By Brian Sheerin
They say the Galway Festival has an unrelenting ability to provide a springboard for young jockeys. Ride a winner at the Galway Festival on terrestrial television and it's worth 10 around the country tracks.
Think of the baby-faced Colin Keane storming to Topaz Mile glory aboard Brendan Brackan (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) for his boss Ger Lyons back in 2013 as a five-pound claimer.
Just last week, we had local boy Danny Gilligan earning the plaudits for his front-running masterclass aboard Gordon Elliott's Ash Tree Meadow (Fr) (Bonbon Rose (Fr) in the Plate. Another star of the future, for sure.
But this year's meeting also provided a much needed boon for one of the elder statesmen of the weighing room, Niall McCullagh, who propelled himself back into the spotlight with an ice-cool victory aboard Brazil (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in a premier handicap on Friday night.
At 54 years of age, McCullagh is the oldest jockey still operating in Ireland and victory aboard Brazil quashed any talk of retirement.
“I'm still on a high, to tell the truth,” McCullagh said on Wednesday. “I suppose you don't realise how much it means until you go and have a big winner like that. There was a lot of emotion involved. I got a great kick out of it and it just shows you that it still matters, it still means a lot and the fire is still in the belly.”
McCullagh added, “Things have been slower this year. It's getting tougher but I've been a bit more selective as well in that I'm not going racing to ride something with no chance or for a horse or trainer I don't know something about. I'm a lot busier in the mornings than in the afternoons but I like being busy.”
To illustrate McCullagh's point, it wasn't until the end of July that he tasted his first winners of the season, and they came in rather fortuitous fashion.
After Rory Cleary was stood down to ride at Down Royal last Friday week, McCullagh came in to partner Golden Spangle (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Eastern Legend (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) to victory for Jim Bolger. It was from there that things snowballed into Galway.
“If you told me last Friday week that I'd ride two winners for Jim Bolger at Down Royal and then ride the winner of a premier handicap at Galway for JP McManus and Paudie Roche, I'd have laughed. It just goes to show you that this is a great game but you have to keep going. You have to keep trying and grafting and, if you do, it will turn. All you need is a bit of luck.”
He added, “A few times this year, I wondered if I would keep going. It came to Derby weekend at the Curragh and I didn't have many rides. I got one horse placed for Donal Kinsella and I got a good kick out of that–when I get a horse to run well it's a great feeling and then you're hoping that maybe there will be a next day.
“But, when you have the few winners, it makes all the hard graft worthwhile and makes you feel better about yourself. When you had been going well, riding thirty and forty winners, when you're back down struggling to get a ride, you have to deal with the devaluation. I've a strong mind and have dealt with it. You have to remember as well, it's evolution, and just like in nature, the auld stags get pushed out to the periphery by the young stags.”
🗣️”I got as good a kick out of that winner as any winner I've ever ridden”
Veteran Niall McCullagh on guiding Brazil to victory for @paudieroche1986 in the Guinness Handicap 👏#greenteam @Galway_Races pic.twitter.com/uui2JFxS0y
— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) August 4, 2023
But even the young stags would have been proud of that ride you gave Brazil, Niall?
“Well that proved to myself more than anyone else that, if I have the horse, I'm fit enough and strong enough to be able to get the job done. Listen, I gave Brazil a good ride and I'm not afraid to say it. It all worked out and I will be in good humour now for a month!”
It is the progress of one particular young rider, his son Scott, that has particularly pleased McCullagh this year. Scott has partnered five winners all told and has struck up a good relationship with Jessica Harrington.
McCullagh commented, “It's great. We sit close together in the weighroom and we both have Dave Fox as our valet. It's a great feeling to be heading out to ride in a race with your son. I'm competitive but he's even more competitive than me. It's special riding alongside him. That's why I am enjoying the last few years of my career so much. Let's face it, I'm 54, so I don't have long left.
“But I'm proud as a kitten these days as my daughter graduated with first class honours in business in law from Maynooth University, so she got all of the brains. I'm very lucky that the two kids are going great because that gives me great pleasure.”
Brazil may have postponed any talk of retirement but McCullagh knows better than most that he can't go on forever. Just what he plans to turn his hand after riding, however, is even less certain than where his next big winner might come from.
He said, “I have been asking myself that question for the past 10 years. I can't find anything else that I want to do so, while I am able to continue riding, I will. I will worry about life after retirement when it comes.
“I just know that, one day, I'll be driving to the races and I'll say, 'today is the day.' I don't know when that will be. It could be this year or next year, I'm just not sure. I still have a few things I'd like to accomplish in my career. There are a few races I need to win.”
He added, “I ride out for Mick Halford and Tracey Collins, Johnny Murtagh, Ken Condon and I ride a lot of work for Jessica Harrington. They seem to appreciate the feedback and I feel like I am part of the team. They all try to give me rides whenever they can but they have their own owners to try and keep happy as well. I am happy enough to pitch up whenever they need me.”
You could say that things have turned full circle for McCullagh, who burst onto the scene at Galway as a young seven-pound claimer back in 1988, and there is no danger of him failing to soak up his latest moment in the spotlight there.
“Galway is where I got going back in 1988 by winning the McDonogh Handicap as a seven-pound claimer aboard Feverstown for Paddy Mullins. Every year, a young lad seems to announce himself at Galway, and young Danny Gilligan and Jack Kearney did that this year.
“I don't know what it is but everyone seems to watch Galway. It's just an iconic meeting and I've never had so many texts and congratulations for winning aboard Brazil. Everyone I meet, the well wishes have been unreal. You could ride a winner anywhere else and they wouldn't know anything about it but Galway is different.”
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