West Cork native Niall O’Callaghan, formerly a prominent American trainer and winner of $27m in prize-money, registered his first winner in Ireland, at Cork today, when his Takeover Bid landed the concluding Newmarket Handicap.
Ridden by Ben Curtis, the son of Empire Maker made most but was all out to record a head winner over Dotada
Based in his native Kilmichael, Co Cork for the past year, O’Callaghan had previously enjoyed great success as a trainer when based at Churchills Downs, Louisville, Kentucky.
O’Callaghan reported “I don’t know how many winners I trained – they go by prize-money over there, but I won $27m in total over there and trained about 80 Listed and Group winners. My biggest win was in the 1999 American Oaks.”
“I came home a year ago but it has taken a while to get the hang of things back in Ireland. I was struggling with finding the right trips for my horses and my instructions to Ben Curtis today were to ride to his own instructions!”
“Training horses in America is like running in Chester every week! The tracks are very sharp and ‘stretching’ horses over different distances is completely different in both countries. I’m delighted to be back in the winner’s enclosure again!”
Takeover Bid is owned by the Kilmichael Racing Syndicate whose members include the trainer’s film producing cousin Maurice O’Callaghan (previously involved with films like Broken Harvest).
The owner was quick to point out that “making films is a lot like owning horses – you have to get through about twenty before you come across a good one!”
