Oh Danny Boy - 'This is a young man with drive and ambition and the future looks bright at Conyngham Lodge' At 24 years of age Danny McLoughlin is the youngest licensed trainer in Ireland and is a man on a mission. His exploits this season have been off the charts with a listed and initial Group 3 success coming courtesy of Duckadilly, the horse that gave him his first career win as a trainer in May 2024. Magny Cours also won a Group 3 event in Cork and as if that wasn’t enough, he sent out Syzygy to capture the prestigious Group 3 Denny Cordell Lanwades Stud Stakes at Gowran last month, some year for the new kid on the block. Last week, McLoughlin achieved another milestone at Navan when he registered his first double when Layla Belle won the opening sprint maiden before Lilli’s Angle followed up half an hour later over the same trip. The latter was bred by his uncle Paddy McLoughlin where it all started and it’s a case of onwards and upwards for the Newbridge man who has moved up a gear since switching stables 18 months ago. “My uncle Paddy’s yard had seven stables and that was where we started off training before moving to a slightly bigger yard and since March of last year I’ve been renting Conyngham Lodge which is a fabulous place and has everything. I was lucky it came up when it did and it’s a fantastic place with great facilities.” Situated in the heart of the Curragh, Conyngham Lodge has seen three generations of the Collins family send out multiple big race winners. Among those was Windsor Slipper (Mick Collins) who landed the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger to complete the Irish Triple Crown in 1942 and Princess Pati who won the Irish Oaks in 1988 for son Con Collins. More recently the late Con’s daughters’ Sheena and Tracey have both sent out winners, the latter also in partnership with Mick Halford until his retirement in February 2025. Danny recalls how his journey with horses evolved: “I started riding horses when I was about 11 or 12 and started working for Adrian Keatley initially when I left school at 15 and spent a couple of years too with Dermot Weld working in his yard, so I got to learn a lot with both of them. I also gained experience working at Guy O’Callaghan’s Grangemore Stud and for Danny Murphy.” The McCullagh family have been a great help to McLoughlin and he spent time working alongside Michael McCullagh father of jockey Niall and his ‘closest friend’ grandson Scott. “I was with Michael who is still kicking and is a great man at the end of my non-training career and Scott and I are best of friends and Niall too. The whole McCullagh family were very good to me growing up.” Having Scott McCullagh aboard Duckadilly when the 5yo mare won the Brownstown Stakes at Leopardstown in July meant a lot to his childhood friend. “To have Scott ride Duckadilly that day for my first stakes winner meant was huge as he’s my closest friend in racing. The horse has been with me since I started out with the three in training. “Her owner Chris Mullins had Bold Optimist with me too and for him to win that Leopardstown race with a filly that cost €12,000 and a filly that was with me from the start meant so much too. “Chris was with me when I was riding them all out on my own with no walker, no lunging, very little facilities, mucking them out on my own.” So with the 2026 flat season edging towards the end, how does the Curragh trainer sum up his whirlwind year. “Ah sure look this season has ended up as dream stuff really”, admits McLoughlin who continues to expand his string and has 31 horses under his care now having started out with just three and a team of ten staff. “I don't really like setting too many targets but I knew I had the material at the start of the season to go and win a stakes race with one of these fillies but to win four stakes races and to win with three different fillies has been huge for everyone. “If someone had told me that at the start of the season that all three of them would win those races I wouldn't have believed them. It sounds like it was easy, but it's far from that but when it does get rolling, it’s great.” McLoughlin is now assessing his ammunition and chatting to owners about the next step. “We kind of know where they’re all at and what they have going for them at this time of year so it’s trying to talk to owners, see if they’re happy enough to keep on with what they have, and if they’re not and it doesn't suit then look for alternatives and a resolution for them. “We have 52 stables but look we’re trying to be careful. We never turn down a horse but what we’ve done this year is say give it eight to twelve weeks to see what we’ve got and if the owner was happy to give it a little bit longer, we’ll give it a bit longer to find out more. “Between homework and the racetrack we have good judges like Ben Coen, Nathan Crosse and Scott McCullagh on them and we’ve been getting it right enough. If it’s a case of finding a level in handicaps or if we thought they were good enough to win maidens we’ll tell the owners and most are happy to keep rolling but if they’re on the lower level, not every owner is happy to do that. “Horses can disappoint you too and if they're down at that [lower] level and they just, for one reason or another whether it’s attitude or whatever, fail to perform there is nothing worse than someone pumping a lot of money into it. It sickens them, the trainer and the jockey so if we can keep the honesty as high as we have it, I don’t think there’ll be an issue.” This season has yielded plenty of firsts for McLoughlin including the initial double last week and the 24-year-old isn’t stopping there. “Hopefully it’s the first of many [doubles], it’s the treble next!” On a more serious note, McLoughlin adds: “You could go to the races with two runners and have a winner but it’s the one who disappoints that you’ll be thinking about most going home in the car. “You think you can do no wrong in this game at times but the next day doesn't be long about bringing you back down to earth.” This is a young man with drive and ambition and the future looks bright at Conyngham Lodge.
