YOU may have noticed an unusual race name at Dundalk last Friday night. The Three Men, Ten Years And A Dream Apprentice Handicap certainly intrigued us and we discovered that the man behind it was racehorse owner Paul Leech, who has had great success in recent years with Suprise Package and Freedom To Dream, both trained by Peter Fahey.

As Paul is a jumps man and is based in Boston, the Dundalk connection made no sense to us but he kindly explained how it came about.

“About 30 years ago I worked in England with two friends, John and Bernard, and we still meet up for Cheltenham every year. They live in Leicester and Birmingham, so we meet in Ireland every autumn for a racing weekend and we always start in Dundalk.

“We started 12 years ago but, because of Covid and illness, we missed two years, so this was out 10th year at Dundalk, where we are always well looked after. I wanted to sponsor a race to mark the occasion and I didn’t tell my friends until that afternoon.”

But what about the ‘dream’ part of the racename? Paul added: “Well, that refers to the Cheltenham Dream website I set up, purely to let people know how my racehorses are doing. I’m always very honest and sometimes I have a bit of fun on there as well.”

Paul’s enjoyed a golden week in March 2022 when Suprise Package won the Imperial Cup and Freedom To Dream finished fourth in the Martin Pipe a few days later. He updated us: “Unfortunately Suprise Package suffered a slight fracture after winning at Cork in August and is on box rest. He’s doing very well in his recovery so far. Freedom To Dream has just been out of form lately but there have been reasons for those runs and we’re hopeful he can get back to his old self soon.”