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The Michael Hourigan stable is one of the best established setups in Irish National Hunt Racing, but this very experienced and shrewd handler would be the first one to say that it has been a long, hard struggle.
Principal Jockeys: Tom Doyle, Adrian Heskin
A Tough Apprenticeship
Apprenticed to trainer Charlie Weld (father of Dermot) in 1962, he served a five year apprenticeship there riding a total of nine winners before increasing weight forced him to go overseas. Based with Commander Crawford outside Edinburgh in Scotland, Michael rode just one winner over fences and three over hurdles and admits that he simply was ‘not much good’ as a jockey. He returned to Ireland and decided to take out a trainer’s licence in 1973.
In the early days he never had any more than three horses in training and actually drove a horsebox for several years to pay the bills. It was not until 1979 that Ramrajah gave him his first winner at Limerick and at the end of that year he had saddled a total of five winners, a figure which increased to 12 by the end of the following twelve months. Even now he considers his first training success as one of his biggest thrills in his life and back in the mid-1980’s he took the plunge and purchased a fine training yard which has been added to over the years.
Reaping The Benefits
Michael enjoyed considerable success with the smart Tropical Lake whom he trained to win the Glenlivet Hurdle at Aintree in 1994 and the ultra-competitive Lincoln Handicap at the Curragh the following year. Anusha gave him a shock win in the Ladbroke Hurdle at Leopardstown in January 1995.
Michael also saddled Deejaydee to win the 1999 National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in the hands of Tony Martin to give him his second Festival winner while Inis Cara won the very valuable Paddy Power Handicap Steeplechase at Leopardstown in December 1999. Rockholm Boy took the Galway Pate in 2002 and Hi Cloy landed the Powers Gold Cup in 2004 beating none other than the subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Kicking King. Hi Cloy also landed the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown in December 2005 before taking the Paddy Power Dial-a-Bet Chase at Leopardstown two weeks later. The stable also enjoyed a notable success with A New Story who took the Paddy Power Cork Grand National at Cork in November 2005.
Dorans Pride Thrills A Nation
Looking back on his career to date, Michael has handled two of the better steeplechasers of the last 20 years in the shape of Dorans Pride and Beef Or Salmon. Dorans Pride was a wonderfully consistent performer and gained his biggest victory in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the 1995 Cheltenham Festival in the hands of Shane Broderick. A very promising novice chaser when sent over fences the following season, he ran a cracker to finish third to Mr Mulligan in the 1997 Gold Cup before occupying the same position when favourite for the race twelve months later. All told, Dorans Pride was placed to win a staggering 29 races in a glorious career and it was one of Michael’s greatest achievements when he produced him to win the November Handicap at Leopardstown as a 10-year-old in 2000.
Beef Or Salmon Comes To The Fore
Beef Or Salmon was unquestionably one of Ireland’s top chasers in the “noughties” and this high-class performer has won nineteen races, a staggering 10 of them at Grade One level. As a novice, he won his very first start against much more experienced opposition in the Morris Oil Chase at Clonmel in 2002 before following up in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork. He then landed the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown before winning the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup over the same course six weeks later. These tremendous performances saw him start a solid second favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2003, but he suffered a heavy fall at the third fence, a fall which many believe was the beginning of several problems with his back. While he went on to win races like the John Durkan Memorial Chase, the James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase and the Hilly Way Chase in subsequent years, two more attempts at the Gold Cup have ended in failure. A very talented performer when on song, he probably enjoyed his finest hour when comfortably defeating triple Gold Cup winner Best Mate in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in December 2004. Subsequent to that, he added a third Lexus Chase to his impressive tally of wins when easily defeating War Of Attrition in December 2005 and he went on to enjoy famous back-to-back successes in the 2006 and 2007 renewals of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown. The latter victory was particularly memorable as, under a forceful Andrew McNamara ride, he collared The Listener in the shadow of the post from a seemingly hopeless position turning into the straight, initiating a tremendous reception from the crowd. He retired at the end of the 2007/8 season as one of the most loved chasers in Ireland.
Multiple Winners
As Michael became more and more familiar to Irish race goers, it soon became clear that one of his greatest strengths was placing his horses to win numerous races and a quick look at the following list taken from the last two decades illustrates this fact:
Central Billing (6 wins), Tropical Lake (10 wins), King Carew (10 wins), Dromhale Lady (7 wins), Almier (6 wins), Mr Red Banner (6 wins), I Remember It Well (7 wins), April Allegro (8 wins), Ballygowan Beauty (8 wins), Amberleigh House (6 wins), Dancing Tornado (6 wins), Mystical Breeze (5 wins), Field Commander (5 wins)
Looking To The Future
At the moment, Hourigan’s yard houses arguably the strongest team of horses that it has since the retirement of Beef Or Salmon, with the promising Grade 2-winning novice chaser Dancing Tornado and the Grade 3-placed novice hurdler Turf War both looking set to go onto even better things. Perhaps the most exciting of all his current inmates is the Gigginstown House-owned Mr Cracker, a winning point-to-pointer that was Grade 2-placed in novice hurdle company last season and looks to have a very bright future ahead of him over fences. That said, the older brigade are doing a fine job of keeping Hourigan’s name in the spotlight, with the veteran A New Story winning the Glenfarclas Handicap Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March and Church Island carrying the Beef Or Salmon to success in the valuable Bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Sandown in April.
However, for all the equine talent that Hourigan has nurtured, the most valuable piece of talent that he has brought along in recent years could well prove to be of the human variety in the shape of Adrian Heskin. The 18-year-old was in the saddle for both of those last-named big-race wins and has been gaining universal been billed as a star of the future. All too aware of the talent of Heskin, Hourigan is keen to protect the precocious talent and intends keeping a big wrap on him for as long as he can.
All told, the future looks as bright as ever for Michael Hourigan and the hardy veteran of the Irish training ranks has plenty of life left in him yet.
Updated May 2010.
