As the spotlight turns to the season’s major Grade 1 prizes, this week brought news that a trainer well accustomed to the limelight has chosen to retire.
First taking out a licence in 1973, Michael Hourigan enjoyed a golden decade between the mid-1990s and 2000s, thanks to the Grade 1-winning exploits of legendary Irish racehorses Dorans Pride and Beef Or Salmon.
Breaking the news on 24 February, 77-year-old Hourigan looked back fondly on his near half-century in the sport when stating:
“Now is the right time, I’m just at that age. Racing has been very good to us. We have 130 acres of land and started with nothing, so we’ve had a great time, myself and my wife. We’ve the best facilities and gallops, and we often wonder how we put it together – there was nothing, only a field, when we bought the place. We met a lot of friends and had wonderful owners.”
Daughter Laura trains from the same Patrickswell yard as her father, ensuring that the Hourigan name will remain in the Irish training game for a little while yet. If she achieves even half the success of her father, she will be doing very well indeed.
From the Pub to the Winner’s Enclosure
Michael Hourigan’s life, quite literally, began in the pub, with the future Grade 1-winning handler born in a Rathkeale watering hole in 1947. Whilst always maintaining links to the family cattle business, Hourigan would make his name through his association with another, rather faster, four-legged beast.
Initially drawn to a life on horseback, Hourigan served as an apprentice jockey to Charlie (father of Dermot) Weld, for whom he rode 14 winners. He would register significantly more success as a trainer, although things could certainly have begun a little better.
First taking out a licence at the Limerick yard of Bank Place, Hourigan’s early training career provided a stern test of patience and perseverance. Having waited six long years before Ramrayja provided the yard with a first winner on St. Patrick’s Day, 1979, Hourigan jokingly reacted, “You’d wonder what went wrong!”
Star Duo Reach the Racing Summit
Hourigan moved from Bank Place to the fellow Limerick yard of Lisaleen Stables in 1985, and there we would remain for the duration of his career. By the time he hung up his training hat, Hourigan had registered close to 1,000 winners under rules, plus hundreds more in the point-to-point sphere, and helped launch the riding careers of Adrian Maguire, Shane Broderick, Kevin O’Brien, Timmy Murphy and Andrew McNamara.
Those 40 years at Lisaleen Stables were littered with highlights, including three wins at the Cheltenham Festival, flat success in the Irish Lincolnshire, and runners-up finishes in the Irish Trainer’s Championship in 1993/94 and 2002/03. However, when looking back on Hourigan’s career, two horses stand tall above the rest.
Dorans Pride
Making a successful debut as a four-year-old in a Ballinrobe Bumper in 1993 and a final, ill-fated, appearance in the 2003 Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, Dorans Pride achieved legendary status during a sparkling 10-year career.
The winner of 29 of 70 starts under rules, those triumphs included six Grade 1 victories. Bursting onto the top-level scene with a 5l verdict over Cyborgo at the 1995 Cheltenham Festival, he added the Hattons Grace Hurdle (1995), Drinmore Novice Chase (1996), Power Gold Cup (1997), Hot Power Chase (1997), and Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup (1998) to his National Hunt haul. Not content with that, the versatile performer added two victories on the flat, including the Irish November Handicap in 2000.
Beef Or Salmon
Despite belonging to an era overflowing with staying chase talent and locking horns with the likes of Best Mate, Kauto Star, Kicking King, and War Of Attrition, Beef Or Salmon held his own, and then some.
Whilst nothing went to plan in five Cheltenham Festival appearances, Beef Or Salmon’s success elsewhere earned the tough and talented chestnut a huge following in his homeland. By the time he headed off into a well-earned retirement in 2008, the stable star had won 19 of 51 starts and amassed just short of £1 million in prize money. Even more impressively, ten of those wins came in Grade 1s, including the Ericsson Chase, Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup (three times), John Durkan Memorial Chase, and Lexus Chase (twice).
Legendary horses, and a legendary trainer, who will receive the best wishes of the racing community as he heads into a hopefully long and enjoyable retirement.
