Under The Radar: Danny McLoughlin

Duckadilly has been there for many milestones already in Danny McLouglin’s career as a trainer.  Actually, Duckadilly has been the author of the milestones.

First winner for starters.  Danny McLoughlin had just turned 22 when he took Duckadilly to Naas in May 2024.  The youngest trainer in Ireland.  He had four horses at the time and those four filled more than half the boxes full at his uncle Paddy’s yard.  He and Chris Mullins had picked up the Churchill filly for €12,000 at Goffs the previous October.  Big filly, Danny thought.  Nice filly.  Looks like she’ll take a bit of time. 

That was Duckadilly’s first day at the races, that day at Naas in May last year, for a one-mile fillies’ maiden.  She was green, but she kept on well to get home by a neck.

It was Duckadilly’s only run at three.  Her trainer left her off after that, gave her the time that she needed, brought her back as a four-year-old for a conditions race at Fairyhouse in June last year, and she won that too, quite impressively.  She was competitive in black type races after that, fourth in the Group 3 Brownstown Stakes, second in the Listed Ruby Stakes.  So when they took her to the December sales in Newmarket last December, they thought that they were being realistic when they put a reserve of £150,000 on her.  

She didn’t reach it.

“It was disappointing at the time,” says Danny now.  “We didn’t think that we were being greedy.  We thought that she was worth that, and we were happy to keep her if she wasn’t going to make it.”

These things happen for a reason, another big supporter Conor Quirke told him at the time.  

The reason became apparent last Sunday at Navan, when Duckadilly lined up in the Listed Kooyonga Stakes.  Danny McLoughlin had two in the race, Duckadilly and Syzygy.  He had never trained the winner of a black-type race before, but he thought that both fillies deserved to take their chance in the race.

The plan was to be patient with both fillies.  It looked like there would be a good pace in the race.  Take your time.  Come late.

“We rode Duckadilly forward a lot last year,” says the trainer.  “But in her work, she sits in behind, she doesn't do a lot when she gets to the front.  We learned lots from her run Leopardstown too.  I said to Ben (Coen, rider), just take your time.  Don’t be too worried if you’re too far back.  Get her to finish off her race.”

They did go fast up front, and the two Danny McLoughlin fillies sat well off them.  Still seventh and eighth respectively of the nine runners as they straightened up for home, Ben Coen took his filly towards the outside passing the three-furlong pole and asked her for her effort.

Duckadilly picked up well, closed on the leaders and hit the front at the furlong marker.  She didn’t pull away though, that’s not her style, she just got to the front, job done.  They closed on her inside the final 150 yards, but it never looked likely that they would get to her.  And it was her stable companion Syzygy who got closest, completing a fantastic 1-2 for her trainer.

“It was easy to watch the two of them together, because they sat upsides each other!  And the race couldn’t have panned out better.  I knew as they raced into the dip, the fact that they had gone fast and the way that Duckadilly was travelling, I knew that she was going to run a big race.  Ben gave her a lovely ride.  I kind of froze, I’d say that it was the least animated that I’d ever been watching a race.”

The Churchill filly left the impression that she had more in hand than the half-length winning margin.

“And then for Syzygy to get up for second.  I was watching it, delighted with Duckadilly, and then thinking that Syzygy might get placed as well, that she might get black type.  And then seeing her running on into third, and thinking, fantastic.  And then, inside the final 50 yards, thinking that she might get up for second behind Duckadilly.  It was remarkable.”

Danny McLoughlin’s rise as a trainer has been fairly remarkable too.  He doesn't really come from a racing background, he grew up in Newbridge town, but his father was a big racing fan, an interest that came from his grandfather, Paddy McLoughlin, who was head lad with Tony Redmond.  Danny’s uncle, also Paddy, worked for Dermot Weld and worked as a stalls handler, so young Danny would go racing with him.

School was something that was keeping him from horses.

“I have seven brothers, and one of them was just a year ahead of me in school.  He did Transition Year and I didn’t, so we ended up in fifth year together.  I changed all my subjects so that I could do the same subjects as him, so that I could copy his homework, but that project didn’t last very long!  After about three days in fifth year I figured that I’d be better off spending the time with horses.  My parents were great about it.  They recognised that it was something that I really wanted to do.”

He spent three years working with Adrian Keatley, and he learned lots.  Not just about horses, but about riding, training methodology, sales, race planning.  He worked for Dermot Weld and for Guy O’Callaghan at Grangemore Stud, and for Danny Murphy.  

He did the trainers’ course and turned 21 and got his trainer’s licence.  His uncle Paddy had a small yard on The Curragh with seven boxes, and Danny started to have a few horses of his own there.  It was from that yard that he sent out Duckadilly to win her maiden in May 2024.

He quickly out-grew the seven-box yard.  He moved to a 10-box yard and out-grew that too.

“I was very lucky that Conyngham Lodge came up when it did,” says Danny.  “It’s a fantastic place, there is so much history in the place, so many top-class horses have been trained here by the Collinses, and the facilities are superb.”

He has space for over 50 horses now, but he is encroaching on that number already.  Syzygy improved dramatically last season, she won three on the bounce, winner her first handicap  off a mark of 54 and ending the season on a mark of 77.  Then she finished third in the Irish Lincoln on her debut this season from 7lb out of the handicap.  Now she is listed-race placed and rated 98.

“She came out of Sunday’s race well,” says her trainer.  “I’d say she’ll get 10 furlongs, maybe 12 too.”

Magny Cours finished second behind Guineas winner True Love in the Guineas Trial at Leopardstown in April, and you can easily put a line through her run in the Irish Guineas.  

Duckadilly could go for the Brownstown Stakes again at Leopardstown next, and maybe the Ruby Stakes after that, and all the while with an eye on a return to Leopardstown for the Matron Stakes in September.  The Piper’s Call kept on well to win his maiden at The Curragh last week.

“We’re lucky,” says Danny.  “We have a great team of people and a great team of horses. We have a nice group of two-year-olds too, so we’re looking forward to getting them going, see what they can become.  It would be great if one or two of them could progress to be high-class.  That’s the hope anyway.”

More milestones ahead.

We were very happy with his win at The Curragh there last week on his seasonal debut.  We were thinking that he could be a Jersey Stakes horse, but he’s been given a mark of 82, so there is a 0-90 handicap at Down Royal next week that he could go for.  He should come on a good bit for his run the last day, and we think that he could be good.  Six furlongs is a good trip for him for now, but he should get seven too.

She’s a Dandy Man two-year-old who we like.  She’s the first foal out of a Shamardal mare who won over a mile, and she has been going well at home.  She is set to make her debut in a six-furlong fillies’ maiden at Cork on Sunday, and we’re looking forward to seeing how she goes.

She is another two-year-old filly who we like.  She seems fast.  She has been doing all the right things at home, and she’ll be out soon.