LOCAL SYNDICATE PLOTTING CHELTENHAM RAID
Pat Cluskey isn’t exaggerating when he speaks of an ‘amazing story’ which has brought Darver Star from humble beginnings to a place in next Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle, opening day highlight of the Cheltenham Festival.
Injured as a young horse - ‘we thought he would never see a racecourse’ - the gelding went on to notch a sequence of wins, improving to such an extent that he will be tackling a third successive Grade 1 contest when the starter lets them go at 3.30.
Pat, from Mansfieldstown, Castlebellingham, owns the eight-year-old with Seán Fanning and Simon Fagan.
Seán, who lives in Charleville, Dunleer, is also joint-breeder with Pat, while Simon, from Darver, has a chapter all to himself when it comes to the Darver Star tale.
It’s already well documented that Simon scooped almost €3.6 million in the National Lottery, and when it came to naming the ownership syndicate there was a nod to the fateful day in 2013.
Darver Star runs for the SSP Number Twentytwo Syndicate.
‘I was waiting on number 22 to come out for six numbers,’ Simon told RTE recently.
‘So, when Pat came to me about buying the horse or getting involved in it, I said the number 22 had to go in somewhere in the equation.’
All the owners and the horse’s growing legion of followers are looking forward to the big race, though Pat freely admits he never thought they would be getting ready to go to Cheltenham.
Time to go back to the start. Maggies Oscar was an unraced mare. By Oscar out of Neath Native Sky, also owned by Pat, she was wellbred. Her grand-dam Sky Ho, trained by Richie Walsh, was top-rated pointto-point mare in 1991.
Darver Star, by Kalanisi, was her third foal. The first two, both fillies, never got to the track.
‘We foaled him at home, and Michael O’Hare in Kilsaran broke him as a two-year-old,’ Pat explains.
He met a serious injury as a young horse and there followed a long spell on the sidelines.
The gelding was sent to Ger Kelly in Tipperary to recover, while David Browne on Pat’s farm and Paddy McGee did most of the rehabilitation. All their hard work paid off.
‘We put him in training with Gavin Cromwell, and he has done a magnificent job,’ Pat continues.
Cromwell is based at Danestown, Balrath, near Navan. Twelve months ago he won the Champion Hurdle with the JP McManus-owned Espoir d’Allen.
Of course, the horse had to have a name. While on a trip to Liverpool Simon rang Pat to tell him he had come up with Darver Star.
It’s synonymous with the area, relating to former soccer and Gaelic football teams, Darver Stars.
‘Jack McGuinness’s Darver Stars kept a generation of young fellas playing soccer,’ Pat recalls.
Himself and Simon are St. Joseph’s GFC men, while co-owner Seán Fanning’s allegiance lies with Stabannon Parnells.
When it came to settling on the owners’ colours, it was the red-andwhite of Louth.
Darver Star’s racing career began in a Cork maiden hurdle on 9 December, 2018. An unconsidered 50/1 shot he finished sixth of 24, beaten 54 lengths.
A Down Royal bumper on St. Stephen’s Day yielded fifth place before two more unplaced runs in maiden hurdles, albeit the second of them was a promising fourth at Fairyhouse.
The horse was given a 50-day break and returned on St. Patrick’s Day, 2019 with Jonathan Moore on his back for the first time.
The pair combined for third at Wexford, and the partnership has remained intact ever since.
‘He had never run a bad race,’ Pat recalls.
‘He then won his sixth race at Wexford and then ran a bit flat at Fairyhouse so we took him home for a break.’
The handicapper gave him 13 lbs for that 10-length maiden victory which the trainer felt was far too much.
Indeed, as the horse was such a good jumper, Cromwell toyed with the idea of switching Darver Star to fences.
He returned to the track for a rated hurdle on 11 August, hacking up by nine lengths.
‘He came up the hill that day at Downpatrick like an express train,’ says Pat.
Once more, the assessor took a swipe, putting Darver Star up by a stone.
Nevertheless, he went in again at Killarney before collecting another handicap at Listowel off a mark of 145, another 8 lbs higher.
He was then pitched into a Listed novice hurdle at Limerick on 13 October, and justified 13/8 favouritism for a fourth successive win.
It was decided to take on the big guns in the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle.
Among the outsiders at 20/1 Darver Star ran a cracker at Fairyhouse, filling third behind Envoi Allen and Abacadabras, two top-notchers from the Gordon Elliott yard.
Envoi Allen is a hot favourite for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and Abracadabras a leading fancy for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
For his next start Darver Star stepped into open company for the Irish Champion Hurdle. Again, a 20/1 chance, he flew home, failing by a half-a-length to catch unbeaten mare Honeysuckle, with the likes of Supasundae and Sharjah behind.
‘It was phenomenal run,’ remarks Pat.
The performance prompted connections to aim for the biggest hurdling prize of all.
Consequently, there is great excitement as the countdown begins in earnest.
‘It’s great for the area. I haven’t seen such a buzz about the place apart from a team being in the senior final,’ Pat reports.
Darver Star won’t lack for supporters in Prestbury Park next Tuesday.
‘ There is a good crowd going over, as big as from here to any event in England.
‘We are just hoping he gets through it safe and sound. To get placed would be beyond our wildest dreams.’