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| Staff Writer |
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“If you're addicted to horses as a career, I don't think there's any therapy for it.”
Ado McGuinness speaks wisely having been to the bottom and back again for the love of the horse and the hunger to succeed.
Born in North County Dublin, Ireland he came from a vegetable farming background but having animals around helped his passion grow around horses.
“I come from a vegetable farming background; Ireland is an all-vegetable country.
“My dad always had a couple of ponies at home on the farm and he had some livestock as well but it was mainly vegetables.
“We always had ponies and I had a first cousin of my dad's not too far over the road. He bred a few horses as well.
“We were with him as I used to go over to him and help him sometimes and just be at home riding the ponies and it developed that interest.”
He has always known where home is, in fact, the yard he trains from is very close to where he was born and bred.
“I'm still here in this very same place where I was born and bred. I never left.”
“Probably only a few 100 yards away from where I've lived all my life.”
Reflecting on when the desire to train began McGuinness cannot pinpoint a moment but rather a series of events.
“I don't know actually. My sister opened up an equestrian center for 20 years and we ran that at that stage in my early twenties.
“I was doing a lot of teaching kids showjumping as well where we
represented teams all across Europe as well – that used to give me great satisfaction doing that.
“I always had a passion for races and I loved races like in Cheltenham where I would go to the meetings and watch them race.
“I loved that!”
Being A Jockey Not An Option
McGuinness knew however, he was never going to pursue a career in the saddle but knew he wanted a career around horses.
“I was too heavy to be a jockey, so I used to get a great thrill out of riding them out and cross-country riding. I knew somebody who came to me one day and said he was going to buy a racehorse.
“He asked if I would train it and so I said I would.”
With that one request a career training horses would begin as McGuinness said.
“That's where it started and I never worked anywhere else in my life. Only on the farm at home here and I've done a bit of probably just watching people train them and made plenty of mistakes along the way.
“But we trainers only make a mistake once and I don't think there's anybody in racing that hasn't made a mistake.”
He would begin with this one horse and with a win came the belief that the career was to be a lot easier than he could have ever imagined.
“I thought it was very easy for us because the very first race I had I was second in what was National Hunt at the time and he was second in a bumper. After that, I said God this is going to be easy, but I'll tell you, I soon learned that it wasn't.”
A Training Career In Ireland
Getting his training licence in 1999 he began with the bare minimum.
“We had very few horses then, only one or two horses actually.
“We had ten horses eventually; we were just a very small operation.
“Then he quit and sold the lot so I was basically left in the 2000s with practically two or three horses in the stable.”
He had hit the bottom of the barrel only a few years in and McGuinness will be the first to admit that the thought of ending the pursuit was a common one.
“I did struggle and contemplated two or three times whether to just draw the line and move away from it and that I no longer could be doing this.
“It was very hard and it was tough.
“We had the passion and I worked very, very hard at this game. I had to think about the number of hours we had put into it.
“Some people said what are you doing this for? You have no days off and you know it’s crazy. But we did it.”
His stable is a family affair and has grown into a family business, something McGuinness admits was never planned but he is proud of.
“My wife was working in medical devices in the early 2000s and for a long time in the medical profession.
“Probably if she was not doing that then and with a family of young kids, we would have really struggled. I don't think I would have been able to nearly afford to keep going at the time. Well, it would have been very, very tough.
“Then a few years back she finished up and she jumped on board. I mean she does all the accounting and you know different angles of racing as well.
“But my kids were then involved as well.”
Growing Pains
The stable has now grown to include 40 horses currently but their growth is in the near future with facility upgrades, as he commented.
“We would like to upgrade but we actually are in the process of building new barns and new buildings. We're not moving out of the farm but we're just going to a different part of the farm and it'll be right beside the gallops on top of a hill so it's quite airy and cold.
“But that's what we love up here – there will be plenty of airflows and that's a very important part here in Ireland and when you're training horses to have very good fresh air. I'm really looking forward to it hopefully in the next three or four months.”
Reflected On Highlights
“I thought I was dreaming last year when we came across a horse called A Case Of You. He took me out to Paris and was second in his very first Group One (at Curragh in September 2021). When I walked out of the car that day, I said God it might never happen again and that would be the closest we’ll ever get to a Group One.”
