Ross Geraghty is in Ireland next week for the first time in two years. It will be nice to catch up with family and friends but he will be looking forward to returning to America, which has been home for most of the last six years or so.
He is only making the trip because his visa needs to be renewed and that process involves being interviewed by the embassy in Dublin. Having fared so well since first dipping his toe in the waters as a 32-year-old in September 2009, he doesn’t envisage any difficulties but undoubtedly will be happier once the green light is given.
At least he is still gainfully employed in the profession detailed on the initial visa. There was one stage when he contemplated becoming a rodeo rider on bulls as the opportunities dried up for a spell. It didn’t come to that though. Now, he is in more demand than ever.
Geraghty brought the curtain down on the mixed bag of a season in stunning style as he steered former Nicky Henderson charge Dawalan to a bloodless victory in the €100,000 Colonial Cup for his boss Irv Naylor and Naylor’s primary trainer, Waterford man Cyril Murphy, at Camden in South Carolina last Saturday.
That followed hard on the heels of another Grade 1 win by the same combination, this time in the €300,000 American Grand National at Far Hills in New Jersey, when Geraghty beat off the challenge provided by Eshtiaal, ridden by none other than his brother Barry, and trained by good friend Gordon Elliott.
BROKEN BACK
The autumn swing had rescued a campaign that took some time to get going. In fairness, a broken back will put a halt to anyone’s gallop. That he was in the saddle so quickly was remarkable.
“The first day of the season I rode two winners,” says Geraghty over the phone from Maryland, where he lives. “The third day I broke three vertebrae in my back so I missed most of the season. I missed the whole spring and was trying to get back on horses again in the summer as I lost an awful lot of rides. The autumn season came good for me.”
Those two successes brought the accumulated prize money he had garnered over the season for connections to €409,000, from just six winners and 45 rides. That is a lucrative business in anyone’s language when you are pocketing a full 10%, with no agent’s or valet’s fees. It is worth even more when you consider that, while there is a lot of travelling involved, often including flights, rental cars and overnight stays, all expenses are paid.
Throw in the regular midweek work breaking, schooling horses or riding out – thoroughbreds or show jumpers - and you get why Geraghty is in no hurry to come home.
He looked well on the way to carving out a niche for himself on native soil as winning jockey of the Irish Grand National with The Bunny Boiler in 2002. High profile successes in the Troytown and Leopardstown Chases on Cloudy Bays followed and he also bagged a Paddy Power on Newbay Prop in 2007. It was becoming a struggle though. Now, it is anything but.
“I was riding for the Fowlers and then John got killed. Chich took over the licence but they lost an awful lot of owners. I stayed with her through the following year.
NOTHING DOING
“Then I went over to Doncaster – Barry and Norman (another brother, a farrier) had two horses going to the sales and Bobs Worth was one of them. While I was there I realised there was no one buying horses. I was pre-training a few for lads, breaking a few horses here and there, to keep everything going. Any of the lads that were there I was talking to, asking if they wanted to send a few to me, but they were going to do it themselves to keep costs down, run them in a point-to-point and try to sell that way. I was just thinking ‘Jesus, this whole thing is done.’
“I knew [jockey] Calvin McCormack – his brother Eddie played football with Kildare - and he came through Jim Bolger’s with (A.P.) McCoy and (Paul) Carberry and them – but Calvin had come over here. I had followed him a bit to see how he was doing.
“I called Neil Mulholland to get Tony Dobbin’s number to get a number for Calvin. I spoke to Calvin and he told me there was a job going at (Tom) Voss’s so I contacted Voss and that’s how it came about.”
Voss was one of the leading steeplechase trainers in the States and the pair struck up a good partnership. They won two Grade 1s on the same day, including the Grand National on ex-Tony Mullins horse Your Sum Man. Barry later surmised that, in the period from September to November, Ross had made more money than any jockey in Ireland or the UK from the start of their season until then.
Unfortunately Ross had to come back to Ireland to sort out his visa and a combination of red tape and the Icelandic ash cloud kept him grounded. By the time he got back, he had been away too long and Voss had found other riders. This was when the rodeo riding became a potential avenue.
“It was a bit of a worry and I definitely thought I might have to give up but then I said ‘I’m here now, I have to make it work.’ So I started getting rides from other people but it took me a year before I got in with [leading owner] Irv Naylor. He had appointed a new trainer and it was through that I got going. Naylor started a new barn and the whole thing got rocking and rolling from there.”
Irv Naylor is a successful businessman who made his money initially in ski slopes, before branching out in property and the manufacture of corrugated boxes. Horses and steeplechasing were his passion though.
In 1999, he was still racing competitively as a 63-year-old, pursuing his dream of winning the Maryland Hunt Cup, the only race that had eluded him in a long career. He was leading when Emerald Action came down three fences from home. The fall left him a paraplegic, with just some movement returning to his arms.
Insisting that “I don’t intend to die in this damn chair”, Naylor sold the corrugated box business to fund research into stem cell treatment, in pursuit of a cure for paralysis, but his passion for jump racing remains undimmed and his investment in that area has not been reduced in any way.
“He’s a bit like J.P. (McManus). He has his barn which he owns with a private trainer but he has horses with other small trainers as well that keeps them going. He supports a lot of people.”
