”A ship in the harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” - John A Shedd

DECLAN McDonogh has never been one for avoiding the high seas. It was evident as he turned docile ponies into uncontrollable runaways by firing them up and down the gallops that his father Des has used to condition dual Champion Hurdle winner Monksfield.

When adversity has visited, the now 37-year-old former champion has eschewed self-pity, preferring to take what modern-day coaches now describe as ‘the learnings’ from each situation. There have been a few kicks in the teeth, but in conversation with the jockey and his wife Eimear at their beautiful Cherrymount Lodge home in Fontstown, it is really evident that he has never dwelt on them.

When he lost the job as retained rider to the Aga Khan, after eight months, at the end of August in 2013, it was through no fault of his own. John Oxx had endured a torrid campaign due to a virus. Dermot Weld became the Royal’s new number one handler and Pat Smullen rode the horses. Having left Kevin Prendergast after a fruitful 15 years or so for what he thought would be a posting to launch him to the stratosphere, it was a cruel blow.

“Maybe it brought me out of my comfort zone” he counters. “Maybe it brought me out of the nice scenario. Maybe it was good that I had to go out there and work a bit harder, which is what I’m doing. Yeah, it was a setback but every sportsperson has setbacks. I suppose it’s how you deal with it and we’re coming out the other side of it now. I just want to drive on, kick on, ride for as many trainers as I can and kick on.

“When I was offered the job I thought all my Christmases had come at once. I was delighted to get into that team and to be part of it. Pat Downes and the team at Giltown were brilliant to deal with. I’d have nothing but respect for the whole operation.”

Less than six weeks after the announcement, McDonogh was enjoying one of the absolute highlights of his career in the winner’s enclosure at Longchamp, having bagged the Prix de l’Abbaye on Maarek. That is the sport in a nutshell.

REAPING THE REWARDS

Wallowing detracts from the job at hand. He is more driven now than ever to operate at the top end in terms of quantity and quality of winners and is proactive in that pursuit. Experience has made him stronger and more rounded – as a person and therefore, as a jockey. He is constantly chasing the inches off the track that will translate to similar, defining margins on it.

The rewards have come and this season, of the 24 winners he had ridden prior to racing in Killarney on Thursday, three arrived in Group 2s. He also enjoyed a memorable Galway with two good winners for Willie Mullins, including the Colm Quinn BMW Mile on Riven Light. It was his fourth time claiming this particular race and second in a row after Creggs Pipes’ success. He has since agreed a sponsorship deal of his own with Colm Quinn, thanks in no small part to the negotiating skills of Eimear, a former marketing executive at the Curragh Racecourse.

And then there is Beckford. Although beaten by Sioux Nation in the Phoenix Stakes a fortnight ago, the Bated Breath colt’s reputation was not tarnished in any way.

“I thought it was a good renewal, a solid run race. There were no excuses. If anything, I was first under pressure. Ryan (Moore) coasted there and took a half-length out of me. It took me a little bit of time to get rolling, which I didn’t think he’d do but possibly a combination of the ground being a little bit on the quick side and Ryan was just a little bit away from me.

“But I got a lovely lead off Actress and I thought ‘Here we go.’ I wouldn’t mind having a pop at him again. We’re happy going forward that he’s a Group 1 horse.”

The connection came about via a long-standing relationship with the O’Ryans that has proved very fruitful. Kevin has been his agent for the majority of his career and it is notable how his winners’ tally has held up well this decade, despite not all the cards falling helpfully in that time.

GORDON ELLIOTT

Kevin’s brother Mouse, who he has known a long time, got in touch around this time last year asking if he would ride horses for the syndicate he was setting up with Nicky Bradley, with horses to be trained by Gordon Elliott. He jumped at it though they didn’t know what they might have.

“We’d be on the phone all the time, talking about where the two-year-olds should go, what they should do, if I need to go up to Gordon’s or if they’re coming down here (to the Curragh). To get Beckford was a massive bonus.”

The deep involvement led to an uncharacteristic pump of the fist from the pilot as he passed the winning post in the Railway Stakes on July 1st.

“I had been working with the horse so closely and with Gordon in planning. Then I was asked should they sell him and at the time it was the right thing to do and Mr (Maurice) Regan stepped in to buy him on my recommendation. Everybody else was happy to go with that.

“I think they’ll have a lot of fun out of him… He might train on to be a three-year-old. He’s a little bit on the small side but he has the mind to train on. For a two-year-old he has an absolutely serious mind on him. He’s always been like that. He’s a push-button ride too, a jockey’s dream really.”

All the while Elliott has tried to tell us that he is only dabbling in the flat game to stave off boredom during the summer and is out of his depth taking on the O’Briens et al. We know enough not to buy an ounce of that of course and McDonogh has been impressed by everything at Cullentra House.

“It’s a fascinating place for me to see. I know Gordon since he was an amateur – he would have grown up in Trim and we would have been knocking around there. He’s into it alright. He’s got a good gallop up there that suits flat horses very well. He’s always updating his facilities, he’s building more stables at the moment. He’s very hands-on about the flat horses and really seems to enjoy it. Martin Pipe had plenty of winners on the flat!”

Like his former mentor, Elliott is ravenous for winners.

“He’s totally driven but he’s a great team behind him too. And they’re driving him. It works very well. From the outside looking in it looks like clockwork. He sent me a snapchat the other day of first lot. There must have been 40 or 50 horses. I asked him ‘How many have you got?’ to which he replied ‘Not enough!’”

BRED FOR RACING

There is a photo that appeared in the Irish Independent of a seven-year-old McDonogh peering over the parade ring on Irish 2000 Guineas day in 1987. He was dressed for the occasion, complete with flat cap. The Richard Hannon Sr-trained Don’t Forget Me won under a front-running ride by Willie Carson to complete the Guineas double.

