SKY IS THE LIMIT NOW
Former St Brigid’s and Roscommon star’s £600 horse has made €60k and looks bound for Cheltenham
THEY don’t call horse racing the sport of kings for nothing. It is the preserve of the likes of JP Mcmanus, Michael O’leary, Rich Ricci and the other business tycoons.
Mcmanus recently paid £570,000 for point-to-point winner Jonbon, a full brother to 2016 Arkle winner Douvan.
But there is always the chance of a fairytale. Anyone can beat the odds.
For many years that has been the dream of Cathal Mchugh, a 2013 Allireland club champion with St Brigid’s (below) and former Roscommon player.
Now working as a teacher in Abu Dhabi, Mchugh had tasted success with horses trained by John ‘Shark’ Hanlon.
But even he couldn’t have dreamed of the journey an email to Hanlon in November 2019 would take himself and a group of his friends on.
Mchugh told the Irish Daily Mirror: “I just got some notion to give ‘Shark’ an email. I said to him that I presume he was going to the sales at Ascot.
“He sent three different horses. He put a price tag on the three of them and said what he was hoping to pay. Skyace was one of the horses he mentioned.
“I did my own bit of research then and I said that if you can get this horse Skyace for less than £10,000, I’ll take her off you and I’ll syndicate it with a few boys in Abu Dhabi and back home.
“He got back to me and said ‘I’ll do my best but I don’t think she’ll go for less than £10,000.”
Mchugh and his friend Kevin Crean were at a concert in Abu Dhabi as Skyace later went under the hammer but were watching on in disbelief.
“We couldn’t believe she was bought for only £600. I rang Hanlon straight away. I was like ‘Is that £6000 or £600 or is that a typo or what’s the story?’’
There was no mistake. Despite placing in all of her three bumper runs for Willie Mullins in the summer of 2019, Skyace didn’t have a reserve on her back and went for a lowly £600.
Mchugh explained: “The horse didn’t look great when we bought her. I say that was just because she was out in the fields for a bit.
“I’d say people were thinking too that if Willie Mullins can’t get a horse to win a bumper, no one else will get the horse to win.
“It was just one of those things of being at the right place at the right time.
“If the horse went for £10,000, we would have bought her for £10,000. To be honest with Covid and everything, we mainly bought the horse because we wanted something to go home to during the summer.” Along with ‘Shark’ and Kevin Crean, Mchugh also drafted in Kieran Breslin from Donegal, Kerill Sutton from Wexford, Mick Delaney from Dublin, and with that the Birdinthehand Syndicate was formed. But expectations were still not particularly high for Skyace’s debut over hurdles at Tipperary in June. “We hadn’t done a lot of work with her going into that maiden,” said Curraghboy native Mchugh. “We didn’t think she be winning at all. “She is not a good trainer at home. There are horses there that would be lapping her at home.” Mchugh didn’t have a penny on his horse, who drifted out to 15/2, but the daughter of Westerner won easily under jockey Jody Mcgarvey. Then when Skyace followed up with an eight-length success at Gowran Park, Mchugh knew they had a “right horse”. But the bubble seemed to burst when the five-year-old proved no match for Mullins-trained Jon Snow at Killarney and then ran twice outside the money at Ballinrobe and Listowel. Next up was a three mile handicap hurdle at Tipperary and she was a tired horse when
falling two out. It seemed an overly ambitious next move to try a Grade 3 company at Down Royal.
In the same race, Gordon Elliott was running his much-touted mare Queen’s Brook and Henry De Bromhead’s Brave Way also had a tall reputation.
But with huge prices being quoted for Skyace, Mchugh didn’t keep his powder dry this time and lumped on.
Skyace went off at 66/1 and Mchugh, having had a long battle to watch the race at a Abu Dhabi hotel, couldn’t believe his eyes after he had lumped on. The first-place prize money of €21,000 alone dwarfed the horse’s £600 price.
The second-placed Queen’s Brook and the third-placed Brave Way were both bought respectively for £160,000 – 267 times as much as Skyace.
Not that the bookies seemed to sit up and take notice though. Next time out at Punchestown, Skyace opened up at 12/1 and drifted out to 28/1 by the off.
“We had given the horse loads of time off and ‘Shark’ had said that this horse has improved at least half a stone if not a stone. He said she was in super form.
“By that time a good few people had started recognising me and the boys with the horse. The texts
kept coming in, asking if we had a chance? “I thought we had an excellent chance and told everyone that she won’t be outside the top three.” Skyace won going away by five lengths to scoop the €13,500 winner’s prize and land some huge bets.
In under six months, the £600 horse had earned almost €60,000 and there is only one place they are going next.
“She won’t run until Cheltneham now. We feel she will go there with a good chance. If the race was two mile two furlongs, I’d be telling a lot of people to back her. But I believe in Roscommon and Athlone they’d aren’t taking any more bets on her for Cheltenham!”
The race in question is the Mares Novice Hurdle and the syndicate’s Whatsapp group is buzzing every day.
“Every horse that could potentially run against us at Cheltenham, we are analysing them up and down. We are looking at every website. There’s a great
buzz there. “But a lot can happen between now and Cheltenham, so we just hope we can get her there safe and sound, and she comes home safe and sound.” The only negative for the syndicate has been not being available to see their superstar in the flesh.
But if Covid-19 restrictions allow, they will all be gathering next March at Cheltenham, the Olympics of jumps racing, to see if Skyace can cap a remarkable story.
Mchugh said: “You just never know. We have a great jockey in Jody and all of the staff at the stables are brilliant at having her right on the day.”
He added: “Since Skyace won in Down Royal, I think I have syndicated four more horses. There is a group of bartenders in New York who have got into a horse with me, some club mates back home, and there’s some boys out here in Abu Dhabi too.
“We know that Skyace is just a complete fairytale story and of course they all don’t end up like her.
“But if you can get some enjoyment out of going to a race meeting, gather some friends, maybe enjoy a few drinks, keep it affordable, keep the numbers small, then owning a horse and being part of a syndicate is a great thing to do.”