THE Curragh might be the centre of the universe for racing fans this weekend but not for racehorse owner Liam Clancy. The Donegal man is far more interested in this evening’s All-Ireland senior football clash between his county team and Tyrone.

Liam is the owner of The Abbey Hotel in Bundoran, one of the Donegal team’s main sponsors, and he is very excited about the team’s progress so far this year.

“Jim McGuinness [team manager] has made a big difference,” Liam reckons. “They couldn’t win a match last year but, even though 11 of the team is the same this year, they have already beaten three of the best teams in the country. I think they could get to the All-Ireland semi-final, with a bit of luck.”

Whatever happens on the pitch, Liam will be smiling for the next few months as he has a promising young National Hunt mare to look forward to in Neon Diamond.

Trained by Gordon Elliott, the daughter of Westerner won a Limerick bumper in early March. The ground was heavy that day but it had dried up when Neon Diamond finished down the field in a Grade 3 bumper at the Punchestown Festival and she is now enjoying her holidays in Donegal before heading back to the Elliott yard for a jumping campaign in the winter.

The story of how Liam came to acquire Neon Diamond has its roots in his hunting background.

“I was master of the Galway Blazers for 25 years and used to drive from Donegal to Galway three times a week when there was no motorway. I also rode in point-to-points and had a permit to train one or two. My biggest win was with Handy Fellow in the 1995 Ladies Cup at Punchestown. Richard Pugh rode it - it’s his claim to fame!”

Almost 30 years later it was Richard who recommended Neon Diamond to Liam when she was entered for a Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale. The mare had placed second in two point-to-points for Colin Bowe but Liam had bought a mare before and wasn’t sure. “Richard said ‘Honeysuckle was a mare and so was Quevega’, so I took his advice.”

Liam commissoned Gordon Elliott to buy her for £80,000. “I’ve had horses with Gordon for years - he trained Cecil Corbett to win seven times for me.”

On her debut under rules, Neon Diamond pushed the Willie Mullins-trained Magic McColgan close and then she won next time out. Liam recalls: “I was there on my own at Limerick that day. It was student day and you couldn’t move in the place. The rain was bucketing down but the students didn’t mind and I didn’t care either!”

Nominated

What Liam didn’t realise was that, in addition to the €6,000 in prize money, Neon Diamond had also secured a €7,500 bonus as she had been nominated to the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Scheme. “It was my daughter Ella who discovered we had won the bonus. It meant that the mare had covered her training fees for the year by winning one race, which was great. We feel she’s a jumper so we might be lucky enough to win another bonus over hurdles. There’s a lot more races for mares now than there used to be. I hadn’t realised how many there were. I wouldn’t be put off buying another mare or maybe breeding from this one when she is retired.”

Perhaps Liam will manage to get some of the Donegal senior team interested in taking a share, though he admits racing doesn’t have a huge following in the county, despite producing jockeys Dylan Browne McMonagle and Oisin Orr. For now, gaelic football rather than racing is being shown on all The Abbey Hotel televisions.

Liam says the hotel bar will be busy if Donegal win tonight but quickly clarifies that the players won’t be supping pints. “The manager is very strict on things like that,” he says. “One of the players was getting married and he wanted to invite the team on his stag night but McGuinness said only two players could go, so the party was cancelled.”

That’s not how Gordon Elliott does things but they both get the results.