Naylor buys horses with form and he appointed Murphy, from Ballymoat in Dunhill, to be his chief trainer. Another former Mullins horse, Decoy Daddy, was Geraghty’s first ride for his new guv’nor in 2011, the ex-Rebecca Curtis inmate Black Jack Blues his first victor.
When Geraghty returned to the winner’s enclosure at Middleburg, he told the trainer, Joseph W. Delozier III, that the horse was perfect for Far Hills. He won the Grand National for a second time and the relationship with Naylor was cemented. Dawalan is just their latest star.
SPEED REQUIRED
“The horse you need over here is not your big staying chaser type. You want that summer horse with speed. The American-breds have plenty of speed. It’s more speed over here than stamina.
“The thing is they get injured a lot because the ground is so fast. If you can keep them sound, that’s the biggest problem. But Dawalan’s a handy little horse and he’s light on his feet and he likes the quick ground - it’d be quicker here than what you’d race on in Ireland – but he should be fine.
“In Far Hills, Barry was outside me most of the way and Rawnaq (formerly trained here by Matthew Smith) was on the other side the whole way. When we went down the back the last time Barry was a bit slow at a couple of fences and I moved on from him.
“Barry had won on Dawalan and he warned me to get a lead as long as I could, not to be in front long. Sure I took it up two furlongs out; he was going really well, I didn’t want to disappoint him so I let him roll on. He was sitting behind me thinking ‘I’m getting a grand lead here, this fella will stop in front of me’ but he couldn’t get by me and in fairness, my horse won easy enough. And he won easier again last Saturday.
“The field was deeper this time, it was a much better performance. They were all there. Far Hills is up and down hills and would be more of a jumping course. Camden is flat and a real sandy surface. For most of the race I wasn’t really travelling as well as I wanted to be. There were a few soft patches. I just had to sit and let him pop away. I was firing him earlier and it wasn’t really working. So we sat again and he started to get into a rhythm. Then he just came on the bridle half a mile from home and started to travel. I had all the horse in the world.
“Saturday’s race was as good a race as I rode in here. It was all former Grade 1 winners in it and they went a good, strong gallop. I just came on the bridle at the right time. In the end he pinged the last and quickened away from them.”
IRISH RIDERS
Geraghty isn’t the only Irishman plying his trade successfully in America. Danny Mullins has landed a few successful hit-and-run missions, but there are plenty full-time jockeys. Indeed the top nine in the jockeys’ table were Irish, with Co Down rider Paddy Young winning the title for the fifth time. Willie McCarthy is another multiple champion while Geraghty took the honours in 2012.
Jack Doyle’s fortunes provide another indication of the whopping prize money, as thanks in part to the two Grade 1s won with former Jessica Harrington charge Bob Le Beau, he accumulated €625,450 worth from 14 winners and just 59 rides.
Former show jumper Mark Beecher has another Tallow man, Kieran Norris, to keep him company, with the latter the busiest rider of the season on just 99 rides. Sean McDermott, Bernie Dalton and Darren Nagle are also prospering.
“It’s not like where I’m from at home, Drumree, where within five miles you’ve how many lads won an English Grand National? Here there’s only probably a few of us in the States that ride races and the people that keep horses are just looking for a good rider. And you’d find it wouldn’t be many lads involved in horses, mostly women, and they’re just looking for a strong lad to ride horses and they pay me well to do it.”
He hasn’t won an English National, but he has fond memories of going around in 10th on The Bunny Boiler in 2004.
“It was a blast. The ground was soft so he didn’t really handle it. I was further back than I wanted to be but I couldn’t be any closer. Graham Lee and Amberleigh House were close to me the whole way. Conor O’Dwyer, Paul (Carberry), Mick Fitzgerald was near enough. We were just going along. He jumped great. Graham made a move and we couldn’t go. But it was great fun.”
Nothing beat winning the Irish National two years previously though.
“We went there as kids. It’s only over the road from us. You can hear the commentary from the racecourse at the back of our house. It’s no distance across the fields. We grew up going racing there. It’s probably like Punchestown for the Walshs. Fairyhouse was the same for us as it was for the Carberrys. To win the Irish National was awesome. It was the best day. It’s not the most valuable race I ever won but it meant a lot because all the people I grew up with were there, all my friends, lads I went to school with.”
He has won the American version three times now and, although approaching 39, there are no thoughts of finishing up, not to mind considering whether he will stay in America or come back home whenever he does hang up the boots. While the hard terrain can be punishing when you fall, the low number of rides means that statistically, they happen less often. The aforementioned Dalton is still going strong at 47.
“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that. I’m here for the moment anyway. Once I’m riding away I’ll stay here. I haven’t even thought about anything after that. It’s just one of those things. Whenever you think it’s time to stop. But I’m enjoying it so I’m not going to stop now. I’m obviously riding nice horses and that makes a difference. It’s going grand. I wouldn’t change anything for the moment.
“I have a lot of good friends here. I’ve been in the same area the whole time since I came over and this is where my life is now. There’s a woman here I keep a horse for and she’s been over and stayed with my parents. So have some of her kids. My parents come here and stay with them.
“It’s super.”