Brothers in arms hitting the heights

RACING: IN FOCUS GIGGINSTOWN STUDMichael and Eddie O'Leary have together created a racing empire that is vital to the welfare of the sport in this country, writes BRIAN O'CONNOR

IT IS a racing truth that there is never a shortage of horses, just a shortage of those with the means to buy them. So when a rich man decides to dip a toe into ownership he is invariably surrounded by bloodstock “experts” in possession of shark smiles that can make Jaws look like Elmer Fudd. It is little wonder then that Michael O’Leary turned to a reassuring presence when he started buying horses.

Eddie O’Leary is the Ryanair boss’s younger brother, someone who carved out a career in horses long before his more famous sibling turned at least some of his attention away from jets and decided to play up part of a fortune reportedly worth up to €500 million.

That’s the sort of money to get bloodstock agents, trainers, sales companies and any assortment of hangers-on twisting themselves into a frothy frenzy. But the lesser-known O’Leary provides an insider’s knowledge with a familial disinclination to fleece the gullible meal-ticket for everything he has.

One result is Eddie O’Leary has become almost as familiar a face on Ireland’s racecourses as the maroon colours of the Gigginstown Stud banner under which Michael O’Leary runs his horses.

Bloodstock insiders estimate almost 150 Gigginstown horses are in training in Ireland, a total that makes only JP McManus a comparable force on the Irish National Hunt scene.

An interesting twist to next week’s Punchestown festival will be the tussle between the two great ownership behemoths over who will be crowned champion owner when the season ends next weekend.

Less than €150,000 separates McManus and O’Leary, with the latter notching up almost €1.5 million in prize money so far this campaign. That just about covers the annual training fees for 150 horses.

What O’Leary writes off as “gone money” is what he pays for young horses in the first place. That often involves six-figure sums. At a time when the economics of racing are under serious strain, Gigginstown’s influence can hardly be over-estimated.

From country breeders to hardy point-to-point people and on to any number of cash-strapped trainers, it is the prospect of selling on or moulding the career of a potential star that keeps heads over water. Not many owners in Ireland can afford to consistently pony up for the best young prospects. O’Leary is one of them.

In fact it’s hard to over-state how pervasive Gigginstown’s influence has become in the decade since Michael O’Leary first got involved in horses.

It is 10 years since his first horse, Tuco, was killed in a fall at Fairyhouse. Far from souring O’Leary to the sport, that famously lateral mind concluded the high attrition rate inherent in the National Hunt game demanded sufficient numbers to maintain his interest.

Shortly afterwards he purchased a strapping son of Presenting called War Of Attrition. In 2006 he achieved the ultimate aim of all O’Leary’s horses, winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in brilliant style under Conor O’Dwyer. Injury prevented War Of Attrition from building on that success but the business template was set.

Gigginstown purchase many types of horses. In fact despite O’Leary’s oft-repeated “loathing” of flat racing, he has had quite an amount of success at the summer game, including winning a Stakes race with Hen Night in 2010. But usually the aim is to buy young National Hunt types at the sales or off the point-to-point circuit that have the size and scope to potentially follow the Gold Cup trail. This is where Eddie O’Leary comes into his own.

While his brother enjoys an international business profile and revels in playing the media game, Eddie O’Leary prefers to fly under the radar. Bloodstock rather than the boardroom is his natural environment.

Based at the 200-acre Lynn Lodge Stud near Killucan in Co Westmeath, the quieter, stockier O’Leary is a well known “pinhooker”, the business of buying foals and yearlings and selling them on at a profit to go flat racing. It is a pursuit that boils judgment down to hard cash and Eddie O’Leary learned to back his judgment in getting it right more often than not, long before his famous brother got into horses.

“That’s what we try to do: if you can do that you’ll be alright, but we get it wrong plenty of times too. The way I think of it is, it gives you a good kick when you get it right and a good kick in the ass when you get it wrong!” he has said.

Notable names to have gone through Lynn Lodge include the top sprinter Benbuan, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye, and Castledale, who won the Santa Anita Derby in America. Longchamp and Los Angeles are a long way from trudging through a point-to-point field but a good horse is a good horse whatever the environment and passing Eddie O’Leary’s eye is crucial to any prospective sale.

“Eddie buys all the stock. It’s up to him. Michael isn’t involved in that,” says Conor O’Dwyer, who has trained for Gigginstown ever since retiring as a jockey. “Eddie is a key player. Michael trusts him, of course, and they have a special set up.

