High-flyer confined to base
Flanagan temporarily grounded but all set for return
TOP JOCKEY Seán Flanagan finds it strange to be at home during the season without being injured or otherwise unable to ride, but there is an up-side to lockdown too.
Not only is he able to catch up on some home do-it-yourself, he also has lots of extra time to spend with his fiancée and two children.
‘It’s a very strange feeling but I have a young family and I’m spending more time with them than I ever would when the racing is on, and I’m really enjoying that.’
Partner and fiancée is Lauren and there are two-year-old daughter Lilah and son LJ, a year old last week. They live near Slane, Co. Meath, very close to Seán’s place of work at Noel Meade’s stables.
He and Lauren were to be married later this month but that has fallen victim to the Covid-19 shut-down; the wedding has been re-arranged for the same date next year.
Seán lost over two months with a couple of injuries in the curtailed season that ended in March but still managed a very respectable 36 winners, which put him in tenth place in the jockeys’ table.
One of those falls resulted in a shattered jaw and a skull fracture, but he was back in the saddle within a month to take in Cheltenham. These guys are made of tough stuff.
Still only 31 (his birthday is later this month), he has been riding for nearly 14 years and has lots of time left, all going well.
While his riding career is flying high, Seán literally does lots of high flying in his spare time as he is a qualified pilot of private planes, after more than two years of training and nine testing exams.
He has hopes of becoming a commercial pilot by the time he finishes as a jockey with a readymade second career to step into. This will be quite daunting as it will involve logging up another 150 flying hours and negotiating another 15 written exams.
Both his careers are temporarily grounded but he is determined to give it a really good go on the ground and in the air.
From Palace East, Clonroche, Seán is son of Martin and Caitríona; his only brother, Stephen, returned home just last week with his wife and four children after ten years in Australia.
His only sister is 16-years-old Theresa who spent her transition year out in Australia with Stephen and family – a great experience for her.
Seán began his career as an amateur and rode his first winner on the Eamonn ‘Dusty’ Sheehy-trained Keevas Boy at Down Royal in November, 2006.
He rode three more winners as an amateur, including one on Sheehy’s Merry Cowboy. He turned professional in January of 2007 and Merry Cowboy gave him his first win as a conditional rider, and then his first graded win. It’s no wonder he has fond memories of that horse.
He made a very bright start to his career with Graded wins on Brave Right, Colm Murphy’s Voler la Vedette, Bambootcha, Piano Star in the Midlands National, and he won the very valuable Pierse Handicap Hurdle on Liz Doyle’s 50/1 outsider, Penny’s Bill, getting home by a head from a field of 30.
He won the Thyestes Chase at Gowran on Whinstone Boy, and all this in his first three years as a pro.
He was persuaded to try his luck in the United States and rode successfully there for two half seasons, based with leading trainer Jack Fisher in Baltimore.
But on his return his career did hit a flat spot. He had just three winners in the seasons ending in 2013 and 2014, confidence was low, and he seriously contemplated calling it a day.
He became involved with Noel Meade, doing lots of riding out and picking up some very good ‘spares’ when regular riders Paul Carberry and Davy Condon were not available or engaged elsewhere, and this was his salvation.
When injury forced the retirement of both of them, Seán was appointed stable jockey by Meade in mid-September of 2016, and things have really taken off for him since.
He had 59 winners in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons, a wonderful turnaround from a few years earlier. His first Grade 1 success came on Meade’s Disko in the Flogas Novice Chase at Leopardstown in February, 2017, ten years after turning pro.
He has had a very fruitful relationship with Road to Respect, winning four Grade 1s – the Ryanair
Gold Cup Novice Chase at Fairyhouse and the Leopardstown Christmas Chase (both 2017), the JN Wine Champion Chase (2018), and the Ladbrokes Champion Chase (2019), both at Down Royal. However, injury may rule him out for much of 2020.
This horse has a big Wexford connection, Seán takes pride in pointing out, having been bred by Ivy Rothwell near Bunclody, and he won his point-to-point at Monksgrange, Rathnure, in March, 2015.
Seán gained his first Grade 1 success in Britain when the Henry De Bromhead-trained Identity Thief won the Ryanair Stayers’ Hurdle at Aintree, the race immediately before the 2018 Grand National.
He rides out most mornings of the week and now that the dates have been set (June 8 for the flat and June 22 for the jumps), he is beginning to look forward to the resumption of racing.
Noel Meade has 15 or 16 summer jumpers, but his main focus may be on the flat as he will have 40 horses ready for action.
Seán expects it to be busy from the start of July onwards. He has not ruled out having a go on the flat if the opportunity arises, and this is typical of a man who has never been afraid of taking on new challenges.