McDonogh was bred for racing. His father might have more feedback nowadays when it comes to riding but it was his mother who provided more tutorials in the early days. Helen trained her father Cecil Bryce-Smith’s horses in the ‘60s and ‘70s at Cherrymount (from where Declan and Eimear’s home gets its name), won the first lady riders’ championship in Ireland and was the first woman to ride more than 100 point-to-point winners. She also campaigned with Jean Moore – mother of Derek O’Connor – to have women allowed to ride in bumpers, eventually embarrassing the Turf Club into knocking down that particular barrier.

“Mammy wouldn’t say a whole lot now. When we were kids riding ponies she would have said plenty, we’d have got plenty of instruction. When we had ponies and we were in the hunting field, she was always up the front. If we got any way mid-pack or out the back she’d let a shout back and tell you to come back up the front!”

PERSONAL TRAINING

Why would one of the top tier jockeys be better in a drive than another, if they are? McDonogh isn’t sure, but he’s covering all the bases.

“I don’t know if it’s core strength or does it come from your legs? Squeezing them? It’s hard to define, isn’t it? I do a lot of work now with Wayne Middleton, a personal trainer. For the last year and a half we’ve been on a programme and I feel a lot more freer and I actually feel stronger in the saddle than I was a couple of years ago. We just honed in on some areas that could be strengthened and there’s a lot to be said for it. He does a good bit of work with the kids in RACE now, educating them on diets and that sort of thing, which is badly needed I guess.”

This is just an example of McDonogh looking to step it up. He got a Cert in Dual Careers Development (Sports) a few years ago to continue his personal development. He knows all about the vicissitudes of life and there is no harm being prepared. It was interesting sharing classes with people from other sports, including former amateur world boxing champion Michael Conlan, who is now making waves in the pro world. In particular, the rugby lads were fascinated by the difference in diets between McDonogh and Conlan, who needed to keep their weight down, and them, attempting to pile it on.

Chasing different perspectives brought him to Singapore and Japan too for a couple of winters.

“They go so fast from the gates, flat out. In Singapore they might steady a little bit but in Japan the gas is on all the time. Race-riding in Japan is brilliant. And the stewarding is brilliant. If there’s an incident that happens after 50 yards it will be dealt with. If there’s an incident happens after a furlong it will be dealt with. If there’s any incident in any race it will be dealt with. The stewarding in Australia, Singapore and Japan is top class.

“I think it’s good for any kid to travel and see different styles of racing… John Egan sent young David to New York last winter to Angel Cordero, who took him under his wing and you can see, he’s a lovely rider. Very stylish.”

He was 19 when he won the Pretty Polly Stakes on Polaire, beating Gérald Mossé and Gary Stevens a short-head. Three years later, in 2002, he claimed his first Group 1 in the Tattersalls Gold Cup on Rebelline. Both were trained by Prendergast.

“He was brilliant to me. Worked me to the bone but he was brilliant! Stephen Craine was finishing up there so I sort of walked into it. I was never really appointed. Kevin doesn’t do appointments! We had great days.”

It is 11 years since his 89 winners made him champion (“Jesus that sounds bad!”). He had 13 to spare at the end though “you’re never comfortable when Pat Smullen is snapping at your heels!” He has an enduring friendship with Smullen and is godfather to the champ’s son Paddy.

LEGACY

The ambition burns brightly still and it is a reflection of his boss’s. Oxx could retire with his reputation assured forever. Losing the Tsui contingent during the winter was another kick in the teeth for Currabeg after Sea Of Grace had provided a rare ray of light last year by taking the Group 3 Flame Of Tara Stakes. Yet they remain undeterred and have shown signs of a rebirth this term.

“He’s first on the gallops in Walsh’s Hill every morning. This morning, we were there at half six. He’s putting the stick in, checking the ground. Everything he always did he’s still doing. He’s got loads of enthusiasm.

He thinks Naughty Or Nice could enjoy a good autumn campaign after having had a horrible experience at Royal Ascot when the saddle slipped very early in the Ribblesdale. He was a passenger, as his conveyance absolutely tanked around. Meanwhile, Waikuku shaped well in a maiden at the Curragh on Sunday, hitting the line well to finish fifth of 16 in a muddling contest that turned into a sprint.

He won on Rain Goddess, then trained by David Wachman, during Irish Champions Weekend last year and may have a couple of opportunities for Oxx, Mullins, Andy Slattery and Charles O’Brien this time around. If the weather doesn’t deteriorate too badly, Tony Coyle will bring Caspian Prince over for the Flying Five, after McDonogh got the eight-year-old up in the shadow of the finishing post in the Sapphire Stakes last month.

Make no mistake, this is a man in demand.

Mc DONOGH’S

OPINIONs

The jockey’s championship

“Colin (Keane) has a great chance. But if Dermot Weld’s kick into form, Pat (Smullen) will give him a run for it. There’s plenty of racing yet.

“People are getting a little bit carried away. It’s not ‘til after Listowel you can really have an idea.

“That’s what Mick Kinane and all the boys used to say years ago. And Pat says the same now. Until after Listowel you’re only guessing.”

Competitive racing

“It’s such a small pool. Very few races, very few meetings and everybody is setting their horse out for the one race.

“Go for a 45-60, you go down through the card to see what are the ones to beat and there’ll be seven or eight.

“You go to England for a 45-60 and there’s one horse to beat.”

Facilities

“They’re getting better but some tracks are quite poor. Dirty showers and dirty urinals. It’s not good enough.

“And it’s not just about the jockeys. The valets, the conditions they’re working in.

“If you have saunas, they need to be in a wet room. Not on top of where the lads are working. It needs to be thought out a little better.”