Brian McMahon is and up and coming young handler, having saddled his first winner between-the-flags last Sunday at Nenagh when Loughrask Breeze took the mares’ maiden under Eoin Mahon.
However the Clare-native has already enjoyed 10 winners under rules and is certainly proving he is more than capable of producing winners under all codes. Combining a full time job, with the training of eight horses McMahon was quick to give credit to jockey Eoin Mahon who provides him with plenty of assistance. Clearly on an upward trajectory, Brian McMahon is clearly a name we will be hearing more of in the future.
Next Generation | Handler
Name: Brian McMahon
Where are you from originally?
I am from Kilmaley in Clare and after a bit of time away I am back in Spancill Hill now.
When did you start training?
I took out my licence back in 2014, but things were slow to get going. It’s been a slow burn, but to be honest I would rather keep the numbers small and the quality up.
Going back to the beginning, are you from a racing background originally? How did you get involved in racing?
It all started out when I was in college in Galway, studying Biotechnology. I used to go into the local Corals with Paudie Hassett and have €2 each way on some mid-week meeting. I got a great kick out of it and it just grew from there to be honest.
I went down with Paudie to his father’s yard in Quin one Saturday. I got absolutely carted up the gallop by the quietest horse that Donie had in the yard on the first day, but I kept coming back every Saturday!
When I got my first job in college, I didn’t even have a car but a couple of us got together and bought a horse, giving him to Donie Hassett to train. We got some buzz out of it and there was great banter with all the lads, that really got us going. I went up to Dublin after that and spent four years doing a PHD before a spell in the UK.
You spent some time with Nicky Henderson over there?
We went over to the Cheltenham meeting in November back in 2009, I had no job to come back to, so I made a couple of calls and Nicky Henderson got back to me. I ended up staying for nearly three years with him.
It was a great time to be in the yard, Long Run won the Gold Cup, Bobs Worth was there and he won the Albert Bartlett. Sprinter Sacre was winning all around him and Binocular won the Champion Hurdle as well. It was just fantastic to be around horses of that quality.
Before I came home I also spent some time riding out in Lambourne for Charlie Mann to get more experience.
Did you always hold aspiration of training?
I have always had an interest in training a few of my own. I really just kept my eye and ears open and tried to pick up as much possible along the way.
You ended up in Sligo when you came back to Ireland?
I got a job with Stable Lab in Sligo, which was a business producing hand held blood analysers for horses. I was involved in the beginning of the product when we were developing it. It allowed me to use my qualifications, combining horses and science.
Eventually I realised that I preferred to be outside with the horses. I decided to go and get my trainers licence and I started out training in Sligo, before a spell in Ballingarry, County Limerick. I have been back in Clare for over two years.
You rent a yard in Spancil Hill now?
I train out of Noel Glynn’s yard. There is nice gallop in there and it’s in a lovely setting. There is loads of paddock to turn the horses out, along with plenty of stables. We would bring them away to Donie Hassett's and to Joe Ryan in Broadford, along with going to schooling races. We have eight riding out in here at the moment.
You manage to combine a job with doing your own in the afternoon?
I go into the yard first thing to feed and turn a few out. I head off to work then in a medical diagnostic company called Beckman Coulter. I work in there until the early afternoon, before getting back to the yard.
Eoin Mahon comes in around 2.00pm. He would have the first lot tacked up and on the walker for when I get back and we get stuck into riding them out.
The likes of Powersbomb and Se Mo Laoch have really put you on the map?
The two of them have been brilliant. Seskinane has been brilliant as well, he was my first horse and has been a great servant. If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be training. He could go to the big meetings and while he didn’t win that often he could always run consistently, he was placed loads of times for us.
Powersbomb brought us to Cheltenham, he has won a bumper, won on the flat, over hurdles and over fences. He has been unlucky a few times as well when falling at the last or finishing second. The year in Cheltenham he hit the front jumping the last and probably just didn’t stay the two and a half miles, but it was some thrill to be there with a horse with a chance at the Festival.
Se Mo Laoch has run nine times since the summer, he has won three and has never been out of the placings on his other runs. He is entered in the King Muir at Cheltenham, hopefully he will get in and it would be fantastic to give Eoin Mahon a spin around there.
That was actually your first point-to-point winner on Sunday?
That was my first one alright, I would often be slagging the likes of Joe Ryan about going point-to-pointing only to be frozen and shivering with the cold!
But the buzz we got on Sunday topped any day we had on the track. It was just fantastic, everybody was so genuine in their congratulations. The owner Thomas Vaughan had his first horse in 1992 and that was his first winner.
The kick that the two of us got out of it topped anything. It really shows how important the grass roots of racing is and how much it means to people.
Would you hold aspirations of going training full time in the future?
Combining work with training suits me, there is a few quid coming in from the job and you get to meet people that have nothing to do with horses.
The mix is great, when I was training full time I was just getting caught up in a bubble of horses and racing. You don’t have any perspective, but going to work and meeting different people allows me to have a different outlook. But we certainly wouldn’t be turning away another horse or two!
Next Generation | Handler - Brian McMahon
— p2p.ie (@irishp2p) February 20, 2019
Up and coming handler Brian McMahon teamed up with Eoin Mahon to take the mares' maiden at Nenagh last Sunday and talks about his career to date here %u27A1%uFE0F https://t.co/YRPc95QgAg pic.twitter.com/2HU1C8d1wG
