THE racing gods must have been smiling during the Cheltenham week of 1951 when one John Patrick McManus came into this world.

This was the year when the Gold Cup was won by Silver Fame (6/4 fav), ridden by Martin Molony, only for the Champion Hurdle to be won for the third time in great style by Hatton’s Grace (4/1) and ridden by Martin’s brother Tim, both of whom would go on to be JP’s near neighbours.

To add to the coincidence, the trainer of Hatton’s Grace was none other than Vincent O’Brien whose successor, Aidan, would train Istabraq for JP to win no less than three renewals of the blue riband of hurdling.

Since 1951, the winter game has seen many remarkable patrons but none even come close to JP McManus. His Cheltenham record isn’t just numbers, nine wins in the Champion Hurdle (Istabraq won three successive renewals between 1998 and 2000), three wins in the Stayers’ Hurdle, a win in the Gold Cup, (Synchronised in 2012); add to that two Grand National triumphs and no less than 100 winners at the Punchestown Festival.

With 211 horses in training – just in Ireland alone – JP is keeping half the trainers, handlers, vets and farriers in the country in business.

To find anything remotely comparable, you have to look back into the history books where the legendary British owner Dorothy Paget crops up. She won no less than five Gold Cups and one Aintree Grand National with Golden Miller but after that her record drops off.

JP’s record of 67 Cheltenham Festival winners is just so far ahead of his nearest rival it looks unassailable in any kind of foreseeable future. By any standards, it is a remarkable figure, all the more so when you consider that his nearest rival, Gigginstown House Stud, has recorded less than half that number.

So a breakfast visit for Catherine and I to Martinstown was one to be savoured. By any standards, the McManus home is remarkable, reputedly the largest and finest house built in Ireland since Independence. The last time I saw it up close was last season hunting with the Scarteen from a meet at nearby Elton.

Nestling in the Limerick landscape with the Ballyhoura’s forming the backdrop, it looks as if it was always there, belying the fact it was only built in the last 15 years. The sweeping avenue is flanked by a bronze statue immortalising the great Istabraq.

Having admired the beautiful surrounds, we entered the house to meet with probably two of the greatest sporting people Limerick has ever produced. On many fronts Martinstown came out top of the class as we were made exceptionally welcome while we joined JP and Noreen for a relaxing breakfast.

Memory lane

Racing came a poor second on the agenda as JP and I went down memory lane recalling old times growing up in that very sporting area of east Limerick. Meanwhile, Catherine and Noreen played at least one round of golf sitting at the breakfast table.

JP’s family were into plant hire and his Dad would spend most of his time away working doing land reclamation and so on. Despite JP being Limerick’s favourite son and an avid and generous supporter of all things Limerick, he doesn’t have a drop of Limerick blood in his veins. His father was from Roscommon and his mother from Louth.

Like many from the west of Ireland after the war, Johnny McManus worked in England before returning, getting married and buying a farm in the townland of Ballysheedy on the outskirts of Limerick city. The business prospered and the couple went on to have five sons – JP, Kevin (now a bookmaker) Owen, and the twins Michael and Gerry. JP was educated in Limerick’s CBS while Noreen went to school just up the road to the Presentation Sisters.

A teacher at CBS, Gerry Gleeson, who later in life would be Master of the Limerick Harriers, recalls the young JP as ‘shrewd in mathematics’ and as an afterthought added, “particularly proficient in percentages which I have no doubt stood him in good stead later on.”

The Latin teacher (affectionally known to the lads as ‘Mitch’ Malone), took a particular shine to the JP due to their shared interest in racing and indeed at a later stage, they often travelled together to race meetings as ‘Mitch’ knew the best routes to take.

The story is told of one particular afternoon when racing was taking place at Limerick’s Greenpark Racecourse. The Leaving Cert history exam commenced at 2.30pm and Brother Clarke took up station at 3pm at the exit to ensure no student finished the exam early. Not to be outdone, JP finished his exam in record time, handed in his paper, exited at 2.55pm and cycled full tilt across town only to hear his fancied horse being called the winner over the PA.

When times came good, JP’s thoughts turned to his school (which at least taught him percentages) and he set up a scholarship scheme for boys to continue their education at university level. Noreen then came on board with a similar scheme for the girls from her old school, now renamed Nano Nagle. Both funds are pre-loaded so that the scholarships will continue well into the future.

The McManus family worked hard and as soon as they were able to drive, JP and Kevin would help out, driving bulldozers as well as helping on the farm where they milked a barn of cows supplying milk to the local Lisnalty creamery.

John Joe McMahon and Johnny McManus exchanging the Young Horse Cup at Cappamore Show \ Limerick Leader

Romance blossoms

Like many a young man of 20, romance came his way. “And how did you meet?” I asked JP but it was Noreen who answered – “We always knew each other and would meet occasionally and romance blossomed.”

The McManus and Kirby families lived no more than three or four miles apart with the Kirbys farming at Greenhills near Crecora. The Kirbys were nothing if not sporting. Dad, Connie Snr, a proper hunting man, was treasurer of the Limerick Harriers while young Con was amateur whipper-in and occasional point-to-point jockey. Come summer it was GAA time – not forgetting the greyhounds, both track and coursing. All 10 children, as on most farms, helped out with all the chores. Noreen, somewhere in the middle, went and did nursing nearby at Limerick’s Barrington’s Hospital.

