FAIR warning. If you’re allergic to the thought of Cheltenham ever becoming a five-day festival, you shudder at the sound of students making their voices heard on third-level racedays and you’re still on a high from the recent spell of top international flat racing, well, maybe this piece won’t be for you.
Agree with him or not, Michael O’Leary has never been afraid to call a situation as he sees it. And when he speaks his mind on matters National Hunt racing, you can be sure those views are coming from a place of passion for the sport he has been champion owner in eight times in Ireland.
Such is the Gigginstown supremo’s love for jumping, he cannot entertain the thought of ever branching into the flat - despite the fact if he admits it would make far more financial sense than spending vast amounts on National Hunt geldings, who have virtually no residual value. Yes, this is coming from one of the shrewdest businessmen in the country.
His jumps-or-nothing approach also flies in the face of some excellent results on the level recently, through his home-breds and Plantation Stud operation. Only last month, one of the Ryanair boss’ flat yearlings, a colt by Night Of Thunder, sold for 1.7 million guineas to Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Still, it didn’t set the pulse racing anything like he feels on a crisp Christmas Festival afternoon at Leopardstown. National Hunt hits differently.
“The flat breeding side is going well, and I like it, but I only do that so I can spend all the money on expensive jumps horses... I can’t stomach going flat racing,” O’Leary says.
“I know William Kennedy quite well, the breeder of Ethical Diamond, and he messaged me three weeks before the Breeders’ Cup asking if I was going to Del Mar, because I bred Mission Central [Group 3 winner this season, who contested the Juvenile Turf Sprint for Aidan O’Brien]. I told him that if they ran the Breeders’ Cup in my front field I wouldn’t go out to look at it. Flat racing… Jesus!
Michael O'Leary has conquered the Grand National three times, including twice with Davy Russell and Tiger Roll \ Healy Racing
“Maybe that’s an Irish thing, and being reared on point-to-points and jumping. And I know it makes no sense, because you do have some chance of making money on the flat. National Hunt is completely for eejits like me. I love the spectacle of jumps racing, though, and you build a relationship with the horses over time; good, bad or indifferent. On the flat, you have one or two good seasons and off you go to stud.
“Anita was very keen to go to Royal Ascot 10 or 20 years ago, and I had a few horses in training with Willie [Mullins] at the time - a few slow boats that he might like sending to those staying handicaps there. I went there once, and never again. I was bored out of my mind.”
Could he ever have his arm twisted one day if discovering an Ethical Diamond of his own?
“I’d have absolutely no interest. Willie has asked me a few times if I’d like to go for the Ebor, or that big, ridiculous handicap that’s run at the Curragh, the Cesarewitch… I would rather win a maiden hurdle at Wexford. Then again, I’m not in it for the money.
“The big National Hunt Festivals, they’re magnificent spectacles and I like the people. I love the jumpers, even if every cheque I write for a jumps horse is written off straight away. There’s not much point in expecting any of it back.”
Milestone approaching
Come the tail-end of this season at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival, it will mark 25 years since the 64-year-old’s first racehorse, Tuco, won the Goffs Land Rover Bumper for David Wachman.
What would the O’Leary of a quarter century ago tell himself now, if he knew he’d end up so deeply in the game? In Ireland alone in the 2017/’18 and 2018/’19 seasons, Gigginstown sent out 940 and 922 runners.
“Back at the beginning, I was single, had made a bit of money and was looking for something to do on the weekends,” he says.
“Eddie [O’Leary, brother and Gigginstown House Stud racing manager] was obviously involved, which meant I could go along with someone who knew what they were doing - whereas I hadn’t a clue. Did I ever think it would get as big as it got? No. Am I a bit sorry it got so big? Probably. I did try to cut back a lot, which I think we’ve now done.
“Now, was it worth all the money I poured into it to come out with two Gold Cups, three Grand Nationals and four Irish Grand Nationals? The answer is yes.
“Of course, I’d like to breed the winner of the Derby or the Guineas, but as Eddie replied to a question on where it ranked among our best days when we sold that nice young horse recently, winning Cheltenham Gold Cups will always be our best days.
