“I THINK my favourite joke is that I’m not bright enough to make enough money out of one thing, so I have to do several”.
And with this witticism, a jet-lagged Peter Molony opened our meeting after his flight back from the Breeders’ Cup and attending the Fasig-Tipton November Sale and the opening session at Keeneland. His comment was a reference to the fact that the Limerick man runs his own Rathmore Stud, is part of the Qatar Racing team, manages Sheikh Fahad’s Spring Lodge Stud, is a representative for Goffs, and acts as racing manager for Kenny Alexander. It is a busy but fulfilling life.
“They all seem to complement each other. The Qatar Racing side is very busy in the summer and in the autumn with the sales; the National Hunt side, both Kenny’s stuff and my own farm, is mostly in the winter. Goffs is mainly spring work. It all fits in together nicely”.
A lot of what Molony does outside the gates of Rathmore Stud has been about connections made and being in the right place. Having a good reputation, built over many years, is also a vital ingredient. He explains how the role with Qatar Racing came about.
“David [Redvers] and I have been mates since forever. We worked together for years, pinhooking the likes of Rising Cross and Dark Islander. When Sheikh Fahad came along he asked for a bit of help, which was about 10 years ago now. It’s grown from there”.
It is clear that while the team mean business, they enjoy what they do. “Yeah, we have a small team. Sheikh Fahad is great fun and he’s got a great sense of humour. We all slag each other. One of the biggest laughs is that our ‘entourage’ going around the sales isn’t very big! We’ve a nice, small, close-knit team with David, Hannah [Wall] and myself at the sales, Bryony [Rusbridge] in the office at Tweenhills, and Kevin [Darley]”.
Molony looks after the horses in Ireland and works the sales. Johnny Murtagh, Gordon Elliott and Joseph O’Brien are the Irish trainers. Communication is easy, he says with a giggle. “We’ve got endless WhatsApp groups, though trying to figure out which WhatsApp group you put something on can be most challenging part of the job sometimes!”
Sheikh Fahad’s Spring Lodge Stud is also his responsibility, and it is a commercial operation. He explains: “Sheik Fahad had been talking about buying a farm in Ireland for quite a while, and was looking at beautiful old-established studs with big houses. Then this dairy farm next door to me came up for sale and it made a lot of sense. I could keep an eye on it easily, it didn’t have an old house which was never going to be used and would cost a fortune to upkeep, so it was a really nice fit.
“The great thing about Sheikh Fahad is he’s not a ‘money no object’ man; he makes you think about what you are doing.
Spring Lodge initially was for his mares to come to Ireland to be covered. We also board mares for clients such as Peter Savill, Newsells Park and some French. Leanne Casey runs it to such a high standard”.
Molony loves that Sheikh Fahad is so involved with the operation, explaining that “he lives, eats and breaths it. We’ll be at the sales and he’s watching everything. There’ll be racing in Southwell or Wolverhampton and he’ll be watching it. He knows the form, even the handicaps, claimers and sellers. He really does have his finger on the pulse”.
The journey for the team has not always been smooth and Molony is emotional relating the biggest happening of the year. “Roaring Lion was obviously the biggest kick in the belly, and everybody has found it difficult to deal with. David is the one I really feel for because he has invested a lot in Tweenhills and this was his showcase horse.
“But Sheik Fahad is so understanding. From the start, when he bought Makfi after the Guineas, he went to Ascot and we all thought he was going to trot up and he was beaten. That was the first kick in the teeth he had. We all know this game; it’s more downs than ups. He learned from early on that you have to deal with the downs as well.
Sheikh Fahad Al Thani with Peter Molony \ carolinenorris.ie
“I think British racing is probably his number one love to be honest - on the racing side of it. Melissa [Sheikh Fahad’s wife] is his real number one love. This year has been special too to see Oisin Murphy crowned champion. We are all very proud of him”.
Background
For someone immersed in the business, and from a family with a distinguished history, it is surprising to learn that Molony had no interest in it as a young man. “I remember being in school, probably about fourth year, and I had no interest whatsoever. Somebody was talking one day about a bumper and I didn’t have a clue what a bumper was.