That race was the Group One Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines and on that day the then 3YO in the last start for the season in Europe would reign supreme beating Air De Valse by a shorthead.
The victory put him on track to run in the Breeder’s Cup which he did finishing fifth but his trainer had greater plans for his star.
Last year he would beat home Happy Romance to win the Al Quoz Sprint in a moment McGuinness will never forget.
“I thought I was dreaming after Dubai World Cup night, the whole race and the whole week. We had a fabulous experience of it all.
“Being a small stable coming from Ireland with just one horse over there at that time. To do that on that stage and the money the horse won. It was just unbelievable.”
The career of A Case Of You while with McGuinness is one of imagination having at one time been deemed unable to pass a health clearance as he said.
“He was sold to Hong Kong and there was a problem with an X-ray or something that they weren't happy with it.
“We went back and we looked at the horse and really liked him and we x-rayed him and got him all done and he passed it, we could find no fault with him.
“He had little nodules that were solid growth things on his knees and after we bought him about six, seven weeks after he'd been x-rayed for America and we couldn't believe it. He said I can't find the source. After that, he never took a lame step and we never had a problem.
“He was super hard to train and then he went on to you know, achieve what he's achieved. He is actually down in Australia now.
“I think Mick Kent has him and he is there to attend the spring carnival this year.”
A Case Of You is only one example of horses that may have previously carried an ailment or niggle but as McGuinness says the Irish air breathes new life into them.
“Current Option is a horse that won Group Three and Listed class races and he had a problem with an X-ray, we bought him out of the Newmarket trade sales and he has just won three big handicaps and at Galway as well. I think his earnings are over 450,000 euros - which is a huge amount for horses in Ireland.
“Saltonstall was another horse that bled badly and we bought him I think for 44,000 euros and he's won two Galway miles and has won a Listed race. He's eight years old now but he's a super horse.
“We have a good way with bleeders here where we are especially during the summer, it just suits we keep them in open bounds and that then leads to a huge tournament. We're beside the beach as well and it's a huge help we can often take the horses instead of going to the gallops we'd head down to the beach for a day or two days.
“I have a horse called Boweman and he lost his way a little bit but it ran very well two weeks ago and we practically spent four days on the beach with him between the races.
“So it's all about getting into the mind and the type of horses and we seem to have a way with that type of horses and we go that way because, at the yearling market, we could end up with very little although we've been lucky with yearlings as well.
“We do buy a few yearlings every year and we are real sellers in that way. If we do get a horse that we feel can make us some money he is going to sell, we have been very good at selling to America.
“We had a very good filly that won a Group Two during the Kentucky Derby week three years ago and her winnings are over $1.5 million in America.
“You need to be selling a few horses every year to make the bill and keep this whole thing afloat. In this country, we are real sellers.”
Doha Is On The Plan
This year the stable prepares the 6YO gelded son of Sidestep for Qatar. Previously trained by the Harrington team he has won a Group Three and Group Two in Leapordstown during the 2021 season.
“He is a horse that we picked out from Jessica Harrington's last October at the horses and train sale.
“He's a very high-class horse but he just lost his way a little bit and just wasn't typically our type of horse and we decided that you know if we could get him at the proper money we would be interested.
“He has put in the work and he's a Group Three winner and a Group Two winner here in Ireland, which you have to be quite a smart horse to you know win that type of race.
“I spoke to Shane Foley and I'm not too far away from our all-weather track, it's only a 15-minute drive down the road. I remember bringing him down there one day for a piece of work just after Christmas and he just floated around and he won down there on his pre-run before Doha a few weeks back.
“He looked very impressive and he’s in very, very good form.
“We were in Doha last year and the year before we won there and last year we were second there. We just felt this horse was the ideal candidate for the race and fingers crossed he’ll put in a huge performance there for us.”
The plan and program for Real Appeal is fluid as McGuinness added.
“We have nominated him in Dubai as well for Super Saturday but if he runs really well in Qatar we might bring him back as there’s a couple of Group races in Ireland.
“In Ireland, if you win a Group race you carry a penalty for 12 months. He didn't compete in any of those races last year so this year coming in for the season he won’t have to carry any penalty so we will campaign him for those types of races.
“We will also look at a Royal Ascot program for him and then probably look to travel again later on in the year.”