“If Willie told me he had a horse that was guaranteed to win the Melbourne Cup, I wouldn’t cross the road for it. Same with the Breeders’ Cup. Plenty want that and I wish them well. The jumps is inevitably loss-making, but it’s money well spent.”
It was at the height of Gigginstown’s powers in 2019 that O’Leary made the shock announcement that they would be winding down their racing operation “over an extended four or five-year period” and would not be buying any more young stock.
His famous maroon and white silks have not gone away, however, even if numbers are considerably lower nowadays. There were a total of 257 runners for them in Ireland last season.
Don Cossack's Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph in 2016 is cited as one of Michael O'Leary's two favourite days on a racecourse \ Healy Racing
“It was right for me at the time because I had got so big - I had too many horses,” he reflects.
“Genuinely, I had four kids in their early teens and I was spending my weekends doing rugby coaching, bringing them to pony riding… I had no time. For the last three to five years, I’ve gone to Leopardstown at Christmas for a day, because that’s what they want to do, and I’ve been to Cheltenham. I haven’t been to Punchestown or Fairyhouse.
“This weekend, there’s the Navan Racing Festival and, while I’d like to go, they all have an interest in going to the Aviva for the Ireland-Australia rugby international, so that’s where we’ll be. Different things take over.
Family interest
“I was determined to wind it down at that stage, but some of the kids are quite interested now and that’s changed our perspective a little bit. As [sons] Matt and Luke have grown and gone to college, they like to have a few decent runners and prefer to be in the winner’s enclosure than the unsaddling pen at Cheltenham. When the kids were teenagers, they got a taste for what it was like in Grade 1s with the likes of Apple’s Jade, and even last season with Brighterdaysahead and Croke Park.
“It has gone from being what was my own kind of selfish, personal interest - wanting to be champion owner and all that - to now being more of a family interest at a more manageable level.”
Does it mean as much to O’Leary now as it did before?
“Not really. I went through a phase in my life where it meant a lot to me because I wanted to win everything. Now, I’m quite content with having a few nice horses if I want to get to Leopardstown or Cheltenham with runners.
“I have about 50 horses in training now, split between Gordon [Elliott] and Willie. I feel sorry that I don’t have some with Henry [de Bromhead] or Gavin Cromwell, but I don’t want to get back into those numbers.”
One policy change that has stuck is the shift away from buying unraced stores in significant volume.
“Eddie goes along to the point-to-point sales and, if he sees a nice horse, we’ll buy it. I’m not into buying stores now. We used to, but it got too big,” he says.
“I think the difference now is that if you want to buy the stores, you have to go in numbers with 20 or 30. I was doing that 20 years ago before the Doyles, Ewings and really good point-to-point guys, but I’d rather be at the other end now of buying a nice horse that has gone through their hands as proven. I don’t mind spending money on a proven point-to-pointer.
“In earlier days, I’d buy any type of horse, but I think we’re much more disciplined now. If Willie, Gordon or Eddie see something nice, we’re open to buying it, but I don’t have the time or attention to manage the numbers, especially as the airline is getting bigger and busier. My farm is also getting bigger and busier.”
Elliott, speaking in a recent edition of The Big Interview in this paper, described the cost of purchasing bright young National Hunt prospects as “mental”, yet O’Leary takes a philosophical approach to the current buying landscape. That is founded in years of trying to acquire the next big thing.
Eddie O'Leary and Gordon Elliott alongside Anita and Michael O'Leary in the hallowed Cheltenham winner's enclosure after Stellar Story's 2024 Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle success \ Healy Racing
“It’s hard to get your hands on those horses, but I almost content myself that three-quarters of them will be useless,” he insists.
“I’ve never yet got upset if we didn’t get a horse, because there’s another one coming along next week. Look at the point-to-point sales after racing, those select auctions... From the 10 or 20 horses who have won their point-to-point doing handstands, eight to 16 will probably be useless and slow as boats. It’s about finding the nuggets in the middle. You have no idea what you’re buying, so I honestly don’t get too upset about it.
Spending outlook
“The flat tends to be much more concentrated around families; the good mares breeding good horses. They just all seem to be freaks in the jumping game. I’ve gone out over the years and spent loads of money buying brothers of Brave Inca, War Of Attrition and you-name-it-I-owned-it, and almost all of them are useless.