“I was very friendly with Mark Molloy and he’s racing mad. I think maybe he sort of lit the spark.
“We went after school to work in France for the summer and do yearling prep. I worked at the Deauville Sales and from then on it was full steam ahead”.
A son of the iconic and much-loved Martin Molony, one might have thought that a career with horses was the only option. Not so Molony recalls. “He didn’t try and influence us. His favourite saying was ‘if you are happy sweeping the roads that would be fine’.
“He was a very private man, didn’t go out a lot and wouldn’t have gone racing much. He had his couple of broodmares and he’d buy a couple of store foals every year. That was it”.
His mother Julia was also influential. “She was very strong. She was in a wheelchair for the last 40 years of her life, so she didn’t have it easy. The way she dealt with it was incredible, and always with a smile on her face. It is important to keep a smile on your face in this game”.
Peter Molony's parents Martin and Julia
Molony says that Rathmore Stud is much more than just a farm. “It means everything to me, I just love the place. I am just so lucky to wake up in the morning in an absolutely beautiful place with a stunning view. Limerick is so flat and we are on one of the few hills in the county. My cousin Danny, Tim’s son, did research a few years ago and reckons that we’ve been there since 1682”.
Which of his father’s skills did Peter inherit? Abashed, he offers the following. “I think my father had a natural eye for a horse. He bought the likes of Bula, and produced plenty of good young flat horses as well. I think maybe, hopefully, I have an eye”.
Being absent from Rathmore so frequently, how does the farm continue to run so smoothly. His wife Sarah’s presence is key to that. “She’s the steadying influence because I can’t go to a sale without buying something. Sarah is the rock of sense. She keeps me in check.
“Also there is John Crehan who has been there for about 35 years. He has only missed one day sick in 35 years and that was two years ago - so he did 33 years without missing a day. A devout hurling fan, last year he was at the All-Ireland final and I said to Sarah ‘this is going to test his attendance record’. Eight o’clock on Monday morning John turns up, so we sent him home. He’s a great stalwart.”
What about the next generation? “Sam has graduated and wants to be an actor. He and Tim like their racing; they wouldn’t be hands on horsey people. I think they dream about making lots of money and having racehorses. Kate is the youngest and is in Trinity at the moment. She shows interest in it, going to sales every minute she can and she’ll come racing with me”.
Goffs
Why would a man with such a busy schedule want to take on the added – and often stressful - role of selecting horses for sales?
“I love going out and meeting people. I love traveling around to different farms and seeing how people do things. I was taken on as a National Hunt agent and I’ve gotten a huge thrill out of seeing how the December and Land Rover sales have grown. I’ve got as much of a thrill out of that as I have out of anything.
“In the last couple of years I’ve started doing some work on the November Sale for foals, while in the last year I helped with the Orby yearlings. How you deal with your clients is absolutely huge. People would be amazed what goes on behind the scenes; you are juggling to try and keep everybody happy. And it’s not an easy thing to do, I can tell you.
“There’s an awful lot of diplomacy involved. How you deal with clients and how you deliver the news. I like to think that people respect my own involvement in trading and selling.”
With two months of selling ahead, how does Molony see the market prospects? “I think the mood in the Molony camp is the same as the mood everywhere, one of apprehension. The market has become so polarised. There seems to be wealthy people who are untouchable by recession. They are all playing in the top 10% or top 20% of the market. If you have what people want, the returns at the moment are incredible.
“However, there seems to be no middle ground. A prominent National Hunt trainer I know told me he has 20 people to give €200+ for a horse, and no one to give 40 or 50 grand for one.
“That is a huge challenge. I’m not sure how we can set up another tier of racing or concentrate more on the lower end of racing. I know we need to concentrate on quality and try and keep it up. But you can see signs of encouragement; syndicates seem to be coming back to the fore. After the crash they went completely.
“Look at the likes of Jack Cantillon now and his syndicates have brought the fun back into it, and young people with it. Our second son Tim has shown interest in that, I think it might be something that he would do”.
Challenges ahead
Just returned from the Breeders’ Cup, Molony saw at first hand anti-racing protests, and he suggests that we stand our ground. “It came into sharp focus last week and there’s a real threat to racing in California. When we drove in there were small protests outside the track, but they were visible. We all knew the threat made by the Governor was that if there was as much as one fatality that racing was finished in California.
