HAVING enjoyed some memorable days since I started training back in 1989, we had another to remember last weekend with Dragon Of Malta winning at the Galway Festival.

As that particular horse had been lined up for the meeting for some time, it was very satisfying to see it work out. He is owned by a great group of lads, so I was thrilled to be able to give them a Festival winner.

Although my father was a dairy farmer, he also hunted and bred a few horses. I was reared on stories of Dick O’Connell, his uncle on his mother’s side. He trained in north county Dublin for a number of years, before later moving out to Ashbourne.

Dick’s son, Al O’Connell, went on to hold the licence subsequently, sending out Classical Charm to finish runner-up in the Champion Hurdle.

Captain Christy was the first horse that I really became aware of as a child. One of my earliest memories is of attending a local fancy dress parade in Athlacca, riding my pony and dressed as Bobby Beasley!

At that stage, I was heavily involved with the Limerick Pony Club and County Limerick Foxhounds. By the age of 12, I was riding out for Gerard Hogan, brother of the legendary P.P. (Hogan).

First racehorse

My parents had horses in training with Gerard at the time, so I rode out at weekends. The very first racehorse I ever sat on was Shady Deal; a horse that later went on to win the Whitbread Gold Cup for Josh Gifford.

When Austin Leahy came back from England and set up training in our parish, my parents sent him horses. From the age of 14, I rode out in his yard, while also attending Cistercian College in Roscrea.

In those days, the school was thronged with racing people; you couldn’t even get in the door to the TV room when Cheltenham was on!

Back then, one could get an amateur licence at 15, so I applied for mine and was soon race-riding while still in full-time education.

I rode my first winner, Joedesjanet, in a point-to-point in Kilmallock for a friend and neighbour, John Dooley. That mare also gave me my first winner on the racecourse, in a bumper at Navan when I was 16.

As I was sitting my Intermediate Certificate that same afternoon, my dad collected me right after that exam and it was a mad dash to make it on time. We were so late getting to Navan, I didn’t even get to walk the track; all Dad could do was show me where the winning post was!

In 1982, I bailed out of Roscrea half-way through fifth year and went to work for Liam Browne. He was at the top of his game at that time, sending out Dara Monarch to win the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes that same year. I spent 15 months with Liam on the Curragh and it was a fantastic time.

I then returned home and rode for Austin Leahy for a couple of years. In those days, you only needed to ride 25 winners to lose your claim, so after getting to that number fairly quickly, I then turned professional.

I went on to ride a couple of winners in Britain during a stint with Gordon Richards but being somewhat of a homebird, I didn’t stay too long.

In 1986, I starting riding out for John Brassil, who had only just begun training in Co Clare. We had some nice success together, including a treble during the Limerick Christmas Festival. I rode 23 winners in all that season (1987); my best year numerically.

Around that same time, I also built up a good relationship with Ian Ferguson up north, riding plenty of winners including an Ulster National on Mickey Marley. I rode a winner for current Clerk of the Course, Paddy Graffin, who had horses with Ian.

Things tailed off a bit and I came to the realisation that I wasn’t good enough to make it. So, at the age of 24, I packed in the race-riding. Aside from the winners I rode on the racecourse, I also had the distinction of riding a future Gold Cup winner (Cool Ground) on his chasing debut and a future Stayers’ Hurdle winner (Trapper John) on his first start over hurdles.

Returning home

On returning home in 1989, I took out a trainer’s licence. As well as the dairy farm, we had a few homebred horses and I was sent a couple more by locals. Ted Said, owned by the late Don Reidy and Dick Higgins and ridden by Michael Barrett, was my first point-to-point winner at Tallow.

A month after that success, that horse provided me with my initial winner under rules when successful in a hunter chase at Wexford. The first real good horse I had was Donarthy, who was owned by a friend and neighbour, Pat Donworth.

Pat rode the horse to win two bumpers, the second of which is now a graded bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival. In that race, Donarthy beat a high-class field including both Shuil Ar Aghaidh, Second Schedual and Flashing Steel. Although subsequently plagued with injury, he had the biggest engine of any horse I ever trained.

Monumental Gesture, a Moyglare Stud- bred mare, won two hurdle races for us under the late Anthony Powell. She later went on to become a very successful broodmare – the dam of both Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman.

Chance Coffey, our own family horse, gave us a day we will never forget when winning the Coral Cup at Cheltenham in 1995. That horse, who won his point-to-points under my brother Bill (O’Donnell) and Pa Farrell, broke down twice but we always knew he was a good horse.

He had only won a maiden hurdle before finishing third in the 1994 Coral Cup but Gerry O’Neill had told us after his maiden win that he would travel well in any race. I think we enjoyed a fair slick of luck in 1995, as the ground at Cheltenham was as soft as it had been for many a year.

Good success

In later years, we enjoyed some good success with horses that failed to sell at the breeze-ups.

Lone Plainsman won a massive pot at the Curragh in 2006, while Luttrell Lady (2010) also won a big handicap at that track under a 7lb claiming Joseph O’Brien. Keep It Cool was another important one for us, winning multiple races under both codes.

We then experienced something of a lull, with no winners on the track for nine years, until Dragon Of Malta won at Killarney in August 2020. That horse saw us enjoy something of a revival with half-a-dozen winners over the past two years.

Dragon Of Malta won three times subsequently with last week’s win at Galway giving us particular satisfaction. Extensio won at Tipperary in 2021, before giving the whole family an incredible day when winning the Ladies Derby at the Curragh under my daughter Sylvia last July. He made a winning debut over hurdles at Roscommon earlier this week.

We have six horses in full-training at the minute and have never been busier. My son, Patrick, who was apprenticed to Tommy Stack, before riding for Ralph Beckett in the UK, has only just returned from four years in Hong Kong, where he worked for leading trainers David Yip and Jamie Richards.

It is nice to have him home and he will bring a new lease of life to the place. I am excited to work with him and see what new ideas he can bring to our business.

Pat O’Donnell was in conversation with John O’Riordan