Michael O'Leary struggling to go 'cold turkey' and hopes to return in future

Michael O’Leary has held open the prospect of a return to jumps ownership, with the Ryanair boss reiterating that family commitments lie behind his decision to wind down his string of racehorses.

Speaking to the Racing Post, O’Leary elaborated on the news that shocked the racing world in May, dispelling any rumours of an ulterior motive before admitting he has struggled to go ‘cold turkey’ when it comes to buying horses.

He said: “People keep saying there must be some secret story as to why I’m winding down the jumpers. There’s isn’t.

“My first kid has gone to boarding school this year and I’ll have two there next year. They get out for one day a week, which is a Sunday, and which also happens to be the only day of the week for the main Irish jump racing.

“I now have two choices – for six or seven years I can either continue to go jump racing, which is my love, and not see my kids; or, as happened last year, I’m more interested in spending time with the kids for the next five or six years, after which they won’t want to spend time with me anyway.

“So if I don’t do it in the next five or six years, then frankly I won’t be able to do it at all. I have four cars going in four different directions every weekend, and none of them are going to race meetings any more.”

Grounded

An ever-present at jump racing’s biggest fixtures over the past decade, O’Leary struggled to make it to the track at all last season, with the exception of the Cheltenham Festival, where fan favourite Tiger Roll strolled to a second Cross Country Chase victory to provide Gigginstown – O’Leary’s racing and Irish breeding arm which he runs with brother Eddie – with their only winner at the four-day meeting.

Tiger Roll: cemented his status as a Cheltenham legend with a fourth festival win after landing back-to-back Cross Country Chases under Keith DonoghueCredit: Patrick McCann

“There’s some prolonged legacy that I’m unhappy because of leaving Willie Mullins a couple of years ago,” continued O’Leary. “No. It is genuinely that it takes up a lot of my time, and for the last year or 18 months I’ve not been able to go racing much at all.

“The four days at Cheltenham are sacrosanct, but other than that I went to Aintree for only one day this year, for the Saturday [when Tiger Roll won his second Grand National], I went to Punchestown on one of the five days, and I didn’t get to Fairyhouse at all.

“It’s not that I’m giving up racing so I can spend more time with my family, it’s actually that I’m already spending more time with the family and I don’t have time for racing. There’s no ulterior motive.”

In addition to stressing his family commitments, O'Leary spoke of his indifference to the criticism he has received regarding the placing of his horses, something which he believes is unwarranted.

Runners galore

The Irish Grand National has been a particular source of contention, with Gigginstown fielding 12 of the 30 runners this year and ten of the 30 participants in 2018 – the renewal which saw the famous maroon and white silks carried to victory by 20-1 shot General Principle.

O’Leary said: “I’m p***** off because I’m being criticised for running too many horses in races? I couldn’t care less.

“If I could have all 12 runners in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and all 40 runners in the Grand National, I would. I wouldn’t give a rat’s arse if I got criticism as long as I won it. I don’t think it bothers John Magnier and Aidan O’Brien that they have seven or eight horses running in the Derby – these are the great races.”

O’Leary’s big-race record speaks for itself, with – in addition to Tiger Roll – War Of Attrition, Don Cossack and Apple’s Jade among a host of stars to have won jump racing’s most prestigious prizes on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Don Cossack wins the 2016 Gold Cup at CheltenhamCredit: Edward Whitaker

All that success has come at a price, however, with O’Leary admitting that refraining from the store sales market has been a huge challenge since the decision to wind down his string was made public.

“I’m really struggling,” he said. “A few weeks ago the Land Rover Sale was on and I had to throw the catalogue in the bin. It’s like gambling or Alcoholics Anonymous, you have to stay out of the pub so you don’t drink.

“It’s very difficult to go cold turkey and say, ‘No, that’s it’, but that is it from the purchasing point of view.”

He continued: “Next year I’ll still have over 100 horses in training and we have about 40 younger horses who were stores or point-to-pointing last year to distribute to trainers, so this season the trainers will see no diminution in numbers.

“This season will be the last of all my bumper horses, next season will be the last of the maiden hurdlers, the following will be the last of the novice chasers and so on, but by that stage I’ll have a nice band of broodmares at Gigginstown and Plantation, and we will invest some more time and energy into developing them as bloodstock farms, as opposed to holiday homes for 120 jumps horses every summer.”

Michael O'Leary will focus on the breeding side of the sport for the foreseeable futureCredit: Chris Bourchier

And so to the question on everyone’s lips: will Michael O’Leary return to the sales ring as a buyer once his kids have, in his own words, reached an age whereby they no longer wish to spend time with him?

“I’d like to think so,” he answered. “I see no reason not to, but it’ll be between seven and ten years' time when they’ve all gone through school. Will I then go back in and buy some jumpers, probably.

“Jump racing has been extraordinarily kind to me. I was very fortunate with [brother] Eddie, Mags [O’Toole], the trainers, the point-to-point lads, we had some unbelievable success over a ten to 15-year period.

“We won two Gold Cups, three Grand Nationals, five Irish Grand Nationals. Do I want to keep doing that? Actually yes, but I can’t keep doing that and have four teenage children for the next couple of years.

“The jump racing has to give. Yes, I may come back to it, but that’s too far away to be making plans. Who knows if I’ll be alive in ten years' time.”

GIGGINSTOWN IN NUMBERS

91 Grade 1 wins
12 runners in this year’s Irish Grand National
2 Cheltenham Gold Cup winners
7 owners’ championship titles in Ireland
162 winners in Britain and Ireland 2018-19
226 individual runners in Ireland 2018-19
3 Grand National winners
2 stud farms (Gigginstown and Plantation)

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