On a recent trip home to attend the Dublin Racing Festival, Geoff Mulcahy, Michael Banahan, and Johnny Burke sat

down with Tyrone Molloy to share their memories and thoughts

on life in the USA.

WHAT the three also have in common is a link to Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin/Darley operation.

Michael is the Director of Bloodstock for Godolphin USA; Johnny runs Godolphin’s pre-training and rest barn at Keeneland racetrack, while Geoff owns a pre-training facility outside Lexington, counting Godolphin as one of his clients.

From Navan, Michael comes from a family steeped in racing. He relates: “My parents always had some broodmares and my dad worked for the Turf Club, as a Clerk of The Scales and Judge. My brothers, Joe (Turf Club senior starter) and John both rode, the latter was once stable jockey for Mick O’Toole and was champion amateur one year, beating Aidan O’Brien.

“After school, I worked at Coolmore in Fethard, then went to America and have been there on and off since 1985. At that time and still now, Kentucky resonates with everyone as the capital of the horse world and I always wanted to go there and see what it was like, so I went there for six months and have stayed 30 years.”

Initially at Ashford Stud, Michael was restless for adventure and new experiences. He continues: “I then did a bit of a tour around. I went to Australia, working for Colin Hayes at his Lindsay Park farm, worked for English trainer Guy Harwood for a year, during the time he had that brilliant horse Warning, before coming back to America, breaking yearlings for Juddmonte [including the brilliant 1993 2,000 Guineas winner Zafonic] and then went to work for Bill Mott for a couple of years.

“I then went back to England to Dalham Hall, where I foaled the legendary Dubai Millennium among others, working with Liam O’Rourke for five or six years. Then, when Sheikh Mohammed bought Raceland Farm in Kentucky, I went back and have been there since.

“My role is [to] oversee all the US Godolphin bloodstock from matings, mares, foals, yearlings and the racing programme as well. It is a great job. I am married to Kathryn from Newbridge, her brother Paul Hensey used to manage the Curragh racecourse, so there is a racing connection there too; we have three children, Grace is a dental hygienist, Brian is trying to get into the horse game, and our youngest daughter (Laura) is in college in South Carolina.”

Johnny Burke was brought up in Cork and Limerick; his father was a trainer, near where the current Limerick racecourse is in Greenmount. He remembers: “Ireland has changed considerably from the time I left in 1981. Back then, there wasn’t much going on, there was a recession, times were hard, nobody had any money and I figured that, if I wanted to be a public trainer at any level, I had no chance in Ireland.

“I went to Australia first, also to Colin Hayes, working at his Lindsay Park Stud. I was there for two stud seasons and I did the racing side too. He offered me a full-time job, but I hadn’t been to the States, so I wanted to go there first and have a look around.

“It was during a visit to see friends in Kentucky that one of them, Murray Johnson, said why don’t you come out and ride a few at Keeneland, it turned out to be for Carl Nafgzer [trainer of Unbridled] and I stayed with him for nearly seven years, worked my way up to assistant trainer and I had his second string for about three years.

“Then, I went to Ocala, doing two-year-olds for the sales, before that scene became as big as it did. Then, in 1991, I came back to Lexington and had to start from scratch, went back galloping freelance, worked a bit at Gainsborough Stud, until one day a guy called me up and asked me to take a horse, so I ended up training for 15 years.

“Then Godolphin, Darley at that time, rang me up one day and asked if I would be interested in running this barn for rehab and pre-training at Keeneland. I have been with them 19 years. I am married to Patricia (Patti), she is from Nebraska and we have twin boys, 23 years old, Caleb and Levi.”

Recently, Johnny had the honour of accepting the 2024 Eclipse Award on behalf of Godolphin as leading owner, a title it has won for four consecutive years.

“Accepting it and making a speech was the longest minute of my life, but an honourable long minute,” he relates with pride.

Well-known

Geoff hails from just outside Bansha in Co Tipperary. He owns a highly respected pre-training facility on the north side of Lexington. His father, James, is a well-known veterinary surgeon who, at 83 years young is still practising, including working for Tipperary racecourse.

Growing up, the family were involved in hunting and other equestrian disciplines, plus there were always thoroughbred broodmares about their home, Arraghslea. The most notable racehorse produced from their farm is the 2017 Coventry Stakes winner, Rajasinghe, bred in partnership by father and son.

Geoff (51) is married to Sandra from Co Cork and they have three children; Katie (20), James (18) and Clara (16). He has been in America more or less since finishing a degree in Equine Science from University Of Limerick in 1997.

He recalls: “I first did a stint in Kentucky during my time in UL, which gave me a taste for life out there and then, I later came back out to work for trainers, Niall O’Callaghan and Bob Baffert, before doing my own thing from 2001.

