"GENUINE, slightly eccentric and the greatest gift we’ve ever got.”

That is how joint-owner Ned Hogarty describes Flooring Porter when asked to sum up his back-to-back Stayers’ Hurdle champion in just three words.

Like the four-man syndicate who paid a mere €5,000 off a Facebook advertisement for their dual Cheltenham Festival hero, it’s a response that provides more than we bargained for.

After progressing from winless low-grade handicapper to top-class Grade 1 winner in the space of just 10 starts, Flooring Porter wasn’t unanimously embraced as a genuine Stayers’ Hurdle candidate when heading to his first Cheltenham Festival assignment in 2021. However, sent off at odds of 12/1, the Gavin Cromwell-trained talent caused an upset when running his rivals ragged on the front end by three and a quarter lengths.

He may have gone 0-3 in his next appearances before a return to Cheltenham in 2022, but the Sean Murphy-bred son of Yeats silenced any doubters when doubling up in the Paddy Power-backed Stayers’ Hurdle with an equally dominant success under regular rider Danny Mullins last spring. It appeared as though a hat-trick bid on March 16th could be in serious doubt after news of a setback was revealed by Cromwell in mid-January, but most recent updates from the Co Meath trainer suggested Flooring Porter is now more likely to compete at the meeting.

It’s often said that a first victory at Prestbury Park is the sweetest for connections, but the second bite of the cherry proved all the better for Hogarty and his syndicate partners Kerrill Creaven, Alan and Tommy Sweeney from south Roscommon and east Galway.

All four had been stuck at home watching Flooring Porter’s Cheltenham breakthrough in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions, so they relished getting to lead their rags-to-riches star into the hallowed winner’s enclosure in 2022 amidst a sea of the black and white scarves of their silks.

“Last year was just unbelievable,” says Hogarty. “You’d really have to pinch yourself standing there with everything that was going on in the winner’s enclosure. Even going back to the Holiday Inn that night… I don’t think the hotel had ever seen a crowd like that before. Lord above, it was mental.

“Everyone was just on such a high that evening. We invited everyone back with our camp from the track, and Gavin joined us too along with his wife Kiva and Flooring Porter’s groom Caragh [Monaghan]. We had Gavin up on our shoulders and it turned out to be the most brilliant night.

“There were plenty of young people from home who we didn’t even know were making the trip over - the whole thing was like a home away from home. There were four local young lads from around home who were having their first taste of Cheltenham and I made sure to tell them this won’t be the case every time they come over. This really is a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience.”

The west’s awake

Famous celebrations rolled on in the weeks that followed back in the west of Ireland, where Flooring Porter has developed almost cult hero status. His second Cheltenham Festival strike was toasted like a county final success for a local GAA team.

It mirrored the joyous scenes rarely ever witnessed at Britain’s home of jump racing, as Mullins was hoisted high on shoulders in the Cheltenham winner’s enclosure akin to Jonjo O’Neill after Dawn Run’s Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph in 1986.

“Home was hopping,” says Hogarty. “There were about 12 of us who got a mini-bus home from the airport and we ended up heading into Joe Kelly’s Bar in Ballinasloe. Everyone was out on the road waiting for us with champagne and a standing ovation outside.

“Joe has had that place for years but told me he hadn’t seen scenes like that since Italia 90. It was amazing. The whole journey has been incredible, though. Even heading to Aintree last year when he was just touched off in the Liverpool Hurdle on Grand National day, it was a fantastic experience.”

Another bumper crowd could be set to join the Flooring Porter Syndicate in the Cotswolds this March if supporter levels at the Leopardstown Christmas festival were anything to go by.

Hogarty has indicated that interest levels in the rags-to-riches performer are as intense as ever building up to the four-day bonanza.

“There was a double-decker bus full of people that travelled from the west of the country to Leopardstown over Christmas to support Flooring Porter,” he says. “I couldn’t believe there were 72 names on the sign-up sheet to travel up from home. It was a bus decked out in black and white.

“A small GAA club mightn’t even get that sort of support if they were playing a big game up the country, never mind a racehorse. He’s become a household name around these parts. No matter where you go, everyone is asking about the horse.”

Reigning champion

He may have started out from humble origins but the triple Grade 1 winner returned this season as the standard setter on the staying hurdles scene with a major target on his back.

Turned over on his comeback in the Lismullen Hurdle, just as he was 12 months earlier, when fourth to the much improved Home By The Lee, Flooring Porter filled the same spot in Leopardstown’s Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle behind the same rival. The margin of defeat was narrowed from 12 lengths to three and three quarters of a length at the Dublin track.

