IT is spoken about as one of the beauties of racing that the sport engages individuals from an array of different backgrounds.

Small-scale owners and syndicates can pit their wits against powerhouse breeders and big-spending sheikhs, horsemen and women from operations in rural Ireland have the opportunity to forge internationally-influential businesses, and others from overseas have made the most of meaningful openings since coming to these shores too.

While certainly not perfect, examples are there in plain sight of figures from a broad range of backgrounds playing considerable roles in the sport.

If you’re looking for a contender for one of the most diverse ownership groups in Irish racing right now, you would do well to find a more unique cast of characters than is in the recently-formed Longevity Racing Club.

Tom Foley, a native of Lorrha, Co Tipperary, who spent 25 years in America - during which he rode five Grade 1 winners over jumps - heads up the operation that hit the ground running earlier this year with winners at Dundalk, Cork and Chelmsford’s lucrative Good Friday fixture.

Foley says Longevity counts Irish rugby aces Jordan Larmour and Ciarán Frawley among its membership group of approximately 30 people, as well as prominent UFC mixed-martial arts fighter Derrick Lewis, who holds the record for most knockouts in UFC history.

Former three-time NBA All-Star Steve Francis is another high-profile name from the world of professional American sports, and there is also the small matter of “a couple of people from the NFL, doctors from the stem-cell world, a NASA astronaut” and the CEO of a health-care organisation, as per Foley.

Irish racing’s reach might be far wider than many assume when international figures like these are keeping tabs on winter all-weather season action at Dundalk.

So what is it that brings such an unlikely group together?

A desire to share health and wellbeing insight while bonding over the common interest of the club’s horses is at the forefront of Longevity’s aim, according to Foley.

While opinions vary in medical circles on the topic stem-cell treatment and its potential benefits, the 43-year-old says his medical intervention in this field was “life changing” for him at RMI Health in Costa Rica in 2021. It prompted him to pursue the area of mental and physical wellbeing in the world of sport.

“I broke pretty much everything over the years,” says Foley, who works in securing insurance coverage for professional jockeys in America.

Injury challenges

“I rode for 16 years in the States and the ground over there is like the road - when you fall, something usually cracks. I had seen stem-cell work previously when using them in horses with soft tissue injuries years ago, so it was something I was interested in.

“I did plenty of research and got a massive benefit from my own treatment. It changed my life and has allowed me to do things I couldn’t before. I went down with [US Hall of Fame jockey] Mike Smith, and he’s felt the impact of it too because he was previously considering retirement with the pain he was dealing with. It’s all about a quality of life, and other sportspeople have done this before.”

Foley adds: “I kind of took a re-run at a lot of things in life afterwards. I started running, getting fit, living a very different lifestyle. When physical pain goes away, mental pain becomes clear. It becomes the focus, and then you can address it. But when you’re in physical pain, it masks so many other things. I’ve got to talk with a lot of big pro athletes who have dealt with the same things.”

Having departed Ireland for the US at the age of 17 and competitively race-ridden up until as recently as 2015, Foley experienced his fair share of setbacks as a rider, including overcoming serious back and leg injuries.

With a depth of experience behind him, he appears to see a clear value in keeping mentally engaged and opening up with others while in the process of recovery.

“Basically, the idea behind the Longevity Club was that we have all the big athletes and people involved, which is great, but we’d love to get regular people involved who are interested in talking about mental health, physical health and learning,” he says.

“I’ve connected a bunch of people who talk about their stories and learn from each other. Everybody loves the horses and following them as a group brings everyone together. It’s a great way to keep people connected, talking and sharing.

“Something I’ve learned in the last couple of years is that you see how people bounce off each other when connecting with others from these different worlds. It starts the ball rolling as a conversation starter, and things tend to take off from there. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Speaking up

“When new athletes or new people join, I just ask a question along the lines of ‘could somebody share a story of something you’re dealing with, or a breakthrough you’ve had?’. You’d be amazed what people come out with, and then all the conversations that develop. It opens up a world for them that they’re not on their own in, no matter who they are. That there’s something there.