“I bought a farm and built it up from scratch, but then we outgrew that and so our current place is just outside Lexington on the way to Paris. It is called Golden Vale Farm, which comprises parts of both Tipperary and Cork, where we are from.”

Different culture

The reasons why young people go to Kentucky are obvious; adventure, a chance to learn and experience a different culture. But the reasons for staying there are different.

“I stayed there because the community was as much of a draw as the horses,” explains Michael.

“There is a great communtiy of Irish ex-pats as well. There was always a core group, but it got bigger and bigger, people went out just trying to start their careers, make a living and found that the ‘American Dream’ was still alive there; if you work hard, there are plenty of opportunities.

“A lot of the fellas we came out with are significant players in the game over there from stud owners and consignors to trainers, including Brendan Walsh, Eoin Harty, Eddie Kennealy and John Ennis.

“Guys like Frank Lyons, who trained a Breeders’ Cup winner in 1995, Noel Hickey, Leo O’Brien, who famously came back to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas with Fourstars Allstar in 1991. Jim Keogh of Grovendale Consignments [who was recently honoured at the ITBA awards], he was an Irish National Stud student in 1981.”

Geoff makes a very salient point on this matter: “We all have kids, so when that happens it becomes home then. Before that you might think, ‘Oh, I might move back to Ireland’, but when the kids go to school, it is your life and your home. It has been said before, but Kentucky probably is the closest to Ireland that you get in America.

“The Irish community here most definitely looks after each other too.”

Working for the leading force in US racing and being around some of the best thoroughbreds on the planet, brings great job satisfaction too.

Johnny elaborates: “Godolphin has five trainers in the states and anything that has had a setback in training comes to me. I usually have around 30 horses. Over 2,000 horses have gone through the barn since we opened, they are a great team to work for, they are top of the pyramid.

“A lot of good horses have passed through my hands. Two very good fillies that were in the first group of horses I had stand out for me; Music Note and Cocoa Beach, both Grade 1 winners and, of course, the great Cody’s Wish. I got a real buzz the first morning that I did a bit of work with him, before he went to Bill Mott.

“He was with us at Keeneland pretty much all of his two-year-old season. It was just an unreal story about that horse. In fact, I also had his dam in the barn too, she was a two-year-old purchase.”

Michael adds: “He now has some early foals on the ground, so there are exciting times ahead, hopefully. One of those foals is out of a mare we had sold, but we retained a previous foal, a filly by Bernardini called Tarifa, which was pre-trained by Geoff, before winning three graded races last year for Brad Cox.

Legacy lives on

“For me, one of the best horses that we bred and raised in US was Bernardini and his legacy as a sire lives on. [Last weekend’s impressive winner Magnitude is out of a Bernadini mare].

“Essential Quality and Cody’s Wish are the new horses that we are excited about and there are lots of nice ones running for us at the moment.

“We have some nice three-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail; Poster, First Resort, both trained by Eoin Harty and East Avenue [a top two-year-old of last year, but disappointing on his comeback], trained by Brendan Walsh and Sovereignty, highly ranked on anyone’s list at the moment for the Derby. Immersive was champion two-year-old filly of last year, winning at the Breeders’ Cup, she won’t make the Kentucky Oaks, but will be back in late spring/summer, while another three-year-old filly, Good Cheer, is also undefeated and both look strong Kentucky Oaks candidates.

“The fact that two of these exciting three-year-olds are by our senior citizen sire (26-year-old) Medaglio D’Oro is very satisfying, he had a rejuvenation in the last year or so.”

Geoff elaborates on the evolution of his business and link with Godolphin: “My association with Godolphin and Michael came through a few horses I had for him personally and one filly, Leinster Lady, won a few races and that is how we got to know each other.

“I always trained a few for the track, but when the farm grew bigger, the emphasis was on breaking, pre-training and some rehab work. I do a lot of work for Sheikh Fahad of Qatar Racing, for Garret O’Rourke, Christophe Clement was a massive help, we pretty much did a lot of his pre-training, horses that needed freshening or coming off surgeries.

“Sometimes it is the trainer who sends me horses, other times I have an association with the farm. Other clients include Cherie Devaux, Brendan Walsh and Deuce Greathouse, he is from Glencrest Farm originally, but he buys a lot of horses in Europe as well; he races under Pura Vida, we do a lot of business with him. It is [a] pretty broad bunch, but Godolphin are our biggest supporter and great to work for.”

Key part

Geoff explains why facilities like his are such a key part of the racing set-up: “In the American system, trainers need horses that are running or very close to running to fill their stalls at the track.

“That is why there is a big niche in America for someone who does what most trainers in Ireland will do themselves, but in this system, they need someone to do the middle ground. A trainer can only have so many stalls at the track at one time. If a trainer at the track has horses that aren’t running, you don’t get as many stalls, so if a horse is five months away from starting, it is no good to the trainer to help keep his stalls.”

