NOTHING creates a racecourse buzz like a winning syndicate. A joy shared is a joy multiplied. Just ask the Closutton Racing Club, who have experienced that winning feeling an awful lot more than most.

Almost 40% of the time to be exact. Yes, 40%, that’s the approximate strike-rate of the syndicate who lease mares from highly respected breeders and place them in training with the main man, Willie Mullins. But of all their wins, one means more than most. Shewearsitwell’s victory in the Grade 3 Mares Hurdle at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival was the product of lots of hard work by some very dedicated people and was a classic case of triumph over adversity.

Twelve months previously to the day, Shewearsitwell had fallen in the exact same race and suffered an appalling facial injury.

James Fenton, who manages the Closutton Racing Club, picks up her story.

“I was looking for fillies for the Racing Club and went to see breeder, Cathal Ennis, in Westmeath. I looked at about seven mares that day. Shewearsitwell was one of them but she appeared to be slightly lame on her off-fore.

“Cathal trotted her down the lawn and she was fine but when she trotted back on a hard surface, the lameness became apparent. It was very slight, so I took a chance on her and she has been very lucky for us ever since. I used to ride her out myself at home. She’s a real go-about-her-business type of mare, nothing too flashy. We just get them fit enough at home to prepare them for the gallops down at Willie’s.”

Rocket

A few weeks after Shewearsitwell arrived at Closutton, James received an unexpected surprise on his phone.

“Patrick Mullins sent me a photograph of her on the gallops with a rocket over the photograph. I rang him straight away and he said ‘she’s good James, she’s very good’ Covid had just kicked in, so I was trying to play it down with the syndicate, but she went on to win her Galway bumper easily.

“She then went to Sligo and won her maiden hurdle by eight lengths. I spoke to Paul Townend on the way home from Sligo and he just said ‘she’s class’. We then entered her for the Grade 3 Joe Mac Hurdle in Tipperary and she won that well too. I couldn’t believe how well she was progressing.”

A short while later, James and his Closutton Racing Club members got the news no owner wants to receive. While in preparation for the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurde, Shewearsitwell suffered a condyle fracture on her near hind leg.

“It’s a small bone, so we had a decision to make, to let it heal naturally or put a screw in it,” James explains. “We chose the latter and the operation was performed by Ger Kelly at the Fethard Equine Hospital. Thankfully, we eventually got her right and headed for the Mares’ Hurdle at the 2021 Leopardstown Christmas Festival.”

It was a race the Closutton Racing Club won’t be looking back on any time soon. The grim picture is painted by James.

“Shewearsitwell jumped the shadow of a hurdle and landed on her face. I ran down on to the race track and my first concern was that Paul was alright, as it was a horrible fall. Paul was fine, but I knew the mare was in serious trouble as there was a bone sticking out of her face. My heart sank. Her face was shattered.

“I rang Willie and he had her taken without delay to Anglesey Lodge Equine Hospital where Simon Hennessy operated on her immediately. Anglesey Lodge did a brilliant job and after about 10 days, myself and my two girls, Sarah and Noelle, went down to collect her.

“For six weeks, we nursed her and walked her every day for three hours each day at hourly intervals. We had to put a hood on her with the ears cut out of it to retain the strapping on her injury. She was on so much medication it took three of us to catch her in her box. She gradually began to heal and we were all greatly relieved.

“My uncle Dave was also a great help. He provided us with a lot of natural remedies, including manuka honey mixes, to try and speed up the healing process and they worked very well.”

Return

Shewearsitwell returned at Punchestown and even though she was well held, the Closutton Racing Club were delighted with her run and she got back to winning ways at Killarney the following month before taking her chance in the Galway Hurdle.

Racing off a fast pace over the two miles just proved too much for her at Ballybrit and then James, Willie Mullins and breeder Cathal Ennis had a decision to make.

“Cathal wanted to retire her but I kept saying ‘you have to listen to Willie;,” James recalls. “We have a plan. And when she then won the Pertemps qualifier at Punchestown in November, Cathal said ‘I will never go against Willie’s advice ever again!’”

