THERE cannot be many racecourse managers anywhere in the world who can claim that Superman helped them to pursue a career in racing, but then again, not all racing administrators are cut from the same cloth as Richard Lyttle.
If a formula exists when it comes to boosting the fortunes of racecourses and delivering a feel-good factor to a day at the races, the Lisburn, Co Antrim native appears to have cracked the code. Luckily for Irish racing, he has imparted his expertise over the past 26 years on Navan and, more recently, Downpatrick.
It was on Friday of last week that the forward-thinking and highly-respected administrator celebrated his final meeting as manager at the Co Down venue, with Lyttle saying the time felt right for a step back after 13 years and close to 300 meetings at the helm.
He is now preparing to serve an advisory role for the next three years at what is viewed as one of the best-run racecourses in the business by many in the industry.
Lyttle’s journey into the sport has come on a winding road that started out with a burning passion for horses. It is a story best told in his own words.
“I used to work in Ulster Bank in Belfast and loved it - in fact, when I was nine I took it upon myself to write to the bank asking if they’d finance me to buy a pony,” Lyttle says.
“I grew up in the country in a non-horsey family and was mad keen to have my own pony.
“Apparently the Ulster Bank wrote back telling me to come back to them when I turned 18… I was working for them by that age!
Early initiative
“Later on, I continued to organise shows while working at the bank and I also had an event horse, who once upon a time without knowing it, ended up in me being on an event team in Belgium that won a gold medal. It was fantastic.
“That horse was later sold to America and I went out to visit him, while also attending some of the big horse shows there. I loved it. I had a nice career ahead of me in the bank and already was an assistant manager from an early age, but I realised I was becoming institutionalised within my own realm.
“I asked for a career break that coincided with one of the horse shows in California and requested if I could work for them. I did and got on really well. At that time, the bank was offering voluntary redundancy and I felt it was time to be brave and take a leap.”
It wasn’t long before another opportunity presented itself on home soil, though matters did not unfold as expected.
“Ireland was due to run the World Equestrian Games then and I was asked to be the director of show jumping,” he says. “I thought I really had to up my game so I went back to California for a second time and visited a man who was involved in the running of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, with the view that he could teach me something to take back about running the equine side of things. When I came home, though, there was suddenly an announcement that Ireland didn’t have enough money to host the World Equestrian Games, so for the first time in my life I was unemployed.”
Unexpected find
Lyttle’s second venture to the US west coast was not wasted, though.
“On that later trip to California, I was invited to a lawn party organised by Joan Irvine Smith as two of my friends from Co Meath, Val and Paul Larkin, used to break all of her horses. The lawn party was for Christopher Reeve, best known for playing the role of Superman, and we got to meet him there.
“As it happened, Joan Irvine Smith had given him a horse who the Larkin brothers had broken. Christopher was unfortunately paraplegic at the time and this was a gift to him so he would have an interest in the horse’s career.
“One day when I was home - and unemployed - I had to go to Fairyhouse for the sales and stopped in a local shop in Ratoath where I spotted a local newspaper with a picture of Christopher Reeve on the front. The story was being told about him being given the horse, which I had obviously seen first hand, so I bought the paper and read it at home.
“I was about to discard it after enjoying the article and I just thought I’d flick through it to see if there was anything else in the paper. There it was - the job advertisement for Navan racecourse that I had no awareness of before. The deadline was only two days away so I got my CV together swiftly and the rest is history.
“Without knowing it, Superman was indirectly responsible for me getting into racing at this level. I probably would have never seen the advertisement if it weren’t for Christopher Reeve. Life is full of interesting twists and turns.”
Anyone who has spent an afternoon at Downpatrick over the past decade or so will have noticed sustained improvement in the facilities and operations at the northern track. The racegoer and participant-first approach is refreshing.
Lyttle says Downpatrick was the first Irish track to offer complimentary lunches to owners, while all winning connections receive photographs of their victory on the spot after the race.
All told, for a track that does not host any graded races and is situated a fair journey away from plenty of the racing population, there appears to be a consistent base of support from those paying through the turnstiles.
Key to crowds
With low-key crowds apparently becoming pretty frequent at non-major racedays around the country, what is the secret to Downpatrick’s continued growth?
“It’s so important to us that everyone has a good time, whether it be the general public paying in, the people in hospitality, sponsors, grooms or raceday officials,” Lyttle explains.
“We feel we have to make their job as easy as possible and the day as pleasant as possible. If we can make them go home with a good feeling from Downpatrick, that’s absolutely our driver.
“Treating everybody with respect is key, I believe. I like walking around at a track and going into all the various areas to say hello to people. Usually if there’s something that’s not quite right, you will be told, take note and can fix it by the next meeting. Then they will hopefully understand that we are there to help them in the long run. It’s the little things that count.
“Another thing we’ve done throughout my time at Downpatrick that has worked remarkably well is including a little note in the racecard that asks which three things would they like to see next at the racecourse. It has led to some interesting feedback.
“In the beginning it was things like racegoers wanting more chairs or increased covered areas, but now we’re getting feedback asking us not to change anything. We’ll keep asking because there are always new things to learn.”
Lyttle adds: “We’ve actually changed our system this year to include a racecard automatically in the admission price and I think that has gone down really well. We’re probably at the lower end of the courses but, here’s the thing - we’re now getting most of the best trainers sending runners to us regularly. I’ll attribute that to our course staff, who mind the track with great aplomb.”
Stable staff focus
Downpatrick’s treatment of stable staff led to Lyttle and his team scooping the Racecourse Award at last year’s Godolphin-backed Irish Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards.
The funds earned through winning that accolade were put right back into the groom’s area at the track, according to the departing manager, as a thoughtful mural was erected with a welcome message to stable staff.