“They can chat and listen. It’s a great thing to watch happening. Anyone in the group has access to the medical professionals involved and can ask their own questions.”

Foley has been riding out at Denis Hogan’s yard, where Longevity’s horses are in training, since returning to Ireland to spend more time with his father, Danny. He was even declared to take his first ride back in Ireland at Gowran Park on Monday but explained that a paperwork requirement pressed pause on his race-riding comeback at the 11th hour. Half a dozen individual horses, including 2024 winners El Bello, Benjis Benefit and May Night, have flown the flag for Longevity thus far, and there are ambitions to grow the ownership operation.

“My sister lives about 10 minutes from Denis’ yard and when I came back, Bubba [Amond] said I should go down and see him. I came in looking at buying a few horses and he said I could ride any of them away,” says Foley.

“I kept them with Denis and that was it. The first one we ran won, and then the second one did the same. We’ve had a great bit of luck.

“I still do the insurance for the lads in the States, that’s my main job. I came home for a week and have been here now for nearly four months! I might go for Denis in the morning, and I go around looking at horses for people in America.

“We’d love to have one with Gordon [Elliott], Emmet [Mullins] and Shark [Hanlon] to keep them spread out in Ireland, while keeping a good crowd with Denis, who has been so good to us.”

After care commitment

The treatment of horses in their lives post-racing came under scrutiny with the airing of last week’s RTÉ Investigates documentary, and Foley was eager to state his intentions for the club’s horses once their track careers have concluded.

“Any horse ending their career with us will have another job or plan after racing,” he says.

“We will pay to retrain them if needed for that part of their lives, because there are so many jobs these horses can do. We’d be happy to be part of telling that story. We have a 10-year-old here, Tai Sing Yeh, and I love riding him because he’s a character. I’ve already made some contacts with people so that when he’s done, he’ll go off to be an eventer or a happy hacker or something else.

“Once someone buys into the club, they do it once and that’s it. It’s meant to be a fun exercise for people to enjoy, and to interact with other people and the horses. They can find more information on our Instagram page [@longevityclubracing].”

This year marks two decades since Foley’s last winner at the highest level in America in the Grade 1 Foxbrook Supreme Hurdle on Paradise’s Boss, a year on from landing the Grade 1 Iroquois Hurdle aboard Pelagos and Grade 1 Meadow Brook Hurdle on Trebizond (previously trained by Charles O’Brien and Tom Taaffe).

According to the US’ Equibase database, Foley earned close to $4.5 million in prize money and partnered 184 winners from close to 2,500 rides.

He previously detailed the ups and downs of his Stateside journey, including the consequences of problematic dieting as a rider, switching to flat racing and personal challenges, in The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey’s Memoir, which he released in 2010.

“Ruby Walsh told me to pop out [to America] for a summer and strengthen up - I stayed for 25 years!” Foley quips.

“I got very lucky with some of the big horses I got to ride and where they took me. I think I was the only US-based jump jockey ever invited to Japan to ride under contract, so I got to ride in the Nakayama Grand Jump and Hanshin Gold Cup. I was third in one and fourth in the other.”

Movie appearance

Another achievement that very few jockeys anywhere can claim is to have starred in a feature film, but Foley has that distinct accomplishment on his CV.

In Walt Disney Pictures’ 2010 movie Secretariat, which captures the story of the legendary 1973 US Triple Crown hero, the former RACE (Racing Academy and Centre of Education) graduate played the role of Secretariat’s work rider Jimmy Gaffney.

Foley is heard speaking, and seen riding, in the production that earned over $60 million at the box office.

“I actually walked into the wrong place that day of the auditions!” he says.

“The woman I met there asked me if I was there to read for a part, and, not knowing any better, I told her I was. I think after a few minutes she figured out I’d never seen any of it before, but I think she kind of half liked me.

“I ended up reading for the part, and then they brought me back a couple of times, including to read for Randall Wallace, who wrote Braveheart. The whole thing was a fun experience, and a great insight into another world.”

Foley is again dealing with figures from other worlds in his Longevity Racing Club venture. If his colourful journey in the sport so far is anything to go by, there will be no shortage of new stories to be shared among the star-studded group into the future.