O'Hare hits his stride
December 31, 2010He may be just 25 years of age but Castlebellingham, Co Louth-based trainer Michael O'Hare has already grabbed plenty of attention and headlines. As the son of Barney, the well-known face and voice of the Bar-One Racing chain of betting shops and on-track bookmakers, Michael's upbringing has been ingrained in the racing game. And yet, when the opportunity arose, he opted to move away from his roots in the betting ring and ply his trade in the opposite side of the game: looking after the horses themselves.
O'Hare is already in his third year as a trainer in his own right at Coolstown Stud in Castlebellingham, which was purchased by Barney in 2005. Having served as assistant to Danny Barry and John Larkin at the same yard, he went out on his own in 2008 and has already got a real taste for success. Enough to leave him wanting more.
Even at this early stage, there are two rivals for the title of biggest day of his fledgling training career, with O'Hare sending out Montana Slim to cause a 25/1 shock at the Punchestown National Hunt Festival in April 2009 before he achieved the rare and exceptional feat of saddling a treble on the same card at Naas just six months later.
Speaking to Wee County just as the 2010/11 jumping season was beginning to pick up stride, O'Hare admits that he is thoroughly enjoying his new career having spent a number of years manning the satchel and the profit and loss ledgers for his father.
"I've always been involved in horses ever since I was a young fella, and it was something I always wanted to get into full-time," he says. "When I got to 18 or 19 I was working with my father in the betting shops and on the race-course but to be honest I hated working in the betting industry. It just done my head in - everything was gambling, gambling, gambling, all day, every day. I was delighted to get down to working with the horses, mucking out every morning. That's always been what I wanted to do."
Amazingly, given the high-profile nature of the annual five-day Punchestown festival in Kildare, the victory of Montana Slim in the Martinstown Opportunity Series Final Handicap Hurdle in 2009 was O'Hare's first since taking out his trainer's license.
The Accordion gelding, who spread-eagled a useful field on that occasion, was also a central figure on O'Hare's next big day at the end of the following October, when he, Bale O'Shea and Sweet Shock all entered the winners' enclosure on a red-letter day for the trainer at Naas. "That was an unbelievable day," says Michael. "We weren't plotting it or anything. The races just fell into place on the day and everything worked out well."
Twelve months later, on exactly the same Naas card, he attempted to repeat the trick and came agonisingly close, with Sweet Shock and Bale O'Shea going in again and promising youngster Lord Rory finishing a close-up third in the concluding Bumper.
At the time of writing, in mid-November, O'Hare had already saddled six National Hunt winners for the season, and looking ahead to the remainder of the campaign, he is most enthusiastic about the prospects of both Sweet Shock and Montana Slim.
"Montana Slim is probably the stable star," he says. "He started out at Charlie Swan's as a bumper horse before my father bought him at the Doncaster sales. He's a special wee horse, with a big heart, and has won a few good races for me over the last couple of years.
"Sweet Shock won the Bumper at Naas last year, and has won a couple of hurdles for me this year. My father picked him up as a yearling in Germany four years ago for around €120,000. He's always shown plenty of promise - he's closely related to Noel Meade's good hurdler Sweet Wake - but from the start of this season he's just seemed to be stronger than ever. He's a proper horse this year.
"I have big hopes for him, really big hopes. We're going to keep him in handicap company for now and hopefully he comes through the ranks and wins a couple more. He can go a long way in the hurdles and he's a real stayer, a three-mile horse in the making, and he should be an exciting chaser in the future."
Joining Sweet Shock in the winners' enclosure on both Naas cards in 2009 and 2010 was Bale O'Shea, but despite the fact that he has won three races and been placed on another four occasions out of just 15 starts, O'Hare feels he has a battle on his hands unearthing the Bob Back gelding's true potential.
"He's an annoying sort of a horse to be honest," he says. "He looks like a proper horse at home, works a lot better for us than he runs. Andrew Lynch, Paddy Flood and Katie Walsh have all sat on him and jumped off and said he's a machine, but he just hasn't given us the same feel on the track yet. He's just one of those horses. I'd like to think he'll go further but I couldn't be sure."
In times gone by, a base close to Dundalk may have left a trainer slightly on the periphery of Ireland's racing epicentre, but a combination of factors means that, these days, Castlebellingham is close to being the perfect location. "The location is very handy," says O'Hare. "The track at Dundalk Stadium is a big help to us, we go there twice a week to gallop. We're beside the new M1 motorway where we are too so we're very close to everywhere. An hour and a half would take us to the Curragh."
Michael admits that while he retains a good interest in all things GAA, he has had to follow events from afar in recent years. "I'd watch the Down and Louth games every summer," he says, "but work means I don't get to as many as I'd like. It was a very good year for both counties. It was great to see Down back in an All-Ireland final again and hopefully they'll go one better next year. It would be brilliant to see Louth make up for this year's Leinster final too. We're only a mile down the road from the O'Connells club here in Castlebellingham, so we'll be shouting for Louth again in 2011. Fingers crossed they get a bit better luck next summer." Tweet
