Edward O'Grady and the politics of racing
Tipperary trainer, Edward O'Grady, has an emphatic belief in Ireland's potential domination of the professional racing industry. He holds strong views about what he calls the "archaic betting system" with off-course bookkmakers acting as revenue commisssioners. He also believes that the Turf Club is ineffective, peopled with "sincere" self-appointed nonsionals. He thinks the semi-state Racing Board is staffed by civil serrvants who are in the misplaced posiition of controlling racing which should be controlled by the owners, trainers and jockeys, who are actively involved in the racing business. "Horse racing is a multi-million pound industry, demanding restructuring - you can't let political choices influence the selection of important positions - the best people should be used, those who know racing at first hand."
A young trainer with an impressive list of wins in national hunt and flat racing, O'Grady is increasingly focusssing his attentions on summer racing:
"The big money is in the Classics (flat racing) - the glamour events." Invesstors know that a good horse will have effectively two careers - firstly on the track and later on as a valuable commodity for breeding purposes. During the last ten years, E.J. O'Grady has witnessed with disappointment the decline of national hunt racing: "In 1972, Irish national hunt racing was equal - if not superior to anything held in Britain." Now facing soaring costs, the main backbone of national hunt racing - farmers - have found their profit strangled by tax imposiition and decline in income and are no longer financially able to invest in horses. "Everything has gone up except the prize money."
With his reputation well established even before Golden Cygnet's 1978 Waterford Crystal Supreme Novice Hurdle win at Cheltenham, O'Grady is sharp, articulate - ready to speak about the racing industry, if not about himself. Blackrock College boy, only child of the late trainer W.T. O'Grady, Edward was a year from his veterinary finals when, after a long illness, his father died. Is he bitter about not having taken his degree? "Not at all, I was glad to have completed the four years, I always wanted to be a trainer." Looking like the useful rugby player he has been described as, O'Grady does not accept the label "privileged".
Married in 1972 to Judy Mullins ¨daughter of Joan, former international showjumping judge - O'Grady's succcession to his father's Killeens Stables at Ballynonty near Cashel, was not as easy as might appear: "In the space of twenty days, my status changed from being a student, to that of a married man, my father died and I was responnsible for a widowed mother, the stables and staff, not forgetting an inflated overdraft and death duties."
As a successful trainer how much of this could be attributed to his own pedigree as W .T.'s son? "If I'm successsful it's largely due to ninety-five per cent hard work and the rest is luck. I've had my share of misfortune, you learn through mistakes." To date his credentials include, on the flat - three times winner of the Irish Caesarwich, the Ballyogan Stakes and Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown, the Naas November
Handicap, the Phoenix Park Marwell Stakes and three victories at Norrmandy's Deauville Course. National hunt wins - the Irish National, Fingal Hurdle and the Powers Gold Cup all at Fairyhouse; three Galway Plate Races, the John Jameson 'Chase at Punchestown and three Leopardstown 'Chases. "I've yet to win a Sweeps Hurdle," he remarked. O'Grady's Chelltenham record includes two Sun Alliance Novice Hurdles, two Waterrford Crystal Stayers Hurdles, the Kim Muir 'Chase, the County Handicap Hurdle, the Waterford Crystal Supreme Novice Hurdle, the National Hunt 'Chase, the Cathcart Champion Hunters 'Chase Challenge Cup and also the Whit bread Gold Cup.
Times have changed, sport has reached incredibly sophisticated proofessional levels and racing is no excepption. "My father was involved solely with national hunt racing. It was his personal preference." O'Grady is also adamant that his father got commparatively little return from what he gave to racing: "National hunt is a sport where winning a Gold Cup is the ultimate achievement - the prize money is ridiculously low."
What are a racing trainer's ambiitions? - to find the definitive wonder horse in an industry the major part of which is the creation, production, cloning of super animals with increedible regularity: "In the early years, a trainer sets out to win as many races as possible - and when you've won, the impetus then is to win specific races." O'Grady's major ambition is to carry off the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, at Longchamp: "It's the most prestiigious international race." The O'Grady trained 'Hard About' was placed seventh in the 1980 Irish 2,000 Guineas one-mile classic at the Curragh.
A trainer's cut of race winnings is eight per cent, subjected to tax and Edward's estimated earnings are someething in excess of £600,000 - very impressive considering his former almost exclusive concentration on national hunt racing. Looking around Killeens - beautifully located on over tWQ hundred acres - it's difficult Ðimpossible - to shake off the smell of affluence. After all, race horses spell money. The fine farmhouse-style O'Grady home was bought by W.T. in 1949, Edward and Judy have built on to the existing structure. The long sweeping driveway entrance is lined with mature trees. It seems the O'Gradys have an enviable lifestyle.
