Danny McLoughlin

My uncle Paddy McLoughlin is in racing. He went to Dermot Weld's when he was 18 and has been there a long time. He has good skin in the game, he works in the stalls as well, and he would work at the sales. Anywhere he was, I went with him. When I was younger, I used to up and watch the horses cantering up the gallops in Mr Weld's and, once or twice, Mr Weld threw me in the jeep and brought me up to the top. He was very good to me and talked me through everything. That's where it really started for me.

My uncle minded Harzand in 2016 (Epsom and Irish Derby winner) and another good horse at the time was Zawraq (Listed winner). I would watch the horses going up the gallop and then if Paddy was on the stalls later on that day, I'd go racing with him. Paddy didn't go to Epsom with Harzand, he is actually afraid of flying and getting on the boat. He minded Media Puzzle, a Melbourne Cup winner (2002), and he actually never travelled with him because he is afraid of flying. He prefers his two feet on the ground, he gets a bit of a phobia if his feet aren't on the ground!

When I was 13, Paddy got me into Adrian Keatley's. I had ridden a few ponies at the time. I was best friends with Scott McCullagh the whole time and he was riding in pony races. I used to go and lead up and stuff like that. As it went on, Scott's family were very, very good to me. We would spend the weekend with Scott's grandad and we would go racing. He had one winner pony racing and I led it up, so there is a picture somewhere of the two of us grinning away! When I went into Adrian's, I was in at the deep end straight away. The first day I was there he asked me if I had ever ridden horses, and I had only ridden ponies at that stage. I didn't realise how different it was and I was mad to get going. He put me down on a lot on the first day. I got the life pulled out of me! I wouldn't change it because I learned quickly and I had to learn fast. It probably made a good rider out of me. The next week I was down for two lots and so on. It built up from there. Then I was trying to substitute the work for school. That lasted a while, I was trying to go to work more than school! I did my Leaving Cert in third year and I left school then and went to Adrian's full-time. In fairness, the teachers in the school were good about it as well. I would have had three years left in school whereas three years in this game full-time gets you a long way down the line if you are ambitious. I was with Adrian two years full-time, doing everything.

When I was out on the gallops with Mr Weld when I was younger, I was always mad to get a job there. He said to me when I was 16, there would be a job for me. I went there and worked for two years also. I was riding out in the mornings and rode out any spare lots around the Curragh just to get a bit of cash flow. I was messing around with one or two of my own horses at that stage. Before I got the training licence, I did three months in Mrs Harrington's as Scott was riding out there. My uncle Paddy has his own yard just over the bridge at the six-furlong pole in the Curragh which is right next door to Eddie and Patrick Harty. That's where I held the licence last year and I had Run The Jewels, Bold Optimist and Duckadilly. My uncle has been brilliant to me, he has always been there for advice and help the whole way through. There's no walker, no lunge ring, just seven stables. It is off the edge of the Curragh, you couldn't get closer.

A couple more horses got sent and it got to the stage where I needed somewhere bigger. I was either going to stay with no more than 10, and be swatting them away, or take a jump and go bigger. I took a leap and stables at Tracey Collins' came available to rent. I went and had a chat and a meeting with her, and have been there from March this year. I've access to 52 stables, thereabouts, and I've been active at the sales this year. I've got a lot of two-year-olds, but always open to more horses. Right now returned, I have 31 horses and I've a good few horses out being broken. I'd say I could have 40 in for the new Flat season. The growth has swept me off my feet really and ran away with me a little bit early. The people that were with me at the start are still with me. The staff that I have are unbelievable. I would be in very close contact with all the owners and I find it good to build up a relationship with them. They are very supportive, so it is great.

