Under The Radar: three to follow from John O'Donoghue

It has been a good week so far for John O’Donoghue.  

It started when Baggot Street sprang a 33-1 shock at Navan on Saturday.  Then on Tuesday, L L Koulsty ran out an impressive winner of the seven-furlong handicap at Cork, and Miss Crinshawn was only just beaten in the ten-and-a-half-furlong one.

“We’re happy all right with how things are going," he said.

Baggot Street was a brand new recruit.  Owned by Pierce Molony, she ran well on a couple of occasions last season as a two-year-old for Charlie Johnston, but she didn’t manage to get her head in front.  

She arrived at Currabeg during the winter, John O’Donoghue charged with the objective of getting her to win.  Change of scene, new surroundings, change of headgear, she had her first run for her new trainer on Saturday.  Objective achieved.

“I find it difficult to assess the British form,” said O'Donoghue.  “It was difficult to know how her form stacked up with the Irish horses.  But I knew that she was in good form going into the race, and I was hoping that she would run well.”

The rain fell at Navan on Saturday morning, and that helped.  The race was delayed by 45 minutes, and that probably helped a little more.  

More rain fell.

“I was happy with how she was travelling through her race, but there were a few in behind us who seemed to be travelling well too," O'Donoghue added. "I was thinking that she could run well without winning, that she could run on into a place.”

Baggot Street picked up when they hit the raising ground and, suddenly, the horses who appeared to be travelled better than she was were getting squeezed along and, in an instant, they weren’t travelling better than she was any more.  She stretched out willingly on the near side on the run up the hill and got home by three parts of a length under Rory Mulligan.

“It was a really good ride by Rory Mulligan,” said O'Donoghue.  “He’s a very good rider, switched on, a sensible rider.  We’re very happy to have him whenever we can.  I was very happy for Pierce as well.  It was great that the filly was able to get her win on the board.”

The trainer had had one horse for the owner in the past, Lady Plimsoll, who won at Ballinrobe in June last year.  Baggot Street is a really nicely-bred filly, out of listed race winner Beach Bunny and a half-sister to Dubai Mile, winner of the Group One Criterium de Saint-Cloud, and a full-sister to Naadirr, a dual listed race winner.  It was important that she got her win on the board.

“Pierce has been a great supporter of ours, and a lot of our owners are owner/breeders, so it’s nice to be able to get results like that.  Baggot Street will go in foal now.  She’ll probably have one more run, possibly in a 0-70 handicap at Down Royal the week after next, but she should make a lovely broodmare.”

L L Koulsty was obviously different, a three-year-old gelding who won last season as a juvenile, and who went to Cork on Tuesday with a real chance.  Rory Mulligan on board again.

“We were 3lb out of the handicap, but I didn’t mind that.  He was effectively racing off a mark of 80, less Rory’s claim, but we always thought that he’d reach 90," O'Donoghue explained.

The only three-year-old in the race, L L Koulsty jumped smartly from stall one on the far side and was quickly into his stride in a share of the lead.  The plan had been to get a lead if he could, but he settled nicely into his rhythm on the front end, so his rider just left him there.  Freeflow.  Two furlongs out, he kicked, stretched his rivals, and maintained an advantage of a length and a half all the way to the winning line.

“He got upset at The Curragh last month, he was awash with sweat, he didn’t give his true running, so it was nice to see him do that at Cork,” said the Mallow trainer.  “He seems to like Cork.  They’re saying that he likes it as much as his trainer does!  The quietness of it suits him I think.  The distance between the parade ring and the racecourse.  Into the parade ring, once around, then out onto the track.  He obviously likes the track as well.”

The Coulsty gelding has run at Cork three times now, and he has won twice. His trainer is eyeing up a premier handicap back there as his next assignment.

The season is getting going now, the trainer’s concentration on quality starting to reap dividends.  

“You can ease your way into the season, have horses run well in defeat, good education for the future.  But then the season ticks along, and you can be getting into it without having had a winner.  So it was nice to get those winners on the board this week.”

It’s his fifth season now at Currabeg.  Full circle.  Currabeg is the first big training yard in which he worked, there as a teenager under the tutelage of the masterful John Oxx.

After graduating from University College Cork, he spent two years with David O’Meara, before joining Roger Varian, where he spent five years as assistant trainer.  All that experience, all those learnings are now honed and in practice back at Currabeg, from where superstars like Ridgewood Pearl and Sinndar and Alamshar and Azamour and, of course, Sea The Stars, set off to conquer the world.

“It’s a great place to train from,” said John.  “And we’re very lucky that we have a really good staff, great facilities, and we have a really nice team of horses.”

It’s A Heartbeat ran out an impressive winner of a good fillies’ handicap at The Curragh last August, beating subsequent Trigo Stakes winner Shaool into second place.  Fourth in the Listed Noblesse Stakes at Cork on her debut this season, she probably put up the best performance of her life last time in a listed race at Nottingham when she ran dual Middleton Stakes winner See The Fire to a neck.

“We were delighted with her at Nottingham and it was obviously nice that See The Fire won the Middleton Stakes again next time.  We had her entered at The Curragh and at Haydock this weekend, but we’re going to hold fire with her for now.  She seems to like The Curragh so we’ll probably go back there for a Group race next month.  She’s probably at her best over a mile and a half on good ground, or over 10 furlongs on easy ground.”

There could be a few more good weeks ahead.

He ran a nice race on his racecourse debut in a maiden at Leopardstown last week.  He was last early on, but he kept on well to take fourth place.

He learned lots from that, he has come on for his racecourse debut, as all of ours do.  He’ll have a couple of nice entries now.  He’s a nicely-bred colt of Sven Hanson’s by Night Of Thunder, his grandam is Pride, who was obviously a fantastic racemare, and her dam is a half-sister to One Foot In Heaven, who won two Group Two races in France over a mile and a half.  We’re excited to see how he progresses.

We were obviously very happy with his win at Cork on Tuesday.  I was delighted with his attitude.

He went to the horses in training sale in October, but he didn’t sell, and we were delighted to have him back.  We were thinking the premier handicap for him even before Tuesday.

We have a really nice group of two-year-olds and this is one of them. She’s a lovely filly, by Bayside Boy, who can do no wrong these days, out of the Galileo mare Wonderfully, who won the Group Three Silver Flash Stakes as a juvenile.

We own her in partnership with Ballylinch Stud and she’s going well at home. We’re hoping that she can do well this season.