“We tend not to get involved now if they get very expensive. I take the view that if I’m spending €300,000 or €400,000, it’s enough. If someone wants to spend €600,000 to €800,000, I think it’s too much for a jumps horse. I’d rather buy two horses at €300,000 apiece than one at €600,000.”
O’Leary has enormous respect for the abilities of his brother Eddie throughout the managing of his racing and bloodstock interests.
“A few might be close to him, but I don’t think there’s anyone better than Eddie in the industry,” says Michael.
“Look, he’s bought a few duds over the years, but his record of buying horses is incredible. It’s a fantastic batting average. Whether it’s buying stores or horses out of a field, he’s got the ability to identify them.
“He’s bought two Gold Cup winners and I think he would have had another in Weapon’s Amnesty but for him getting injured. That horse kicked Long Run out of the way in the [2010] RSA Chase by seven lengths and Long Run won the following year’s Gold Cup. Eddie has bought horses that others wouldn’t have and made it work - they aren’t all horses that you give half a million for either.”
It’s a clear theme throughout the conversation that returning to the summit at Cheltenham is a standout priority in O’Leary’s ownership outlook. When Stellar Story won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle in 2024, it was a whopping 34th winner at the Festival for Gigginstown.
Prestbury Park might be the place he craves winners most, but that doesn’t mean he views the meeting as perfect. Not by any means.
“I walked out of there with a winner last year after hitting the crossbar plenty of times and you’ve got to suck it up. What makes you appreciate the good days is having to go through the majority of the bad days,” O’Leary says.
“A year earlier, we might have had another winner but for them making a complete balls of the Cross Country. Cancelling the race that year when they could have run it over the chase fences was a mismanagement. They should have put the bloody race on.
“I’m very critical of these recent changes for the sake of changes at Cheltenham with The Jockey Club. They seem to change their management too often as well at a time when they need to raise more money.
“I’m in the minority of people who strongly believe the Cheltenham Festival should go to five days. That fifth day should be on the Saturday, a bit like Punchestown has done - that’s effectively Punchestown’s biggest day now. Move something like the Stayers’ Hurdle to the Saturday, put on a few more races... You give it five to 10 years to build into a big day in its own right.”
Brighterdaysahead was a sensational winner of last season's Grade 1 Neville Hotels Hurdle \ Healy Racing
But, Michael, what do you say to people who already see the Cheltenham Festival as too diluted? Adding more options for horses to avoid each other might only do more damage?
“If I have to listen to somebody else bullshitting on about how we’re diluting the Cheltenham programme… I just go ‘look at the Pertemps Final, the Fred Winter, and about six races for one-legged amateur jockeys, all of which is a nonsense’. Cheltenham really needs to up its game.
“Changing the Turners into a handicap chase is a shocking loss too. Last year, for example, we didn’t send Croke Park to Cheltenham and Willie didn’t send Impaire Et Passe. Both went to Aintree, where there are two-mile, two-and-a-half-mile and three-mile novice chases and novice hurdles. Cheltenham should do likewise and I don’t want to hear about the nonsense of diluting the programme.
‘Commercial incompetence’
“If you increase the meeting to five days, you increase the corporate and ticketing revenues by 25%. Would most people stay for the whole five days? No they wouldn’t, but - like Royal Ascot - many more people would do two or three days. You also increase local day trippers. I think it’s commercial incompetence that Cheltenham doesn’t wise up and move to five days.”
Do we already have too many handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival after the latest spell of changes?
“That’s the danger,” says O’Leary.
“The Ryanair Chase has been a terrific success over the last 15 years. It’s a valuable race in its own right. Does it draw a little bit from the Gold Cup? Yes, it probably does - but there are enough chasers out there. I look back at when Arkle won a Gold Cup against three other runners. These things go through phases.”
He adds: “Why does Cheltenham not have a mares’ novices’ chase? There should be a veterans’ chase too, maybe for horses 12 and up, and it would be very popular with the punter. I absolutely think there should be a two-and-a-half-mile hurdle as well, between the Champion Hurdle and Stayers’ Hurdle.”