Another one planned to fly the flag for the stable is the 8YO gelding by Exceed and Excel, Harry’s Bar, who McGuinness said has a decent program potentially in line for him also. He is pencilled in for a Saudi campaign with the Riyadh dirt sprint as a key target.
“He's reserved at the moment but I don't know whether we're going to get into it at the moment. He's a very high-class horse on grass.
“I think when you are going to run a horse on dirt you need to practice on dirt. It takes a couple of runs for them to familiarize themselves and get used to it and that's a problem.
“Harry's Bar has two different marks as well. He's very low on the grass in Ireland so I think there's a very big race, a good handicap in him in Ireland on the grass as well. So, we'll try him at one of them later on the year.”
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Making The Case For Meydan
Beyond Qatar and Saudi meeting, the trainer has plans for Dubai over the World Cup Carnival with Real Appeal also nominated for the Dubai Turf and the Group Two Godolphin Mile while Harry’s Bar is nominated for the Dubai Golden Sheehan.
He has now been taking horses to the UAE for several years and credits the success they are having while the profile of racing in the region booms.
“I was in Dubai back since the first or second carnival and it was a great experience.
“Not only Dubai but I went to Saudi the year we couldn’t travel to Dubai due to COVID and I couldn't believe the facilities there - it was just phenomenal.
“The same with Qatar. The prize money these people put up, they look after you with supplements for going out there and so it's a no-brainer if you have a horse that's good enough to compete then that is a great experience. My owners love travelling out.
“It's just the experience of the whole thing and you know you just get looked after so well and then you meet people. I've met a lot of people in the last 12-14 months from travelling and you go to the sales you might meet them and you can meet them anywhere after and it's great. The more people you meet in this game the better.”
All plans will be dictated by how the pair perform and they will set the pace and tone for their upcoming programs off the back of Qatar and Saudi.
“There is a big program at home as well. When you're competing in Ireland you are looking at competing with the bigger studs also such as Coolmore.
“They have a phenomenal team of horses and it's very hard here to compete against those guys and when you get a horse like these two it's great.
“But it's far from simple because it is so competitive.”
With the stable boasting 40 members currently he detailed the other stars or those with potential asking to be unleashed on the track.
“Current Option has been so consistent for us over the last few years. We have a very strong team of horses for this year, I think we've got about seven or eight horses over 100 and over 90, who will be premier handicap plus horses.
“The more you have in these races the better chance you have if your fancy horse goes and lets you down, your backup could win these races and they are worth a lot of money.
Syndicates Are The Way Forward
McGuinness is proud to be the home of Shamrock Thoroughbreds, a successful syndicate who owns Real Appeal.
He sees syndication in horse ownership as vital for not only the success but ensuring that more people can be involved in the adrenaline-filled ride that is horse racing.
“With cheap horses, you could have a bunch of lads who would invest a small amount into it you know. You put ten lads into having a bit of fun, they go to the local tracks and go out and enjoy their day at the races.
“Then you move up to the higher level and it's different responsibility. You have the owners of Real Appeal who run on the Shamrock and there are three owners on him which is great. These guys have a big part to play you know. There's a big investment there and they have a big say in the horse and they have a great chance.”
Having sent horses, to Qatar, Saudi, Dubai and elsewhere McGuinness was quick to answer the race he would love to have the right horse in and take the spoils.
“I won the Al Quoz Sprint (with A Case of You) and the experience I had that night I will never forget. You are treated like a rock star when you win something like that out there.
“I don't know if is there any better place in heaven, but that's the way I feel.
“The experience of World Cup night and the experience in that whole setup and the atmosphere of the whole thing, between the opening of the event and the closing of the event, it is just surreal, unbelievable and I would love to do that again.”
Over his time training horses, he has learnt many lessons but the biggest for him came down to finding the right horse and the ability to do so.
“I think it's like any sport, the more capital you have the greater chance you have of finding that next great horse.
“A Case of You was sold for 3000 euros as a yearling. I could go out and buy horses like that at that price for the next six or seven years and I couldn’t find a horse like him.
“You can dream and all of a sudden, the dream can become a reality, but like the best football teams in England they have the best managers and the capital to get great players. It’s very hard to compete.”
“It is all about capital and you need good horses to train.
“As I’ve said before Michael Schumacher never won a Grand Prix in a mini”