“They got to the last furlong in the last race and it was very sad. It was very palpable. I think it’s very important we recognise all that and what people outside think. But as Rod Street said, ‘trying to convert the antis to racing is like trying to sell pork sausages to vegans; it’s not going to happen.
“What we need to do is sell our message to the middle ground, and the best way to do that is to present the sport in the best possible light.
“Sell the fact that we are looking after horses well and people who look after them love them. They are not just commodities.
“We can’t be sops to the antis. So you ban the whip tomorrow and next minute then they are going after jump racing. Then jump racing goes and the next is flat racing. We need to hold our ground”.
How does Molony view that future? “Of course I’m an optimist,” he smiles. “You have to be an optimist to be involved in horses. Recently, the way the BHA has been handling things in the UK has disturbed me very much. I think they are rolling over too much. They are not taking enough account of the horsemen. You have to have people with practical knowledge and common sense and who know the business involved”.
Kenny Alexander
A relatively new name on the owner’s list is Kenny Alexander, and Molony is intimately involved in this burgeoning operation. How did this come about?
“Initially Kenny went to David [Redvers] because he wanted to dip his toe in racing 10 years ago, at the same time that Sheikh Fahad came along. David was very busy and gave Kenny my number. We had a chat and bought two National Hunt foals; around 17 and a half grand each they cost.
Kenny Alexander's Carrie Des Champs after winning her maiden hurdle \ Healy Racing
“I used to pinhook National Hunt foals to yearlings and had success doing that. So I brought them to the sales the following year and couldn’t get what I gave for either of them.
“Kenny probably thought ‘how have I got involved with this muppet?’ I said ‘don’t worry, they are two lovely horses; we’ll hold on to them until they are three’.
“So the first one we sold, it was a Kalanisi, and it sold privately before finding its way to Nicky Henderson. He was Champagne Express, a very talented horse. He paid for both horses. We brought the other horse, O O Seven, to the Land Rover Sale and sold him for €130,000. Again, by pure coincidence, Nicky Henderson bought him.
Tweenhills Stud's David Redvers and Peter Molony at Goffs \ carolinenorris.ie
“Kenny suddenly thought that from dealing with a complete muppet, this guy is an absolute genius. The reality is somewhere in the middle!
“Then he came up with this wonderful idea that he wanted to buy top-class National Hunt mares and breed. I told him he’d be bonkers. He said he wanted to see them grow and develop and race them and get pleasure out of them that way.
“So I bought him a racemare called Asturienne that Alan King won five times with. Then we bought Blazing Tempo and both of those mares now have their first fillies on the track and they are both blacktype. So he was proved correct.
“I was keeping the mares for him but it was still hit and miss. He had a couple of horses in training in England. He was spending quite a bit of money and things just weren’t working out. He wasn’t having a lot of luck.
“Then at Cheltenham 2018 we sat down and he said ‘I need somebody to try and pull it all together, it’s all a bit chaotic’.
“He asked me would I look after it for him. And I went ‘oh my god’! I said I had better talk to my wife, to David, Sheikh Fahad and Henry [Beeby]. They all threw their eyes up to heaven but said to crack on.
“We came up with a plan to buy top-class National Hunt fillies and then they would go to stud for breeding. The first one we bought was Sinoria, a day later at Cheltenham.
“By pure fluke we met Henry de Bromhead who I was in school with. One thing led to another and Sinoria went to him.
“Honeysuckle [now a Grade 1 winner] got put up to us in Punchestown. We’ve been so lucky. Kenny is a huge enthusiast, absolutely huge. Now he’s got about 20 in training, most of them in Ireland between Gordon Elliott, Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead. There’s a few in England with Nick Williams, Nicky Henderson has one, a homebred out of Asturienne. David Pipe has Queens Cave who is a very exciting novice hurdler. And Lucinda Russell has a couple.
“Kenny doesn’t get racing much as he’s very busy, but he watches everything. If he has a winner, or say when Blazing Emily was third in a listed race the other day and got her blacktype, he’s on the phone immediately. He got a huge kick out of that.