Michael O'Leary and Gordon Elliott have developed a rich association and are closing in on 700 winners together \ Healy Racing
While there are some concessions for early-bird bookings, the gate ticket price for a Club Enclosure ticket to each of the first three days of the Cheltenham Festival is £126 apiece. Gold Cup Friday rises to £149, and there has already been plenty of chatter about the price of eating and drinking at the track. Let’s not mention the war with greedy local accommodation prices.
Has Cheltenham not already gone extremely expensive for Joe Punter (before the thought of adding a fifth day)?
“It’s absolutely not,” argues O’Leary, “but adding a fifth day could take the pressure off ticket prices. When you go to Twickenham or any big sporting event, you’re going to be paying a bit more for a pint anyway - I don’t think that’s what puts people off.
“Cheltenham needs to get much more accessible. Tell all the old tweedy guys that jump racing is in danger of dying on its feet here. If Edward Gillespie was still running Cheltenham, we would have that fifth day.
“The other thing they should do is shut up about horses getting injured. They seem to be falling over themselves to do that [in jumps racing]. We love our horses dearly but occasionally they get injured and occasionally they die. They should stop issuing press releases and pandering to the anti-brigade, who - no matter what you do - will want it banned.”
Next generation
O’Leary, while a National Hunt racing man to his core, surely encounters a fair cross section of society in his Ryanair role, and has children in third-level education, where a broad range of the public mix. Some have suggested racing could be facing challenges to keep urban people connected with the industry, but O’Leary is confident there is no need to worry for the immediate future of the sport.
“I have absolutely no worries. My answer to that straight away is student racedays. I think they put about 12,000 students into Limerick and maybe 14,000 into Leopardstown, both ticket-only events. That’s often to watch flat handicappers rated 40 to 60… I mean, it might as well be greyhound racing, yet the place is rammed.
“Why aren’t we doing more of that? How do you get the next generation of racing fans?
“This is one of the few entertainment activities where young people can meet, drink, spend four or five hours chatting each other up and bonk each other if that’s what you want to do! Look at the success of the Melbourne Cup. It’s a big day out, but it’s all based on getting young people to go. The girls get dressed up and the fellas will follow.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re not experts in racing. We need to do much more of that. A great social day. We need to be a lot less po-faced about it and make it a lot more interesting.”
He continues: “You see the numbers who go to Galway every summer for what, excluding the Plate and the Hurdle, has plenty of ordinary racing. The place is rammed. Fairyhouse and Listowel clearly draw crowds too. Aintree is phenomenal. We’ve got to be more welcoming and inclusive. Every track should be running a student day during the year if the likes of Limerick and Leopardstown can draw those crowds. That’s how we bring them along because it is a great spectacle.”
Whether you stand with or against him in his views, you’ll find it difficult to argue that horse racing’s landscape isn’t all the richer for having a character and backer like Michael O’Leary in its corner. For close to three decades, he has had significant skin in the game. He has put his money where his mouth is.
With the next generation of family coming behind with a growing interest in the sport, the fire clearly still burns for Gigginstown to scale the mountain at Cheltenham, many times over. Whenever they do so again, don’t say you weren’t told. Fair warning given.
MICHAEL O’Leary says that his desire for Cheltenham Festival winners was one of the main driving forces in his return to having horses in training with Willie Mullins after a six-year hiatus from Closutton - though he insists Gordon Elliott will continue to be his primary trainer going forward.
It was in September 2016 that one of the most high-profile developments in modern Irish National Hunt took shape, as what was thought to be 60 Gigginstown horses - including stars such as Apple’s Jade, Don Poli and Sir Des Champs - were moved to other yards as a result of a training fees dispute.
Around the same time in 2022, it was revealed that the famous silks would be returning to the champion trainer, and the two powerhouse operations combined to run 16 different horses in Ireland last season.
“When I had the falling out with Willie over the training fees, at that stage, I probably had eight trainers so there were plenty of others to go to,” O’Leary reflects.
“Then I announced I was scaling it all down and getting out in four years, and I gradually worked it down. I had no novice hurdlers or bumper horses for three years. When I got back in a limited way, I didn’t want all my eggs in the Gordon basket.
