Eileen Farrelly

I'm from Dublin, I was born and reared in the city over a butcher's shop. My daddy was a butcher by trade and was involved in the beef business. Mammy's family were in racing. Her two brothers, Jimmy and Eamon O'Connell, both trained horses at different times and a third brother, Kieran O'Connell was a racing journalist in later life.

Irish Racing Roots: From Dublin Butcher Shop to Phoenix Park

Mammy would have had a horse or two in training in the late 1950s/1960s, that era. My sisters and I would ride a pony up to the Phoenix Park. I rode ponies myself and I did get to the RDS on two occasions, but just for show classes and I enjoyed it. As a family we went to the Phoenix Park a lot because we were only up the road from there. It was a very popular racecourse in its day. I used to do a little bit of road work with Noel Chance on a Saturday when he was training outside the Phoenix Park.

I'm a phlebotomist by trade and have always worked in hospitals, but always enjoyed going racing. I met Dermot Murphy, my partner, in the Phoenix Park at a race meeting back in 1979. I did get my amateur licence to go amateur riding, but I never got the opportunity to race ride because I got a job in Baghdad, Iraq, around the same time, so I went there for three years to save a bit of money to buy a field which we achieved.

I had worked full-time in Iraq for two and a-half years during the Iran/Iraq War and then I got an opportunity to go back for a couple of years as a locum. In 1990, I went back to Baghdad to do my month's work and I was there 24 hours and everyone in the complex was saying to turn on the radio. It was the start of the Gulf War. We were hostages within the hospital; there were no mobile phones then. We were within the complex we were staying in and there was no communication as it had all broken down.

With official help, we tried to escape via Jordan. We got coaches that took us to the border, and the Iraqi soldiers got in the buses with rifles and blades at the top of them and we were sent back to Baghdad. We were there for six weeks and we were called hostages. We had to work and we continued to work in the hospital. They wanted us to work in the hospital, but we weren't allowed outside our complex. There were soldiers in the hospital all the time and around our accommodation where we stayed. Political persuasion got us out; it was all talks through the Foreign Affairs. There was an Irish company who supplied personnel to the hospital. There were several hundred people who worked contract work in the hospital.

Building a Legacy: Three Generations of Champion Thoroughbreds

My partner Dermot always had a few National Hunt horses, but of no consequence. The last money I earned from a locum trip to Baghdad I bought Winsome Girl who was a horse in training. Eamon O'Connell, my uncle, trained her for us. She won (in Tralee in 1991) and was placed (at Listowel in 1991) for us. I didn't know a lot about pedigrees at the time, but she was well-related to two good sprinters in England. We had no choice but to put her in foal. She bred seven foals and I think four were winners. Out of those winners we got two very good fillies - Twiggy's Sister and Girl Wonder.

Stakes Success With Twiggy's Sister

Twiggy's Sister was very good, by Flying Spur, and she was second when only beaten by a neck in the Platinum Stakes at Cork (in 2003). She was also fourth on two occasions in a couple of Group 3 races (at Leopardstown and the Curragh). She was a fine big mare and we used to bring her to the races ourselves. Dermot trained her and I would lead her up.

It was out of Twiggy's Sister that we got a couple of foals. We got Twiggy's Girl and she would be the dam of Ms Messi and Asgard's Captain who are full brother and sister. You would have heard me cheering on Asgard's Captain when he won a Heritage Handicap worth £120,000 at York last week!

The Remarkable Journey of Asgard's Captain

We brought Asgard's Captain to England and he won two (in Ripon and Musselburgh in 2023) and was placed (at Wolverhampton in 2023) for Tommy Dowling. We put him up in an online sale and he went to Dylan Cunha in Britain. We never in our wildest dreams thought he would turn out as good as he is. John Egan was brilliant on him at York. David Egan won on him in May at Epsom. For a father and son to ride winners in two good handicaps on the same horse in the same year is unbelievable.

We thought Ms Messi was a nice filly. I really like Make Believe, he's an underrated sire, I think. His foals are not commercial enough really, but we bred to him a few times. She's a fine filly and it was always our hope that she could win a race as well.

Dermot knows Paul Flynn since he was born. Paul took her on because she had been very keen as a three-year-old. Then we put her out for four months to rough her off. We really wanted Ms Messi to win for the mare as we've a nice yearling going to the sales by Space Traveller. Paul took her and he has a lot of individual pens with individual open stables, and she is 90 per cent better. I'm not saying that she is easy, but he has done a great job with her. She is definitely more relaxed.

Ms Messi's Breakthrough Win at Tipperary

Ms Messi winning in Tipperary this month (ladies' handicap) was very, very special because of the connection with Paul and she was a filly that we thought would never win. For Ms Messi winning in Ciara (Flynn) to ride her was special, she hadn't ridden for nearly a year and she gave her a great ride. She did exactly what Paul told her, she never touched her with the stick. She just changed hands and heels and she rode her with great confidence, and gave the filly confidence.

We are delighted to have another winner with that family having bred three generations of them. I'd say Paul is confident enough that we should be able to win another race or two with her. The whole idea is keeping her relaxed and he has done a great job with her. She's outside all the time with a number of other horses that he has. Paul is in a nice quiet part of the country in Co Longford.

Future Stars at Fairyhouse and Goffs

Ms Messi is our only horse in training at the moment, but we had other horses in England last year that we sold from the same family. Multiple placed, but they hadn't won. Two sprinters by Bungle Inthejungle. We have another very good mare, Ms Sasha Malia, and we bought her dam from Germany. She has been a great servant to us. She has bred eight winners out of nine runners. She's from a very good German family. We have a lovely Bayside Boy filly going to the Fairyhouse Sales, she is very nice. There is a smashing Native Trail filly which hopefully will go to Goffs November Sales. We have never made a fortune out of them, but we are thrilled to have bred so many winners over the years in a very small way from the same family. There is nothing like the pleasure they give you when they win having bred them. Especially, when you bred the mare as well.

I'm always supportive of the Irish racing industry. It is very top heavy with the wealthy people, though, and the same filters into the sales. It is very difficult to get the horses into the sales. Getting three fillies into the sales was difficult, I have to say, as I was told there wasn't enough black-type in the page. There was some, but it wasn't top heavy with it. You have to keep trying. Things would be very tight at times financially, but it is just the love of the horse - you want to breed a nice horse and hopefully a winner. It is not an easy game and you have to have drive and determination as it is very hard to win in Ireland because the grade is so high.

Eileen was in conversation with Michael Graham.

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About Michael Graham

Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.

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