Harry Rogers and Lord Erskine We have decided to retire Lord Erskine. We had him ready to go to Listowel next week and a little bit of heat came back in his tendon where we got a knock, so we decided we would stop. As a 13-year-old with 79 runs, including two for Willie McCreery, and 14 wins across the Flat and over hurdles, he was a great servant. He is going to remain in the yard for his retirement. It was Willie McCreery who said to me that he was going to the sales (in 2016) and he thought he was well worth buying. He thought he just wanted time and actually thought he had an engine. He thought he was decent and he was proved right. That's how I ended up getting the horse. I remember his first win by eight lengths in a handicap on the Flat at Roscommon in August 2017 with the late, great Pat Smullen. Without a doubt, that showed he had an engine. He was unlucky the week before that in Tramore when Rachael Blackmore rode him. He just ran too free and just got caught in the last 100 yards by two horses. He quickly ran up a hat-trick with wins in Listowel and then in the Irish Cesarewitch at Navan in October 2017. That was a big day. We took a chance that day in Navan - Pat Smullen couldn't do the weight, so the young chap, Conor Hoban, rode him and gave him a good ride. One of his biggest days was as an 11-year-old when he won a 150 grand handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival in February 2024. That was a fair achievement. He had just lost his form for a while. He just got a bit of a knock, so we had backed off him. It took him a long time to come back to himself. He was definitely back to himself in Leopardstown that day and I was more than happy with him. It is hard to win those races, but we knew we were going there with a chance and Darragh O'Keeffe was very good on him. The Galway Festival that year was some week for him as he was fourth in the qualified riders' handicap and then third in the Galway Tribes Handicap Hurdle. There was plenty of rain the day he landed a 100 grand handicap hurdle at Fairyhouse in April last year, but it was still nice ground and it suited him. He was an easy horse to train. Darragh got on very well with him as did Siobhan Rutledge on the Flat, she won four on him. Once you got to know him, there was a key to him. He was a genuine horse, but he just liked things to go his way. He liked a bit of cut in the ground, but he wouldn't go on heavy ground. He would go on summer soft with an ease in it, that's what he wanted as he wasn't a big horse. His owner, Jerry Nolan, passed away during his career, and he was a great man and a big loss. When I was a jockey, I rode plenty of winners for different trainers for him. When I started training, he said to me to find a horse for him. The first horse he owned with me was Benkei and he turned out to be a good horse (six-time winner). When Lord Erskine came on the scene, we had nobody to buy him. My late wife Mary and I said we would ask Jerry if he wanted him. If he didn't, Mary was going to keep him. Jerry bought him straight away. You couldn't have a better man owning him. Jerry's brother, James Nolan, took over the ownership. Another nice man and a very good man as well. He's still involved in another horse here. He's a gentleman to train for as well. We have eight horses riding out at the minute and Grann's Boy would be the pick of them now. He has six wins for us, two on the Flat and four over hurdles. He has been a great servant and is a horse that wants three miles and will make a nice chaser if things go right for him. He's in Listowel next Saturday. If he ends up with top weight, he won't go. He's going to be in a Pertemps Qualifier at Cheltenham, so he might go there in October. Meryem Walsh is in with me and Michelle Howard helps out as well. Meryem is the main woman here now and they both do great work. We train on Mornington Beach, it is good for the horses to get them into the water and it works out well. It was great to win Mary's memorial race in Bellewstown twice (Clifftop in 2022 and Narlita in 2023). She liked going to Bellewstown and it was the last race meeting she went to. Mary drove the whole yard and she's a big loss. Harry was in conversation with Michael Graham If you would like to have your racing story covered in this blog, please email vfinegan@bettercollective.com 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. View Latest Articles by Michael Graham