“I want Cheltenham winners and when that’s your aim, it makes sense to go back to Gordon and Willie. They have the best record of all the Irish trainers there.”
He adds: “Did I eat humble pie with Willie? Not particularly. But, you know, I have no issue with when you make a wrong decision, the best thing you can do is change it. And I clearly made the wrong decision falling out with Willie over the training fees and taking the horses away.
“I would have had more Cheltenham winners over those five or six years if I’d stayed with Willie, but Gordon still has the majority of my horses and will continue to.”
O’Leary’s loyalty to Elliott’s Cullentra base is a constant. He was represented by 54 different horses in the yard last season. Given his closeness to the Co Meath outfit, what did O’Leary make of other owners jumping ship at the time of Elliott’s major controversy when suspended for six months in 2021?
“I think it reflects badly on them. We all make mistakes and when you make a mistake, you need a bit of support. Gordon was in a terrible situation. It’s easy to run with the herd and abandon.
“There was a media frenzy around him - I’m used to those more than he is - and he deserved a lot of criticism. It was a stupid bloody thing to do. The idea that you’d take your horses away and move them somewhere else because what? You can’t stand a bit of media heat? I think it reflects badly on those who moved horses away.
“I’d have a lot of time for Bective Stud, Robcour and his owners who stood by him. It was a pile-on in that moment. Those are the times when you need a bit of support. It’s easy to support the winners. As a lifelong Manchester City and Munster supporter, it takes a bit more bottle to endure the hard times.”
ATTENDING the Cheltenham Festival might be more challenging than before in some respects for Irish racegoers, but O’Leary and the Ryanair team insist they are doing their bit to make transport to the greatest show on turf more accessible than ever.
Ryanair is adding 10,000 extra seats for the Festival next spring and, to mark the occasion, a special competition has been launched in which passengers will be entered into a draw to win their share of 200 Cheltenham tickets.
Any passenger who books a Cheltenham flight (booking made on November 13th to 30th) from Dublin/Shannon/Cork to Birmingham/Bristol will be eligible to enter a ticketing draw that can be found on the www.ryanair.com homepage.
“Cheltenham is a way for us to put a little back into something we all love,” says O’Leary. “We’re introducing 10,000 extra seats for the Cheltenham Festival, while sponsoring the day-three feature Ryanair Chase and Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle. Our sponsorship of the Ryanair Chase has been a great vehicle for us.
Weapons Amnesty had Long Run behind when bolting up in the 2010 RSA Chase \ Healy Racing
“So many of our customers come to Cheltenham each year, both from Ireland and the UK. We’re big in Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester. We’re delighted to be continuing our association with the Festival in these ways.”
On the current outlook for the business, O’Leary adds: “We just announced record half-year results at Ryanair and our traffic was up. Fares are flat-ish over the two-year period and we have a very exciting decade ahead of us.
“We’re taking the delivery of 300 new aircrafts, which should see us grow from 200 million to 300 million passengers a year. It’s a very exciting business and we’ve got a great team.”
What day has meant the most to you on a racecourse?
“Winning Cheltenham Gold Cups with War Of Attrition and Don Cossack. There is nothing like it.”
Your favourite horse that you’ve owned?
“The head says War Of Attrition, the heart says Tiger Roll.”
Your favourite horse that you didn’t own?
“Arkle. I remember when I was kid, watching footage of him with my dad on television. He meant something special.”
A result that feels like one that got away?
“Not so much a race, but the fact that Weapon’s Amnesty got injured and never managed to make it back to a Gold Cup after his win in the 2010 RSA Chase.”
You’re needing a winner in the worst way. What rider, past or present, are you jocking up to deliver the goods?
“Jack Kennedy [almost the quickest response of the interview]. He’s top class. Hopefully he can just stay injury-free.”
Your biggest remaining ambition in racing?
“I’d love to win either a third Gold Cup or a first Queen Mother Champion Chase. I’ve never won a Champion Hurdle, we tried with Brighterdaysahead last season, but I’d give away three or four Champion Hurdles for either another Gold Cup or Champion Chase. A second Ryanair Chase would be next on the list.”