The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
When Quin trainer Donie Hassett purchased an unbroken three-year-old by Yeats for €6,500 at the 2018 Tattersalls August Sale, it turned out he had just bought a Grand National winner.
Hassett has developed a reputation as one of the shrewdest judges of horseflesh in the business, a fact he has proven over and over in a lifetime steeped in the equine industry.
A teak-tough, talented amateur rider in his day, Hassett – who conquered the then fearsome Aintree fences when completing the course aboard Eliogarty in the 1984 National – has subsequently carved out a hugely-successful career as a trainer.
♥️ The perfect end to a remarkable career
On his final ride, @swaleycohen wins the 2022 #RandoxGrandNational for Emmet Mullins at @AintreeRaces aboard 50/1 shot Noble Yeats pic.twitter.com/QmAcaVxnFL
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 9, 2022
Hassett’s Coogane stables – where he is ably assisted by his wife, Josephine, son Brian and daughter-in-law Sarah – has produced some top class animals over the years.
Horses such as Noel Chance’s Cheltenham Gold Cup (2000) winner Looks Like Trouble and 1995 Irish Grand National runner-up Rust Never Sleeps are just some of better known recruits to have passed through the Hassett academy.
Having bought Noble Yeats, Hassett turned his attention to breaking him and getting the son of dual Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats going.
His first appearance on the racetrack came at the United Foxhounds point-to-point meeting at Ballindenisk, County Cork on December 1st, 2019.
Here he ran a terrific race when making up a lot of late ground to finish second – beaten a neck – by Minella Majestic in the first division of the opening four-year-old maiden.
This run caught the eye of Kilkenny trainer Emmet Mullins, who ten days later paid £75,000 for the gelding at Cheltenham’s December Sale.
The rest, as they say, is history with amateur Sam Waley-Cohen guiding 50/1 shot Noble Yeats to an historic victory at Aintree on Saturday.
UK owner Robert Waley-Cohen only bought the horse two months ago for his son to ride in the world’s most famous race. That certainly proved a shrewd bit of business as, in what was his final ever ride, the 39-year-old brought the curtain down on his career in fairytale fashion.
For the victorious trainer, it certainly was a remarkable feat. Just 32-years old, Mullins – who is a nephew of top trainer Willie Mullins – has already earned himself a huge reputation and winning the National with his first ever runner in the race is some achievement.