“And when Carrie Des Champs with Gordon won her bumper in Downpatrick that was his first homebred winner. He was on the phone and on cloud 99! We went to Gordon and said we’ll take her to Kenny’s home track, Perth, and aim for a nice winner’s bumper.
“It was planned two months out. Kenny took a box and had his grandparents, parents, kids, and the whole extended family there.
“We had a lovely lunch and everything was fabulous. Then the filly wins by the length of the straight. He said it was his best days’ racing ever. It was a small winner’s bumper, but it was a homebred, he had all his family there. It was special”.
Influences
Who are the people that have had an influence on Molony? He did not have to stray far from home to find the first.
“My dad was great friends with Alan Lillingston in Mount Coote. When he heard I was in France working he perked up. He was a huge fan of my father and was always very good to our family. He asked me to go and do the yearlings. I had been to Gurteen to study agriculture.
“I said the spark was lit when I was in France, but it was fully enflamed by the time I left Mount Coote. Paul McCartan was the head man there, which started a lifelong friendship. What I learned there was incredible. Alan was a man who was light years ahead of his time. We are all trying to do now what he was doing 30 years ago. He was phenomenal.
“He was a formidable man. You’d be in lunging a yearling and he would come in and want to lunge and see how they were. Of course you’d be terrified. He’d ask you what you thought of one, and you’d have to give your opinion. He was absolutely brilliant to me.
“Then I went to the Irish National Stud and on to New Zealand. At the INS my contemporaries were Ted Campion, Noel Murphy and Des Ryan who are all leading lights in Kentucky. William Balding beat me by 0.01% for the gold medal. He’s with Godolphin and I still haven’t forgiven him for that! And then there was Paddy Wynne-Jones, Barnane Stud.
“Paul McCartan got me a job in New Zealand with [China Horse Club’s] Michael Wallace’s grandfather Jim who was an absolute superstar, one of the top vets there. I lived with the family. We got to do everything; I mean everything. He allowed me stitch mares!
“You got up at five o’clock and worked until nine at night. In the mornings you would have a meal with Jim and start discussing stuff. What I learned there was amazing. Jim was a great man. I went from there to Australia for a year, to Three Chimneys in Kentucky and then home”.
While it is hard to narrow down the field to just a handful of people, Molony was keen to say what a “major influence on me” that David Minton has been.
Advice
If you were to give advice to somebody young in the business now what would it be?
“Get out there and get as much experience as you can. Try and keep yourself in the best of company. It’s all about being pleasant, and being a people person is a great help. Be able to talk to people, hold your own in conversation and hopefully be liked.
“The mistake a lot of young people make is trying too hard. As Pat O’Kelly said, ‘the minute you think you know everything in this game is the minute you are finished’. No matter what your experience is as a 20-year-old, you are still very green. The mistake a lot of young people make is they try to impress too much. So they open their mouth and say too much. You are better off to stay quiet and listen.
“We have a lot of young people asking to come around at the sales and give them pointers. I love that and I love helping young people. Kitty Cowhey was my first protégé. She worked for me for eight years and used to come to the sales with me. Then she went ahead and started spotting for me; she’s an absolutely brilliant girl. To see her go on and do so well, it’s as much of a thrill for me as anything”.
The future
What are the horses that Molony is looking forward to most?
“We have had sleepless nights about Honeysuckle, she’s so exciting. Whether she can just take that next step up now into open company and take on the Apple’s Jades of this world is another thing.
“Minella Melody won the other day, but the mares’ novice hurdlers is the most incredibly strong division this year with the likes of Gypsy Island and Colreevy. We like to think that she’s going to be right up there with the best of them. Her jumping is magnificent.
“Then with Qatar obviously Kameko. He’s by the same sire as Roaring Lion. I remember last year at the sales there was a huge debate about him. He was a lovely individual, by a sire we love, but was the mare good enough? Anyway we bought him and the rest is history. When a horse comes out and does what he did, it gives you a huge thrill”
.
Peter Molony is hugely excited about Kameko, seen winning the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes under champion jockey Oisin Murphy \ Healy Racing