James and his colleagues them made a big decision to return to Leopardstown for the Grade 3 Mares’ Hurdle where Shewearsitwell had met her Waterloo the previous year. He admits now that he barely ate a thing in the two days before her run but she duly did the business this time around, getting the better of the smart Queens Brook to give the Club a brilliant day out at the Dublin track.

Although Willie Mullins is the Closutton Racing Club’s trainer of choice, James’s syndicate discussions began with Co Waterford trainer John Kiely.

“John is a great friend of mine and a great friend of my family down through the years and I used to ride work for him,” James explains. “In my eyes, John is one of the best trainers ever to have put a saddle on a horse.

“When I was setting up Blue Blood Racing back in 2014, John told me he wouldn’t be too comfortable with big crowds, so would I not try Willie Mullins? I told John I didn’t know Willie that well but he made the introduction. So, I went and met Willie and Patrick and it was a real pinch yourself moment when I ended up sitting in Willie’s kitchen drinking coffee.

“We picked out our first mare that day and I have developed a great relationship with Willie and Patrick ever since. It’s a great privilege to be involved with the best National Hunt racehorse trainer in the world. Everything is just so transparent and Willie is a pure gentleman. Everything is so friendly and easy-going yet no stone is left unturned down in Closutton.”

PURELY FOR Fun

James first set up Blue Blood Racing as a Garda Racing Club back in 2014 and it was purely for fun, with any profits made going back into the venture to lease new mares.

“It cost members just €17 per week and we also made donations to the Little Blue Heroes Garda charity. However, the Closutton Racing Club is open to everyone and is run more like a business, with a dividend paid out at the end of the season.

“It costs €120 per member per month and we have seven mares currently in training with Willie. There have been massive friendships forged through these racing clubs. Closutton Racing Club began three years ago and we have never looked back with incredible success over those three years. We have had our share of injuries as well but it’s a great concept and we now operate a waiting list.

“What I like most about the membership is that they are a group of diehards. They understand that there are great highs and corresponding lows. There are lads involved in the Closutton Racing Club that had been racing all their lives and never had a winner. And with 36 runners so far, we have now had 14 winners and a few places as well, so nobody can have any complaints about that”.

“We don’t go for mares that have been tried and tested, we go for them raw. I do a lot of research into their pedigrees and go to see them physically. If I’m happy with both aspects, I will lease them and that’s basically our strategy. To get a horse raw, pretrain them, break them in, get them into Willie’s and then get them onto the racetrack is an achievement in itself.”

There are quite a few well-bred mares waiting to begin their racing careers for James’s various racing clubs and syndicates - “Between all the clubs (Blue Blood Racing, Closutton Racing Club, Lions Mouth Racing Club and the recently formed Curb Your Enthusiasm Racing Club) we have about 20 mares, so there’s a lot to look forward to. There’s generally a 33% attrition rate, so for every three horses, one of them will suffer some kind of setback, on average.”

Shewearsitwell has certainly suffered her share of setbacks but she now heads for the Grade 1 Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with more than a sporting chance –

“The way we’re looking at it - isn’t it great to be there? It’s the anticipation of having a runner at the Festival. The build-up is fantastic. That’s what we’ll enjoy. And she deserves to be there too. It’s a seriously competitive race but where she finishes doesn’t really bother us. If she runs to her ability and comes home safe and sound that’s all that matters.”

“Two miles and four furlongs at Cheltenham should play to her strengths. The pace of the race should suit her. The track will suit her. The ground will likely suit her. Paul Townend has always been very effective on her but will have a big decision to make come Cheltenham.”

Syndicates bring a vibrant atmosphere to a racecourse and their enthusiasm is infectious. The Flooring Porter syndicate really livened up the Cheltenham parade ring last year with their Stayers’ Hurdle success.

If Shewearsitwell can go on to win this year’s Mares’ Hurdle, the celebrations will be equally raucous as there are so many people who will want to savour that moment, having played such a huge part in her improbable success.