest, I was there on my own, but the syndicate is made up of myself and my three kids. This mare runs for a partnership called the Forever Five Syndicate. We called it the Forever Five because my wife [Siobhán] died last year suddenly and we said it would be myself and the three adult kids, with the fifth person missing.
“It’s also why this mare runs in the green and white colours of Limerick. Now, I’m a Corkman... But my wife was an avid Limerick supporter! Our three kids are as well. None of them were able to be with me on the day; my son Seán was doing exams, one of my daughters, Aoibheann, is over in England playing soccer after signing for Watford FC’s women’s team, and my other daughter Caoimhe was working. But to win the way she did, for us all, it was unbelievable.”
It has been quite the road to the winner’s enclosure for Clancy with the determined Yeats mare, who was making it third time lucky for capable Co Cork-based trainer Sean Allen last month.
“She has a massive heart and that’s why she’s still racing today,” Clancy explains.
“We bought her as a foal and she hasn’t always had an easy time of it with setbacks at times. She had broken down and Ger Kelly of Fethard Equine Hospital operated on her to get her going again. Ger is a great friend of mine - we were in school together - and if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
“In fairness to Sean, he kept telling me that she has an awful lot of heart for a mare who isn’t the biggest. Her siblings, Farfromnowhere and Came From Nowhere, are smart horses in their own right. When she won, and the way she won, we were absolutely over the moon.”
This isn’t Clancy’s first time to come across a mare of bright potential, having been involved in the ownership group behind the Eoin Griffin-trained Orthez, winner of the 2002 Listed Dawn Milk Mares’ Novice Chase at Limerick.
“I’ve been involved in syndicates from years back, but in the last few years, we kind of brought ourselves back in towards horses,” he says.
Grassroots involvement
“Since buying a couple of foals, I got to know the breeder, Tim Hegarty. He bred Unquite Dreams and I have three more of his stock at home now.
“My three kids - they’re now between 22 and 28 - are getting a real kick out of this too. The fact we bought this mare as a foal and reared her right up until she went into training is incredibly satisfying for everyone.
“There’s no feeling like it and I’d love to have my kids with me the next time, hopefully. We try to go racing quite a bit and enjoy the craic of Cheltenham together when we can.”
An already ecstatic winner’s enclosure at Killarney ramped up another notch when Clancy was presented with a cheque for an additional €7,500, due to Unquite Dreams being nominated for the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme. She remains open to further bonuses of €5,000 for future maiden hurdle and beginners’ chase victories.
“When I saw the lady running across to us in the winner’s enclosure with a cardboard cut-out on the day, I was nearly wondering what it was about until she turned it around to show us a big cheque!” beams Clancy.
“This scheme is so important. It encourages the likes of myself to race fillies and take a chance on them. If you’re at the sales and seeing all the foreign-bred animals catching the eye, it’s brilliant to have an initiative to encourage us all to race Irish-bred mares.
“I want to give an awful lot of credit to Sean for encouraging me to enter her in the scheme. He saw something in her and said that, for the sake of €300, the returns could be significant. For very little, compared to other costs, you stand to win an awful lot. I have to thank Sean a lot.”
On his trainer, Clancy adds: “Sean was recommended to me by a mutual friend as a good trainer and, most importantly, a very honest guy when it comes to telling you where you stand with your horse.
“He’s not too far from where we are in Kilbehenny either. It was a great achievement from him to have her prepared to win at Killarney and his tactics paid off.”
Close bond
Clancy’s enthusiasm for his young group of horses is infectious. In an emotional year since Siobhán’s passing last June, being able to direct his energy towards his string has been a most welcome outlet for the whole family.
“You wouldn’t believe what it’s been like having these horses to look forward to over the last year,” he says.
“My niece [Anna Clancy] was in the Rose Of Tralee as the Perth Rose and I had a great chat with her escort, Conor [Mahon]. He’s very much into his horses as well and we had a very heart-to-heart conversation about what these horses mean to me, and how they’ve helped me get through all of this. You wouldn’t believe what they’ve done for me. You just wouldn’t.
“There’s one in particular that myself and my wife bought and she’s in the field. A two-year-old by Santiago. We bought her off Tim Hegarty. That animal means the world to me, the absolute world to me. I go out and talk to her every single day.
“If you said that to someone else, they’d think you’d lost your marbles, but I was telling Conor and he understood completely. I think people who have a connection with horses will understand what I mean. It’s incredible.
“Really, they’ve kept me going all through the winter. I get up every morning, get out and feed the animals. There’s the two-year-old by Santiago, two fillies by Blue Bresil and Jeu St Eloi - both bought from Tim Hegarty - and a yearling by Santiago we bought at the sales.
“After what had happened to us, I promised my son Seán we would do something fun, that we’d go to the November sales and get something, so we did. It’s a brilliant interest to have.”