“They’re hugely important. Without them an awful lot of people would be in a lot worse situation than they are. If they went, it would be like if JP was gone. It would be a very different racing world.”

The older O’Leary summed up the Gigginstown operation a little more colourfully.

“Eddie runs the stud, buys all the horses, does all that,” he said last year. “I just write the cheques. We have an appropriate division of labour!”

War Of Attrition was a product of the point-to-point field and many of Gigginstown’s best also cut their teeth on that circuit under the tutelage of the Co Tipperary trainer Pat Doyle. There they learn the basics of their trade. Then they are dispersed among a long list of trainers across Ireland to continue their racing careers.

The success of the Gigginstown model is reflected in a vintage crop of novice chasers this season. Sir Des Champs, a French bred, is unbeaten, won at Cheltenham last month and is already favourite for next year’s Gold Cup. First Lieutenant, reportedly O’Leary’s most expensive ever purchase at €250,000, is also a blue-riband contender after being just touched off at last month’s festival.

Last Instalment is possibly best of the lot but is currently on the injury sidelines.

That same attrition rate that provoked Michael O’Leary’s rapid expansion in ownership also provokes the owner’s scepticism when it comes to his chances in any race.

He likes regaling people with how the one Cheltenham “banker” he has ever owned was War Of Attrition in the 2005 Arkle. The horse was well beaten. But that was instantly forgotten when War Of Attrition won the Gold Cup. O’Leary famously described that as the best day of his life, apart from when his children were born.

What is clear though is O’Leary is a lot more involved with his horses than he might like to admit. He is always available to trainers on the phone, regularly goes racing and isn’t shy about ringing up day or night. Not surprisingly he also isn’t afraid to make a decision about whether to sell off a horse if it doesn’t measure up.

O’Leary has thanked his late father Ted for having horses “bred into me” and appears to genuinely love both the sport and the animal.

“They’re lovely animals,” he has said. “They’re like humans. You can’t tell which one is going to be a winner from looking at them. Flat racing is much more driven by pedigree, whereas with jump racing, almost every top jumps horse isn’t related to anything.”

That doesn’t mean the O’Leary’s are a soft touch though. Trainers have had their services unceremoniously dispensed with and there is no reluctance to call a spade a shovel when it comes to the financial bottom line. There is also a feeling that an individual’s judgment gets one chance to be right with a horse, otherwise the Gigginstown boat can sail on elsewhere.

Several people contacted for this piece said they would rather not be quoted for fear of saying something that might annoy the brothers.

The horses go to Gigginstown for their summer holidays and return to work in July. Not unnaturally trainers are keen to say nothing that might see their charges not return to them.

From a punter point of view, the rise and rise of Gigginstown has been good. Because the concentration is on finding quality horses there is little or no focus on ordinary handicaps so the horses run straight with a minimum of messing. Runners that don’t reach standard are sent to the sales and the money reinvested.

It’s an expensive way to get your mind off business but Michael O’Leary’s escape from the office shows no sign of losing its appeal. And there is the competitive element too.

“I’d say neither Mick nor JP (McManus) would admit to the owners’ championship being top of their agenda but at the same time they are competitive people,” Conor O’Dwyer says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a trainer, a jockey or an owner: you want to win your championship. I’m sure it would give Mick and Eddie a huge buzz.”

There are plenty within Irish racing with a real interest in the O’Leary’s continuing to get that buzz.

THE GIGGINSTOWN ROSTER

Possible Gigginstown Grade 1 Contenders for Punchestown Festival:

TUESDAY

4.20 – Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle. 2ms.

Midnight Game (W Mullins)

Trifolium (C Byrnes)

6.40 – Growise Champion Novice Chase. 3ms1f

Gift Of Dgab (T Martin)

Sir Des Champs (W Mullins)

WEDNESDAY

4.55 – Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle. 3m.

Dedigout (T Martin)

Sea Of Thunder (C Byrnes)

5.30 – Tote Punchestown Gold Cup:

First Lieutenant (M Morris)

Quito De La Roque (C Murphy)

THURSDAY

5.30 – Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle. 3m.

Carlito Brigante (G Elliott)

6.40 – Ryanair Novice Chase. 2m.

Westmeath (P Nolan)

FRIDAY

6.05 – Cathal Ryan Memorial Champion Novice Hurdle. 2m4f.

Il Fenomono (N Meade)

SATURDAY

4.25 – Aes Champion 4YO Hurdle. 2m.

Edeymi (T Martin)

His Excellency (G Elliott)