What has always fascinated me probably most about racing is the sales and going through pedigrees. If you want to leave a place scratching your head, go to the sales ring and go through pedigrees and follow horses through. There are horses out there with no pedigrees and they can become good horses, freakily enough. Obviously, the pedigree helps if you are buying Group One winners - it is nearly inevitable. We had yearling sales on last week and there could be a blank family and you could be lucky enough if you are shopping in and around that window to pick up the first foal that starts a pedigree. That's where we try to shop around now. I would get Conor Quirke to buy all my yearlings for me. Previously he had bought serious horses Big Evs and Big Mojo for their connections. He's clearly gifted. He bought Bold Optimist as a yearling and then I bought him as a two-year-old privately as a bit of a project for small money. Conor got in contact with me and ever since we have been the best of friends. What I find interesting with Conor is that he doesn't tend to buy the pedigree at all. In the sub 50-grand window, he buys the physical specimen over the pedigree. If it ticks all his boxes physically, and it has a blank pedigree, he goes in to get them because it makes them more affordable. If the page was covered in black-type, you wouldn't get near them.

Bold Optimist won two races and he took me to York last year. He got it rolling really. He's a good, hardy horse and he's fast. He's been very lucky for me. Duckadilly and Magny Cours picked up black-type this year. Duckadilly was a winner first time out (in Naas) and she put me on the map big time. I remember people used to come up to me and say I was the lad with the Churchill filly which is her. With Magny Cours, people now say you're the lad with the Awtaad filly! She was sold to Ecurie Ama Zingteam who was absolutely brilliant to get into the yard. Michael Donohoe, who is his agent, is a very, very good fella and has been very great to me. They were lovely enough to leave her in the yard and give me a chance which as you can understand is a big chance for them to take. I always believed in myself, but for them to believe in me was massive. She took me to Royal Ascot (unplaced in Albany) and she was second in a Group 3 in Chantilly at the end of the year (October). She's rated 102 now. We kind of trained her to get a little bit further. Awtaad was obviously a Guineas winner, but her mother (Ares Choix) actually ran in the Albany (6th in 2008) as well. She was by Choisir. There's probably more options over seven furlongs or a mile. The last day in Chantilly was seven (furlongs) and she learned how to race. She was very relaxed the last day which was good to see. We'll try and stretch her maybe to the mile. That race that she was second in in France has been a good indicator to the French Guineas through the years. Now she will still have to take another few steps up, but she's entered in it. She's in the Irish Guineas as well. We might give her an entry for the German Guineas as well. Once that closes, there's no supplementary stage. The plan will be to go to Leopardstown (for a Guineas Trial). It makes the winter short looking forward to a horse like that!

I'm setting up a syndicate at the minute and there's 10 shares of 10 per cent in five fillies that are bought. It is filling up, but people are free to get in touch with me. Hopefully, we can turn it into a bit of an investment that if they are good enough to win or be placed in a maiden, they could be traded. One thing I try to stick to, and that I was able to do last year, is to train the individual horse as much as I can. I do have a few targets and I have a few set that would suit someone of my age. I love Royal Ascot and the Breeders' Cup and when I was watching the Breeders' Cup this year, Donnacha (O'Brien) nearly broke Joseph's (O'Brien) record of being the youngest trainer to train a Breeders' Cup winner. As I'm the youngest trainer (in Ireland), there's a lot of people that don't have that option! I think I have about four years! If I do have a horse good enough, we'll give it a good rattle.

I try and soak up as much information as I can, put it to good use, and try and have a good arsenal going forward - plenty of weapons and knowledge. In this game, more than anything, you are learning every day. There's more than just training the horses. When you have people working for you, you are providing for them and their families. It is a thing I take seriously. There's a lot of responsibility and sometimes the training can be the easiest part. There's admin and bills that are coming at you left, right and centre that nobody told you about when you are signing up. You have to take them on the chin yourself, but I still wouldn't put anybody off taking the chance, It is like a blur since I started training. I'm definitely living my own dream. I've a few lads that come in when they are on holidays from school and they remind me of me when I was their age. I love helping them.

Danny 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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