Noreen has kept up the Kirby connection with greyhound racing by owning a number of greyhounds. She and JP sponsor the ‘Con & Annie Kirby Memorial Puppy Stakes’, named in memory of her late parents who would rarely have missed a night without ‘going to the dogs’ at Limerick’s Markets Field. No doubt they would be proud to see their names associated with what is the richest Puppy Stakes in the world.

Country’s youngest bookmaker

His early 20s was a busy time for the young JP. As well as being Ireland’s youngest bookmaker, he also became Ireland’s youngest GAA club chairman when he was elected to the chair of his local South Liberties. What a wise and far-seeing choice it proved to be by the members on that November evening. Their green and gold colours became the most famous racing colours known the world over when horses race over fences.

JP recalls with nostalgic pleasure those heady days when the lads would pile into a car to play an evening match at Caherconlish or Knocklong or wherever. The volunteer driver, more often than not, was Pat Wade described as ‘one of the real heroes of the GAA who gave up his time and his car’.

JP’s regard for the GAA ‘as the backbone of rural Ireland’ is as strong today as it was then. He has become the main sponsor of the county team as well as financing the Mackey Stand in the Gaelic Grounds.

JP has an elephantine-like memory when it comes to racing. He was able to recall in some detail the last running of Knockea point-to-point (circa 1962) and the winner of the members’ race on the day – Sweet Marie – owned and ridden by Sean Fitzgibbon.

Many who know JP well reckon that if he had to make a choice between Limerick hurling and racing it would almost be a dead-heat and the judge would have to call for a photo.

Right priorities

Trainer Enda Bolger tells the story, recalling: “JP had a fancied runner in Auteuil, trained by François Doumen, and ridden by his son Thierry. A bunch of us including JP, Noreen, Pat Hartigan, myself and Shanny and a few others, flew over on the jet. We had a box to watch racing from with plenty of hospitality. Thierry started well but after jumping the third, dropped back and pulled up after the next. Those with binoculars could see why, the horse had a distinct nosebleed – not just taking away his chance on the day but probably his future career.

“Thierry came back up after the race, looking ashen-faced to meet his owner but meanwhile, JP was sitting in a corner with his phone beaming. As Thierry started to explain, JP waved him away saying, ‘Limerick have just scored against Tipperary in the Gaelic Grounds’. JP a man who obviously had his priorities in order!”

While not a racing family, Johnny McManus took a keen interest in Irish Draught breeding and would regularly show broodmares and youngstock in hand. JP recalls an early morning departure from Ballysheedy to Cappamore Show with three Irish Draughts and returning elated with five red rosettes.

He and his near neighbour, John Joe McMahon, often vied with each other in the show ring and the photo on these pages shows John-Joe passing over the trophy to McManus senior as his young horse took the championship.

The McManus family were known as good neighbours. When a young Antoinette McGinley (now Maguire), who grew up in Ballysheedy, recalls as a 12-year-old needing a lift to Bansha show with her pony, it was Johnny McManus who stepped up to the plate and saw the young jockey come home with a rosette.

On leaving school, JP joined the family firm as a bulldozer driver and in fact worked on the farm development of what would later be his home at Martinstown Stud. But that was only the day job. Evenings would see him with his clerk, Declan Moylan, as we say in Limerick ‘inside at the dogs’ as a bookmaker.

Winner Alright: The Ladies Cup winner Outlaw Pete (l-r) trainer Enda Bolger, Noreen McManus, Shanny Bolger, the late J.T. McNamara, Sarah Bermingham, JP McManus, Kiernan and Ann-Marie McManus with Frank Berry \ Catherine Power

Betting coups

I asked JP did he have any really good touch that set him on his way? As always he is a man of few words, replying: “It wasn’t so much the good fortune I enjoyed so much as the bad things I missed.”

He continued: “I laid a dog (You Little Daisy) to win more than I normally would, probably more than I could afford at the time.” JP had reason to believe that the dog was overrated but the dog broke from the traps like a rocket, led into the first bend, and was several lengths clear by the third.

Just when the dog looked a certainty to win, the racing gods took a hand. The traps, which had been swung across the track to start the race, developed a mechanical problem and hard as the staff tried, they failed to move them out of the way of the oncoming dogs. The race was declared void and the day was saved.

It wasn’t for nothing JP became known as the ‘The Sundance Kid’ such were his betting coups. Success came early in life for JP and at just 24, he was in a position to buy Howardstown near Bruree – not too long before he and Noreen got married – and set up house there. The property is now the racing establishment of Enda Bolger.

Howardstown, a very fine property, was just a stepping stone as Martinstown House and Stud near Kilmallock came on the market just as the fledgling McManus family with young John’s arrival, followed by Kieran and Sue-Ann were settling into Howardstown.

Martinstown was the real deal, running to a couple of hundred acres, and all that went with it. If it were a horse, it could be said to have form and its sporting credentials impeccable. It had been the home of the late June McCalmont, who had built a brand new Palladian-style residence on the farm. June, of Mount Juliet fame, had been married to Major Dermot McCalmont who had hunted the Kilkenny Foxhounds. He had bred and raced The Tetrarch, one of the greatest horses of all time. As if that wasn’t enough, the property had been previously owned by the very sporting brothers, Vince and Pat Hartigan, who stood Menelek there, the leading National Hunt sire of his day.

There are several JPs – JP the phenomenally successful businessman, accumulating a fortune that most people could only dream about; JP the philanthropist; but above all, there is JP the racing man. There is also JP the family man and he is never happier than when he and Noreen are surrounded by their children and their ever growing bunch of grandchildren.

Next week: Racing ownership, the great Istabraq, and charitable patronage