An excerpt of the notice reads: “We realise that many of you will have had an early start this morning and may have travelled hundreds of miles to be with us. It is our pleasure to welcome you with courtesy and respect... May the dream of your horse winning come true either today or at a future race meeting soon. We love it when you join us, please visit us again and again.”
Lyttle, a keen pony trader and producer in his time away from racing, explains: “We probably have about 70 to 80 runners on any raceday and one day we took on an exercise to look at where each of the trainers had travelled from. When added up, we discovered they had travelled close to 8,000 miles one-way to be with us, before going home again. Those working with the horses had probably been up early that morning and could have even worked on the yard before leaving for the races. It can be a late night for them when getting home too.
“Rather than just giving them a voucher to eat when they arrived and having them hungry later on, we changed the system and gave them complimentary hot food, sandwiches, tea and coffee all day long. It really wasn’t that hard to do when we put our minds to it, and now we try to get a company to sponsor it on a raceday - that’s not a great expense. It’s important to look at someone else’s day and how you can help them. The time we’ve taken to improve things for them has come back to reward us 10-fold.”
Lyttle says that creating different themes for Downpatrick’s racedays has made their meetings unique to each other - chief among them the ultra-popular Downpatrick family day, which is said to attract in the region of 1,300 children to the track.
An effort is made to educate the younger audience too. Demonstrations and explainers involving ponies and other animals are at the heart of the 26 activities on offer. Remarkably, some of the children who came to Downpatrick’s first family day in 2010 are now working with Ireland’s oldest racecourse - a point of pride for Lyttle.
More broadly speaking, an increased sharing of ideas between racecourse administrators can only be a positive, in the opinion of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society horse committee member.
“I’ve learned a lot from some great people and you can pick up the phone to any racecourse manager and speak about initiatives,” says Lyttle.
“My go-to people in that sense would be John Flannelly at Ballinrobe and Eddie Scally at Gowran Park. I enjoy chatting to them and love seeing people from different backgrounds bring new dimensions to racecourse administration.
“I think we’ve got great managers in Ireland and the more ideas we can share between us, the better it is for everyone. Not all will work for everyone but the principle of having a good time is the same for each place.”
Lyttle hasn’t been afraid to share his own knowledge with those working alongside him too.
“I take a lot of pride in seeing people progress in their own careers, having spent time with us along the way previously at Navan or Downpatrick,” he says.
“Many people like Sinead Cassidy at Galway racecourse, Brendan McArdle in The Irish Field, Alex Cairns in Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and Tara Armstrong [formerly of Leopardstown racecourse and now a member of her partner Joseph O’Brien’s Carriganóg Racing team] would have all come through our little schooling ranks. It’s tremendous to see them doing what they are doing.”
Future facing
With a host of headwinds facing the industry, does Lyttle hold concerns for the future of racecourses?
“The Gambling Regulation Bill is one concern, and the affordability checks coming in are another as it can be a turn-off for people,” he says.
“The future is bright for racing, though, because our product is too good for it not to continue - we have a great product. I love the industry and the interactions between the people in it. I think we should be proud of what we have but also still keep our eyes and ears open to what other people and sports are doing.
“When people do come racing, we need to make them feel well looked after and that they have got value for money.”
It was Lyttle’s passion for his work, and remarkably resilient mindset, that helped him through one of the biggest personal challenges anyone can face in their lifetime. Shortly after joining Downpatrick, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Lessons learned through a life in horses appeared to be integral in how he battled his illness.
“It’s a journey nobody wants to be on,” he reflects.
“Thinking about the toughness and resilience of people in the horse world, I thought to myself that I can’t change the diagnosis but I can change my attitude towards it.
“I discovered two things. Firstly, I was going to treat my body like I was training a horse. If I ever told a horse it was allowed to be sick or tired, it would only be one or the other so I never told it those were options.
“Secondly, I told my body I wasn’t going for chemo - I said it was going to the car wash. Therefore, when it comes out of it, it shouldn’t be treated any differently to a car after being washed. You’re supposed to go home and lie down for a few days but I never did. I used to drive straight back to work.
“While I took eight hard chemo sessions, I also followed them up with a voluntary further 12. I think horse racing was good for me because we were driven by dates and I never missed a race meeting at that time. That commitment to something was important to me. It gave me lessons about being tough.”
Resilient approach
Where did that supreme resolve come from?
“I’m not sure, though I did night classes in philosophy for logic and reason, which was good,” he says.
“I never craved money, I always craved wisdom and that’s still true to a certain level. I have always tried to have a balanced judgement on things. I wanted to teach myself that for the rest of my life, I would be able to make good decisions.”
Lyttle admires many of the qualities in his successor, Ruth Morrison, previously the assistant manager who has been working at Downpatrick since 2016. The popular administrator will not be going far, given how warmly he reflects on his time in racing.
“Ruth is brilliant and I appreciate her calmness most,” Lyttle says.
“She’s extremely capable and I think she’ll take us to the next level. My role as a consultant will be there to help her and ensure that we remain true to our values over the next few years, but I have immense confidence in her.”
Lyttle adds: “My time at Downpatrick has been a joy so far. I have loved my career and the people I have met. It has been such an enjoyable journey. I would encourage anyone with an interest in equine administration to get involved in horse racing at a racecourse level - it’s such a thrill. There is such joy in bringing it all together. It really is a privilege to be involved in our industry.”
One of Superman’s most famous lines insisted that “it’s not about where you were born, or what powers you have, or what you wear on your chest - it’s about what you do. It’s about action.”
Action is one thing that has not been lacking since Richard Lyttle took up the mantle at Navan and Downpatrick. His powers have been used for the better of both tracks. Who knew we had Christopher Reeve to thank!