Ken Whelan is one of the veterans of the Irish National Hunt weighing room and is undoubtedly one of the most popular members of that group. A proud native of Lismore in Co. Waterford, Whelan has been a grafter for most of his career and while his winners are not regular occurrences these days, they are always greeted with great enthusiasm by the Irish racing public and his weighing room colleagues alike.
Principal Trainers: Shark Hanlon, Margaret Flynn, Tony Martin
Notable Wins:
- La Touche Cup (Oh Jackie 2008, Risk Of Thunder 2000 + 1995)
- BGC Cross Country Handicap Chase (Wonderkid 2007)
- Pierse Leopardstown Handicap Chase (Buck Rogers 2000)
- John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase (Buck Rogers 1999)
- Punchestown Cup Chase (Risk Of Thunder 1999)
- Craddockstown Novice Chase (Bavard Jet 1999)
- Sporting Index Chase Cross Country Chase (Fiftysevenchannels 1997)
- Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (Stop The Waller 1996)
- GPT Galway Handicap (Breyani 1991)
Early Days
Whelan was much more interested in hurling as a youngster, which he played at under-age level for Waterford, and only sat on a horse at 16. Whelan began his racing career riding on the Flat for Tommy Stack, having his first ride in public on the Robert Sangster-owned Saskatchewan at the Galway Festival in 1990. That was his only ride that year, but he made up for lost time in 1991, riding three winners for Stack from just 10 rides, with the highlight undoubtedly being his memorable success coming on the David Nagle-owned Breyani in the prestigious GPT Handicap at the Galway Festival. Surprisingly, despite that high-profile win, Whelan’s fortunes did not rise as might have been anticipated, with him riding one winner from just five rides in all of 1992. Indeed, Whelan’s luck did not begin to turn for the better until he made the career-changing decision to concentrate on the National Hunt side of the game in 1994.
A Switch To Jumping Bears Fruit
With him now concentrating almost entirely on jumps racing, Whelan began to deliver on some of his early promise. While most jockeys that were making the switch from the Flat to the jumps game might be forgiven for making a steady transition, Ken Whelan threw himself right into the hottest of fray in the fearless style that he would become renowned for. He rode four winners in his first full season over jumps, with two of those wins coming on the Noreen Hayes-trained Risk Of Thunder over the famous banks course at Punchestown. The pick of those wins was unquestionably his success in the 1995 renewal of the La Touche Cup at the Punchestown Festival in late-April. Not long after that, Whelan headed over to England to ply his trade and that decision was rewarded in no uncertain terms when he gained an unlikely win on the Ferdy Murphy-trained Stop The Waller in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 1996. After that, a return to Ireland and a switch to professional status were in Whelan’s mind and his final win as an amateur came on Antonin in a handicap chase at Wexford in late-October 1996. Early the following month, he had made the switch to the professional ranks.
The Professional Ranks
Not unsurprisingly, Whelan’s switch to professional status saw his work rate increase markedly and he made a solid start, riding a total of seven winners by the end of the season. 1997/8 saw Whelan have an even busier time in the saddle, resulting in him riding a career-high seasonal tally of 18 winners. The highlights of that haul came on a memorable two days in mid-November, with him riding the Enda Bolger-trained Fiftysevenchannels to success in the Sporting Index Chase Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham before returning to Ireland the next day to ride the Enda Bolger-trained Bavard Jet to success in the Grade 3 Craddockstown Novice Chase at Cork. He wrapped up that season with his first ride in the Aintree Grand National on the Edward O’Grady-trained Gimme Five and the pair got around to finish a highly-respectable fifth of just six finishers. Whelan was well on his way to registering another respectable tally of winners in 1998/9 until disaster struck at Thurles in February of that season, with him being seriously injured after being unseated from Loughlander at the first fence in a novice chase. He fractured two of his vertebrae, but it took the teak-tough Whelan just over four months to return to the race track and that feat would be rewarded in spades in the 1999/2000 season.
A Season To Remember
One would have thought that having suffered such a serious injury, Whelan’s confidence may have been dented, but such is the character of the man, he bounced straight back to form to have what was arguably the most memorable season of his career in 1999/2000. Having gradually returned to full fitness, his run of success was kicked off by a win on his old friend Risk Of Thunder in the Punchestown Cup Chase, which followed the pairs excellent second-place finish in the Velka Pardubicka in the Czech Republic just three weeks earlier. Just over a month later, Whelan teamed up with the Victor Bowens-trained Buck Rogers to gain the only Grade 1 win of his career thus far in the John Durkan Punchestown Memorial Chase. Just over a month later, the same horse provided him with another high-profile win in the Pierse Leopardstown Handicap Chase. What was already immensely successful season for Whelan was capped in the most perfect of manners as he once again partnered Risk Of Thunder to success in the La Touche Cup at the Punchestown Festival, five years on from the pairs first success together in the race.
A Time For Graft
Unfortunately, Whelan did not enjoy the same good fortune over the next number of seasons and while he continued to graft hard, the next four seasons went by without him being rewarded with a huge amount of success. However, as the saying goes, good things come to those that wait and in 2004/5, Whelan came across two horses that very much put him back in the mix of things. The first was the Homer Scott-trained John James on whom Whelan won three conditions chases on and rode to run well in a number of more valuable contests. The second was the John Joe Walsh-trained Island Pride on whom Whelan won four handicap chases on from January 2005 to February 2006. Unfortunately though, Whelan’s momentum was brought grinding to a halt in April 2006 as he damaged four vertebrae in a fall over hurdles at Wexford. That fall saw him miss out on six months, but the iron man of the weighing room was not deterred and it was an immensely popular result when he made his return to the winner’s enclosure on the Pat O’Connor-trained Lady Elite at Cork in January 2007. While that would prove to be his only success of the season, things got better for him in 2007/8.
Whelan was as busy as he ever had been in 2007/8 and was rewarded by riding his share of winners. The highlights of his season were unquestionably his win on the Tony Martin-trained Wonderkid in the BGC Cross Country Handicap Chase at Cheltenham and his third success in the La Touche Cup at the Punchestown Festival, this time on the Stuart Crawford-trained Oh Jackie.
Since then, Whelan has been back to grafting and winners have been hard to come by. The Margaret Flynn-trained Ballyvoile provided him with two winners in 2009/10, but he has yet to get off the mark in 2010/11. However long it takes Whelan to return to the winner’s enclosure, when he eventually does, it is sure to be greeted with the great enthusiasm that all Ken Whelan-ridden winners are.
Info supplied by Horse Racing Ireland - Updated January 2011
