Tom Hogan reflects on 'cool achievement' of training a winner at every track in Ireland Training winners in Ireland is one thing, but training a winner at every single racecourse in Ireland is a huge achievement and is one that should be complimented and admired. For trainer Tom Hogan, this feat was achieved last Saturday when Hopeful Hero took out the Maiden Hurdle at Bellewstown by five lengths, with jockey Alan O'Sullivan doing the steering. Niall Tierney from irishracing.com spoke to Tom Hogan, and they discussed the achievement itself, but also looked back on some of the great days for Tom in the game. Delighted with achievement “It was a cool achievement. I hadn't thought too much about it until I found out about it, but it was nice to hear. I was speaking to Gavin Cromwell after it and he told me he just has Laytown to tick off his list, and Laytown is quite difficult because it's once a year. But no, it was a very nice thing. "The horse that won is potentially a nice horse. He has had his few issues and he takes a lot of work. He's a buzzy sort of horse. In all fairness, he has had some great jockeys on him. "Josh Halford was tremendous on him in bumpers where he learned how to race properly, Donagh Meyler as well, and I suppose it was great to see him win the other day with Alan O'Sullivan on board. "Alan is a very talented jockey who has a lovely pair of hands on him. The horse probably should have won in Sligo the last day, but he hit the last and it cost him. He has loads of ability and hopefully he can be a nice horse for the future.” Special racing memories Like all good phone calls, it didn't end there, and it was lovely to have a chat with Tom about the journey into racing and the special moments he'd had. “My father had a few horses in Ireland. I remember I had an uncle-in-law in Waterford and he used to tell my father that horses were only going to lose you money. But my father replied, 'You could have 100 cows, which would be a big achievement back then, and nobody would know me, but one good horse would have you travel the world and everyone would know you.' "Two years later, my father was invited up by the Queen Mother for a celebratory glass of champagne after he bred the Gold Cup winner Glencarrig Lady, who is one of the four mares to ever win the Gold Cup.” Gordon Lord Byron was a dream horse This brought us onto the globe-trotting Gordon Lord Byron, who turned from a €2,000 purchase into a globe-trotting Group 1 winner who amassed over €2.1 million in prize money. “He was a super horse. There was so much to love about him. He contested in 79 stakes races and won 10 of them. I don't think a horse has ever contested that many stakes races. He ran in Ireland, England, Australia, France, Dubai, Doha, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong. He was just superb. "He's one of only four horses to ever win in his own weight-and-age race in Australia. The others include Adelaide, trained by Aidan O'Brien, and State Of Rest, trained by Joseph O'Brien, so that goes to show just how good he was. "He won a Group 1 in France, the Prix de la Foret, and the Haydock Sprint Cup. He was also fourth in the Hong Kong Mile, which is the best mile race in the world. He was just a fantastic horse. "He was the first Irish horse since the 1970s to win the Foret in France and the Haydock Sprint, and that just shows how difficult it was to win those races. Winning in Australia was very special. He won a couple of Group 2s in England as well, which are now Group 1s. Some fantastic jockeys rode him as well and it's great to see since then they have won even more special races, the likes of Ronan Whelan and Wayne Lordan winning Epsom Derbys and Colin Keane winning Irish Derbys. "William Buick partnered him for a Group 1 success, and other great jockeys such as Fran Berry, Andrea Atzeni, Danny Tudhope and Seamie Heffernan partnered him throughout his career as well. "He was the ultimate dream horse and we always looked forward to the autumn with him.” First winner dates back to 1998 "There were some other great days as well. "I remember Native Royal winning the Bewleys Bumper, which was the most expensive mares' bumper back then, and it was even better that Andrew Hogan (son of Tom, now racecourse manager) rode it as well. "Agent Scully was my first winner in Sligo in 1998 and Pat Shanahan rode him. "I was lucky so many great jockeys rode for me, but I suppose the most professional jockey I ever had sit on a horse for me was Craig Williams. He was absolutely phenomenal. "I remember on one occasion we had a horse running in Australia and overnight there was a drop of rain. Craig was riding in the first race. He came back off and walked the track after the race to see where the horses had travelled over in the race and where was the best position to go so that our horse wouldn't have to be asked any questions going through that ground. "He was a lovely man and his family were extremely lovely people as well. The last Group winner he rode on Pride Of Jenni, I remember I sent him a text congratulating him and the next morning he gave me a call and we actually ended up on Skype and I spoke to all of his family, and that was a lovely moment.” "Racing has been very good to me. It has taken me all over the world and I've had some brilliant horses. It's hard nowadays to find these horses and owners pass away and it's hard to find new ones, but I have a great bunch of owners at the moment and we have a nice set of horses. "It's getting harder to find these horses and to keep the material, but as I said again, racing has been very good to me and I've enjoyed every bit of it." We are thrilled to announce that video replays are now available to view on irishracing.com from all Irish racecourses, along with a selection of premier British tracks.