Michael adds: “It is no good to the racetrack either, they want horses to fill races, the more horses in the races, the better it is for business. No matter who you are, you have to apply for stalls space. If you had 20 stalls the year earlier, but you didn’t run many horses, you might only get 10 stalls this year.

“You feel sorry for trainers who might have a bad run of luck, horses don’t get to the races, don’t win and all of a sudden they can’t get stalls space at a particular track and might have to relocate to another one lower down the scale, it is a tough business.”

When asked what they miss most about Ireland: “Sporting events” is Geoff’s immediate reply, before continuing. “Family, obviously first, but next would be that, not just racing, but going to a soccer, rugby or hurling match, travelling up on the train to Dublin, trying to get a ticket for a game, the anticipation of that, meeting a bunch of friends and the fun of making it into a weekend.” “And going to Copper Face Jacks afterwards!” interjects Michael, to roars of laughter, before he continues: “Compared to when I went to America first, the world is a smaller place, so whereas before you would only know the result of a game from a phone call, now you can see them live. We have good times in America too, going to sporting events.”

Johnny adds: “I miss a little bit of the camaraderie, guys I was friends with, went to school with. But the great thing about good friends is that, when you come back and haven’t seen them for 10 years, it is like you were only talking to them yesterday.

“I remember the times when I would be dying to look in the mailbox to see if my mother had sent me a copy of The Irish Field, stuff like that and that was how you kept in touch with home.

“For about 15 years, I came back to Ireland every winter to do a bit of hunting, but I have kind of retired from that, but I miss it.”

International stage

Back in the 80s and 90s, when Irish horses weren’t such a force on the international stage, a big race winner in the USA trained in Ireland was a great cause for cheer amongst the ex-pat community.

Royal Academy winning the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Belmont Park for Vincent O’Brien, ridden by Lester Piggott, was one that Johnny and Michael remember vividly:

“That was a special day,” Michael recalls. “Especially if you were Irish, but it was just one of those day’s racing that had everything; heartbreak at Go For Wand breaking down in the Distaff, Dayjur jumping the shadow in the Sprint before Royal Academy winning. An amazing day.

“Remember, Irish horses winning big races on the world stage back then was a very rare thing, now it is more commonplace, but back then, it was so random. Earlier that year, Dermot Weld won the Belmont Stakes with Go And Go, which was amazing too.”

Johnny adds: “You know, it flew the Irish flag, you really got behind those horses when they came over.”

Geoff chimes in: “If you didn’t get enthralled with racing after watching that Breeders’ Cup, then you never would. I was still living in Ireland then and remember that it probably started the allure of the Breeders’ Cup from an Irish perspective. At the time, wins like that were like Ireland beating Italy in soccer.”

Michael expands: “But even European horses that travelled over to the USA, you got behind them; Pebbles winning [1985 Breeders’ Cup Turf] was a big one too. The gulf between Europe and America was a big one at that time and Americans didn’t know European horses and didn’t respect them when they came over.

“Before the Breeders’ Cup, the Washington International and later Arlington Million were the only international races in America. I remember backing Teleprompter, trained by Bill Watts and ridden by Tony Ives, when he won the Arlington Million (1985) and it was the most money I ever won on a horse, he was a massive price. Those type of wins for European horses were just magical.”

Travel for experience

“But...” he explains; “We all went to America for a reason and didn’t come back because of the opportunities we have had and I would certainly encourage young Irish people working in the horse industry to travel and get a broad base of experience.

Godolphin has its Flying Start course, but that is very competitive and, for people who don’t get onto that, it doesn’t mean they can’t do their own thing and be successful.

“You probably should go out and get experience in some places that maybe you are not drawn to; like if you are in the breeding end of it, go to a trainer, see what that is like, because when you are on a stud farm and you raise horses, that is the end result, they go to a trainer - so it is an advantage to know what happens there, so you can be better at your job.

“The biggest thing is going overseas, keeping your eyes open, listening to what is going on and working hard. People will see that. What we do is hard work, it is every day, but if you enjoy it, then it is a lot easier, we all enjoy working with horses.”

Johnny concurs, adding that: “You have got to carve your own path... and, no matter what happens, how old you are, how long you have been doing the job, you are going to learn something every day you go in the barn.”

“In America, if you work hard, you will get ahead, no doubt about it,” advises Geoff. “But the Irish definitely have a passion for horses, even if you grew up on a cattle farm, you have an association with animals and it does come more naturally to Irish people, it is bred into us.”

To quote part of Johnny Burke’s speech when accepting the Eclipse Award on behalf of Godolphin: “It is a privilege to work around the thoroughbred racehorse. This is who we are and this is what we do.”