Connections have made no secret of the fact he is typically trained to peak for one day of the season at the Cheltenham Festival, and that is reflected in his record of just two wins since 2020 - both coming in the Stayers’ Hurdle.

“It would obviously have been nice to win those races at Navan and Leopardstown but it’s not something you’d be completely worried about either,” says Hogarty.

“Come Cheltenham - a track we know he likes - in the spring on better ground, you’d be hopeful those conditions would let us see the best of him, all things being equal. We know he’s capable when at his best. Hopefully he can get there fit and ready.

“With the exception of one flight down the back at Leopardstown, I thought his hurdling was mighty at Christmas. He didn’t throw his head at the end like he can at times either. It seems like he’s matured a lot - hopefully not too much!”

Ice-cool Cromwell

Cromwell has earned plenty of plaudits for harnessing the “eccentric” Flooring Porter’s energy, and Hogarty has also paid tribute to the Co Meath trainer’s coolness.

Flooring Porter’s sensational improvement from being beaten a combined total of 144 lengths on his first four starts to now being rated among the top five hurdlers in Ireland follows similar progression shown by stablemate Darver Star.

The latter, who finished third in the 2020 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, began his career with a trio of defeats by a combined total of 120 lengths.

What is it that makes the former farrier turned trainer such a success?

“Gavin knows the game, and he knows when to have the horses peaking,” Hogarty explains

“When there’s plenty of pressure on the big days, it still looks like he’s got ice in his veins. He always seems to be improving his facilities and his gallops as time goes on. You could go to the yard and find him there driving a digger.

“I’d like to think we’ve built up a good relationship with at this stage and none of us panic. There’s a very good team there and his operation has grown significantly since I first met him. It’s a yard going only one direction.

“No matter where it is, Grade 1s at the Cheltenham Festival, fast two-year-olds at Royal Ascot or a low-key handicap at Kilbeggan or Dundalk, Gavin can deliver. He tells me the syndicate aspect of his business has grown considerably [since Flooring Porter]. He’s got plenty of new and old faces in, and J.P. McManus seems to have put some smart types with Gavin in the last few seasons too. I can’t fault him at all.”

History awaits

Flooring Porter is already in exquisite company as a back-to-back winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle, matching the exploits of the likes of John Mulhern’s redoubtable Galmoy (1987 and 1988) and Francois Doumen’s top-notch Baracouda (2002 and 2003).

A third win in the race would equal the achievements of the race’s first triple winner Inglis Drever (2005, 2007 and 2008), as well as leaving him one win short of the record four Stayers’ Hurdle victories recorded by the legendary Big Buck’s (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012). Rare air indeed for the team behind the incredible bargain buy.

“It’s history-making stuff, really,” says Hogarty. “To see his name already etched into the roll of honour at Cheltenham is incredible and something that will remain forever. Nobody can ever take that from us. It would just be fantastic to make it three in a row.”

So, what of Flooring Porter’s chances of joining the greats as a triple Cheltenham Festival winner?

According to Timeform, only one horse competing at three miles over hurdles so far this term, Teahupoo, has managed to post a better performance than was recorded by the hat-trick seeker in landing last season’s prize. Given Flooring Porter doesn’t reach his eighth birthday until the middle of May and is being trained to peak in the spring, it’s difficult to envisage that he should be slowing down.

There are serious threats to his crown, though. Home By The Lee, trained by Joseph O’Brien, has now twice lowered his colours in the current campaign, the aforementioned Teahupoo and Klassical Dream are closely matched on the basis of their Hatton’s Grace Hurdle clash, while the Charles Byrnes-trained Blazing Khal rates a dark horse in the division if he makes it.

Flooring Porter must also reverse Christmas form with the Jessica Harrington-trained Ashdale Bob.

“We were hopeful rather than confident after his last run,” says Hogarty. “It’s a wide-open division and there are progressive horses on the scene like Home By The Lee. Things probably didn’t work out ideally for us in our first two starts of the season but we’re not totally worried on that front. We’re hopeful and excited at what he can do if able to put his best foot forward.

“It’s all bonus territory at this stage, though. If anyone told you that you could own a horse to win a Grade 1 race, you’d be absolutely delighted. To win two Grade 1s at Cheltenham - even better.

“He’s already been extremely good to us. This horse brought us places that we never could have gone and might only have dreamed of.”

He’s already been the toast of Cheltenham twice before. It could be cheers once again come March if Flooring Porter can return in full flow.

This article is taken from The Irish Field Cheltenham Magazine 2023. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY