After Flooring Porter's second victory at the Cheltenham Festival, here is a reminder of the remarkable story behind the horse's unlikely rise to the very top of the sport.
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In a famous year for Irish racing, Flooring Porter was one of the greatest stories to emerge in horse racing in 2021.
Last Christmas, few in racing would have believed the horse would have won at both Leopardstown and Cheltenham, let alone winning the Goffs award for the Best Value Purchase Racehorse of the Year 2020-21 and has been nominated for the Horse Racing Ireland Horse of the Year award alongside some of biggest names in the equine world, such as Honeysuckle, the unbeaten wonder-mare and Saint Mark’s Basilica, the joint highest rated racehorse in the world.
While his famous victories at Leopardstown and Cheltenham have made him a hero, the story of Flooring Porter is still being written.
This is the story of what can happen when four friends who love racing purchase a horse.
"The background and the name of Flooring Porter is what makes him so special," says Edward Hogarty, one of the syndicate who own the horse.
An ad on Facebook
This story started in spring 2018 when a group of lifelong racing fans spotted a young horse for sale on a Facebook ad. The four-man syndicate of Edward Hogarty (who is my father), Kerrill Creaven, Alan and Tommy Sweeney bought him from trainer Gavin Cromwell for €5000 after going to view two different horses. Porter stood out straight away and the men quickly snapped him up. They took off home to South Roscommon, hoping to win a lowly-rated handicap in Kilbeggan or Roscommon. Little did they know they had bought a Grade One winner.
Porter was bred by Sean Murphy in Monivea Co. Galway, not far from the syndicate themselves. The syndicate and Murphy have stayed in close contact ever since, both sharing elation and enthusiasm for the success of Flooring Porter.
His memorable name came about because Hogarty owns a local flooring business in South Roscommon and Creaven and Alan Sweeney owned the local pub at the time.
The iconic black and white jockey colours represent a pint of porter. This remarkable name caught the attention of many.
Porter’s first run was on the 12th of July 2019 in Cork where he finished 7th out of 21 and suffered a career-threatening pelvic injury. No one could have dreamed of what was to become of Porter.
An incredible twelve months
December 2020 was a magical month for the syndicate. They started off by winning the Grade B Handicap in Navan at 22/1. The syndicate bravely supplemented the horse for a Grade One in the Leopardstown Christmas Festival under careful consultation with Cromwell having easily won a handicap last time out. This was a brave decision the lads have never looked back on.
The extremely talented and quirky six-year-old is the top-rated son by the great Yeats. He historically won his first Grade 1 race in Leopardstown last December when he was given a fabulous front running ride by Jonathan Moore to win the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle, beating all the favourites.
A tremendous win for Flooring Porter in the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle #RTEracing pic.twitter.com/cJOB1HE8hu
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 28, 2020
Flooring Porter made history this day being the second-only horse to be bred in the West of Ireland to win a Grade 1 race, other than Faugheen. The syndicate members cheered him on from their sitting rooms with pints of porter in hand.
"From lifelong racing fans sitting at home watching races, to having your own horse crossing the finish line first in a grade one race, it really is an unbelievable feeling," says Hogarty.
Cheltenham: dreams come true
After the Leopardstown victory, Porter was backed to 12/1 to win the Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle in Cheltenham, which was run on St Patrick's Day.
However, the road to Cheltenham wasn’t easy. The week before the most prestigious race meeting in the world, Moore took a fall. The morning of the Stayers Hurdle, Moore decided he couldn't ride Porter because he admitted would ‘never do this horse justice’ if he went on to ride that day. It was a brave move by the man who put so much time and effort into this powerful horse.
After a last-minute jockey change on the morning of the big race to Danny Mullins, everyone was incredibly nervous.
However, this jockey change made no difference to Porter's powerful abilities.
He wasn’t for catching!
Flooring Porter wins the @PaddyPower Stayers’ Hurdle#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/B06dwDcURc— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) March 18, 2021
Mullins and Porter led from the front and finished the race 3.25 lengths ahead of all the favourites.
It was Mullins's first-ever win at Cheltenham. The two jockeys shared a brilliant moment after the race.
The victory caused outright jubilation around south Roscommon, says Hogarty.
"The feeling after Porter crossed the line in Cheltenham was of sheer joy for the whole parish, never mind just the syndicate members and our families. No one expected it and everyone benefitted from his victory.
"It’s unbelievable, the amount of people that come into our shops and tell me that Flooring Porters winnings are paying for their paint, rugs, or their flooring. So many local people have benefitted from it and it’s really great to see.
"We had people driving past the house the day of the race with flags beeping and cheering, my phone was going non-stop with people sending me messages of congratulations.
"I still find it hard to believe he won, winning in Cheltenham is something that every racing fan only dreams about, the only negative to the situation was that we weren't there to greet our champion back in the winning enclosure’
Flooring Porter took a break after being pulled up in Punchestown in April after a giddy start, until November 7th when he made his season debut in Navan. Porter led the race from the very start, and it looked unlikely that his opposition were going to catch him, until he took a fall on the second last hurdle but thankfully all is good.
This afternoon, he became the first horse since Big Buck's to retain his title at the Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle in Cheltenham.
When trainer Gavin Cromwell was asked what Flooring Porter’s success meant to him and his team in Danestown he replied:
‘’For a horse to be bought as an unbroken 3-year-old to go on and win a Grade One race in Cheltenham, it’s unbelievable for us really. It’s a success story you don’t hear too often.’’
Everyone’s a winner when it comes to Flooring Porter and his accomplishments are a first for many people involved with him. He won jockey Johnathan Moore and breeder Sean Murphy their first ever Grade One races, Danny Mullins his first ever winner at Cheltenham and of course. He has given the syndicate and their friends and families plenty to celebrate as well.
Gavin Cromwell's Cheltenham winners
A word that keeps coming up when speaking about Flooring Porter is "unbelievable", and that’s exactly what this success story is.
SEE ALSO: Galway Jockey Hailed For Sportsmanship During Cheltenham Enquiry