What kind of running costs does a training establishment have? "Very high ones. I've a large staff and their salaries have to be met." With maximum stabling for eighty horses at Killeens, O'Grady estimates it costs an annual £5,000 to keep one horse. Transport outlay is enormous. He drives upwards of 50,000 miles yearly and a diesel-fuelled horse box, catering for six horses, is priced in the region of £30,000. Insurance presents a furrther hefty bill. Ed ward's approach is very business-like, well aware that successful training demands more than
just an eye for good horses and the skilful working of them. "You need to be a good public relations man, communication is essential. It's vital to be open to new clients and to look after existing ones. I have to ensure effective and mutually happy manageement/staff relations." Acting as transsport manager, financier, vet and not forgetting trainer - nutritionist is another role and an area which O'Grady feels is in urgent need of in-depth research.
A serious concern for trainers is the sudden attack of a variety of viruses. Though he has had relatively little experience of this occupational fact of life, O'Grady refers to last year's unfortunate virus victim, the promising colt 'Gimme Pleasure': "He looked like being a great find, full of running - then he just lost form." 'Gimme Pleasure' is one of those good American-bred "middle of the road" horses which O'Grady often invests in. As Irish and British bred middle range horses tend to be over-priced compared with their American counnterparts, many European buyers visit Kentucky's Keeneland Sales which can offer 3,500 horses as opposed to less than a third of that number on view at Goffs. These North American "economy" horses often surpass exxpectations.
O'Grady is exasperated by much of what he sees in the Irish attitude to industry - most importantly the apparent non-grasp of the lucrativeeness of racing: "If I had a factory, I could apply to the IDA for a grant, look at all the foreign firms coming here ... I'm an employer in a high labour intensive industry, but if I apply for a grant to build extra stabbling I know what the answer will be." He continues: "It's a sad reflection, in my business men will never be replaced by machines, training and stud farms are given absolutely no inncentives." If Irish racing appears healthy, it's totally due to those actively involved in it. O'Grady connsiders Vincent O'Brien - whose six Epsom Derby winners include 'Sir Ivor' and 'Nijinsky ' - as the world's finest trainer.
Coolmore Stud, a complex of stud farms near O'Grady's Killeens Stables, is highly rated internationally. "Anyyone who works in an Irish trainer's stables or on an Irish stud farm will be respected throughout the world," and O'Grady is constantly amazed by the Irish Government's apparent slowwness to realise that: "The Irish horse industry is an untapped, virtually innexhaustible oil well, if only the betting was organised properly." In partnerrship with Adrian Nicoll, a bloodstock agent, Edward got involved with the BBA (Ireland) Ltd and their syndicate venture in 1981 proved very successful:
"We protected the participants' investtment and provided them all with a lot of fun." Why has syndication beecome a permanent feature of internaational racing? "It's good business, with bloodstock prices soaring, you can pay up to £150,000 for a class yearling. It's better to invest £50,000 in a syndicate and share an interest in six horses."
As an outspoken critic of the Irish Racing Board which he describes as "a fine body of men, though archaic, unimaginative, politically-appointed," Edward O'Grady states: " ... they have done nothing to either change the systems of betting or to encourage more betting at any stage ... I think that when you 'get a privately run industry like racing at the behest of a semi-state government body, the result is stalemate - there's no enncouragement.
The Racing Board must inevitably assume semi-state characcteristics - look at CIE and P&T, they're totally ineffective and ineffiicient. My staff and I work seven days a week - Christmas Day and New Year's Day, I don't want to be dicctated to by civil servants who neither know the work involved nor have the same feel for the game of racing as both myself and the men working for me." He envies the organisation of systems operating in the new horse racing communities like Australia, Hong Kong etc, though with lower standards of training and jockeying, there is a definite practical approach to the business side of racing with high stakes available.
While O'Grady mentions that he is not personally opposed to the pressence of private permit holders 0usually individuals training their own horses as a hobby or business sideeline - this does present real problems for public licence trainers like him:
"These extra starters, trained by nonnprofessionals increase race entries," and if the numbers exceed the safety factor allotted to the particular event, horses must be balloted and the private permit holders share equal rights with the public trainer.
Race sponsorship has been jeoparrdized by the limited television coverrage given to racing. Gallaghers dropped sponsoring the Benson and Hedges Hurdle at Fairyhouse, because they saw better value in backing snooker °now an I established TV sport like tennis.
