STEPHEN O’Connor has had a lifetime love of racing and currently has the bumper winner Last Minute Man in training with Gordon Elliott.

By the four-time Gold Cup winner Yeats, the eight-year-old bay gelding was purchased at the Goffs UK horses in training sale last September and has run four times in maiden hurdles for his new owner, placing third on three occasions.

One expects, however, that connections bought Last Minute Man as a potential staying chaser as O’Connor and Adrian Butler, a co-founder of The Underwriting Exchange, enjoyed an exciting experience as owners of the Elliott-trained Bless The Wings.

That Winged Love gelding, who ran in Butler’s colours, finished in all three of his starts in the Grand National, placing third behind his stable-companion Tiger Roll in 2018. He was also a regular runner in cross-country races at Cheltenham, winning once over the varied fences and being placed six times.

Bless The Wings won five chases over regulation fences and was placed in many of the top staying chases throughout Ireland and Britain.

“I met Gordon out hunting,” recalled Stephen, “and, when he lived in Kilmessan 15/16 years ago, we had a great bit of success with a good point-to-pointer called Mr Nosie. I think at that stage Gordon had only four or five horses. Through owning ‘a leg’ of a horse, I have been involved with him in some shape or form since then and The Underwriting Exchange stepped in to sponsor his yard when the previous sponsor stepped out. We did so up until last year and it was especially good to be involved with the yard when it was going from strength to strength.

Horse of a lifetime

“Bless The Wings was the horse of a lifetime! He ran 51 times for us and fell only once which, in fairness to him, was the result of slipping when jumping off the top of a bank. One of the highlights of his career for me was winning at Fairyhouse where my Dad was once a board member and which has historical connections to the Ward Union Hunt. He finished second there two years in a row in the Irish Grand National, just being beaten a short-head in 2016 by Rogue Angel.”

Bless The Wings had his final start in the Grand National at Aintree last year when, at the age of 14, he finished 13th, from 40 starters, behind Tiger Roll. However, his public career is not an end.

“The plan was that he was to compete in the Racehorse to Riding Horse class at the Dublin Horse Show next month but, as it has been cancelled, he’ll have to wait until next year to make his appearance at the RDS,” concluded O’Connor.