The poor framing of races is also endangering racing: "There should be a great deal of careful thought given to the composition of fields. Races aren't framed to encourage betting, the punter doesn't worry about the calibre of horses, but rather that of the odds - he expects a race, not a one-sided, non-competitive display." Would the trainer, who rode ten national hunt wins as an amateur, regret the ever threatened passing of Aintree's Grand National? "No, horses lose their class - as it's four and a half miles and it slows the animal's pace ... it's an endurance test rather than a race." He has had a fifth placer and reckons the 'National is most suited for older, more experienced horses.
In selecting his staff, O'Grady goes for suitability and experience: "There's careful screening, as it's demanding work." Only a small percentage of the apprentices will become jockeys and again he stresses the various ancillary jobs necessary to the racing business. Tim Finn, Killeens head lad, has been with the O'Grady stables for over thirty-three years. In retrospect, how does O'Grady view the Cheltennham incident involving jockey Tommy Ryan's excessive use of the whip while riding 'Drumlargan', the 1980 Chelltenham Sun Alliance Novices Hurdle Champion: "It was just one of those things," and adds that Ryan was a victim of circumstances. "This often happens, but it's not always quesstioned - like everything else there is a lot of inconsistencies and human error." At Navan, November 1982, Ryan, again on 'Drumlargan', faced a <. ten day suspension and the trainer was fined, as the stewards felt that the horse had not been run on its merits. O'Grady explained that he had innstructed Ryan to take his time, get the horse jumping well but not to hit him. He was prepared to see 'Drumlargan' lose rather than experience a gruelling race, carrying over twelve stones in heavy going, in his second outing of the season.
What does O'Grady look for in a horse? "Action, and especially with flat racers there's considerations like breeding/pedigree, time of birth (the earlier in the year the stronger etc, as all horses are dated from the January of the year of foaling), stud origin and freedom from disease." Steeplechasers have a round action for negotiating hurdles and "fences, through usually heavy slow going and are physically bigger, weightier horses - carrying ten to twelve stone jockeys over longer distances. " 'Chasers mature later, usually at five years, compared with their flat racing counterparts. The two year old flat race sprinter is fully developed and has reached racing weight. They have a flowing action with lengthened strides for running over the ground in firmer conditions carrying lighter riders."
O'Grady points out that training every horse is highly individual: "The two year old has been bred to run fast, it's a joy to run, a natural instinct." Irish trainers don't use time trials and obviously weather conditions dictate exercise programmes. Without revealling any of his training secrets, O'Grady agrees that there is a lot of patience and close observation used: "Jump racing is about jumping, it's very specialised, some horses are born with the ability to clear hurdles and proogress to fences." O'Grady disproves as fallacy the belief that steeplechasers are plodders: "That's just a misconnception, of course 'chasers are endurrance runners rather than sprinters Èbut a top national hunt animal would have the pace of a flat racer."
He says the big challenge in training is getting the best from each horse with methods geared for its particular perrsonality. "Horses have to be carefully placed - entered in the right race with conditions that suit them. Whattever their natural talent, racing green/ raw can be very damaging for a young horse's race confidence." Despite his dissatisfaction with many aspects of the Irish racing scene he is determined to stay in Ireland and he mentions that though many of his clients are not Irish, he is quite certain that if the industry were properly run with more money being ploughed back into it a great deal of native investment would be encouraged. At present, Edward O'Grady is reorganising his stables and has some fifty horses - thirtyyfive flat racers and fifteen national hunt horses - so he plans to continue his involvement with steeplechasing.
But now his main concern is the furrther consolidation of his growing repuutation as a flat race trainer. At thirtyyfour, he wants to shake off his someewhat typecast image as exclusively a national hunt trainer. Though still interested in steeplechasing, O'Grady is aware that as primarily a businesssman in a rapidly moving international industry, he can't afford to ignore the more profitable and commercial aspect of racing.
Surely a member of a tiny minority, O'Grady speaks with great relish of the immense job satisfaction he derives from his work. Every winner is a bonus, none more so than 'Mister Donovan's great performance in winnning Cheltenham's 1982 Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle. When the six year old gelding justified all expectations by emulating his stable companion 'Drum largan's achievement of two seasons earlier.
If Edward O'Grady's major racing ambition is to train the winner of the great French Classic, the Prix de I' Arc, perhaps he has a greater aspiration. He wants to witness the immediate reestructuring of the administrative asspects of Irish racing and to see the professional development of a sport/ industry which - flaw ridden as it is - even now yields an annual £20m to the national exchequer. •