McNamara Family Hope Raw Ability Can Advertise Dual-Purpose Nature To Stable

When you think of trainer Eric McNamara, winners at some of Ireland's major jumps meetings spring to mind. 

However, there has been a notable diversification at the County Limerick yard in recent times, largely driven by the input of his children Conor and Kate. Recent Flat maiden winner Raw Ability (Ire) is a perfect example of that change. 

The cleverly-named daughter of Belardo (Ire) made an impressive start to her career when winning at Gowran Park at odds of 40-1 and she features among some of the choice lots at the Goffs London Sale on Monday. 

More importantly for the McNamara family, Raw Ability signifies a promising first step in a new direction for a stable eager to become more of a force over both codes. 

McNamara said, “We're having a good run. My son Conor and daughter Kate are back with me full-time. It's very much a family-run business now. Things have been going really well. We had 17 winners over jumps and five Flat winners as well last year. We're hoping to get more involved in the Flat. 

“We got two three-year-olds at the start of the year. Raw Ability was the first one that we ran and she did it nicely at Gowran Park. The other is a Buratino (Ire) called Future Cutlet (Ire) who finished fifth first-time out at Limerick. They are the two Flat horses that we have and they have both done us proud so onwards and upwards hopefully.”

Asked if the diversification has stemmed from Conor and Kate's increased involvement in the stable, McNamara replied, “Absolutely. And it's actually something I've regretted not doing for many years now. I have always regretted not getting involved in the Flat sooner. We are going to try and have a few more Flat horses for next summer and plan on buying maybe a half a dozen yearlings this autumn. We haven't done that in the past but, instead of buying a half dozen store horses, we might try and buy a few for the Flat instead.”

But McNamara is not keen on taking any of the credit for Raw Ability, instead pointing to Conor as being worthy of all the praise. 

A talented rider in his own right, Conor has partnered many big winners and enjoyed productive spells based with Willie Mullins and more recently Gavin Cromwell. 

Victory aboard ex-Mullins inmate Real Steel (Fr) (Loup Breton {Ire}) for his Dad in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown will go down as one of his career highlights and he has been based back at home for the best part of a year now. 

The 24-year-old said, “I was based in County Meath for five years and, between one thing and another, things dried up a bit. I remember when I started off with Gavin, there was only myself, Ger Fox and Breen Kane riding out there. I know that Gavin has blossomed as a trainer but he could have four or five conditionals now as well as professionals like Keith Donoghoe and Sean Flanagan so it's gone very competitive. 

“I suppose I am concentrating a bit more on helping Dad with the training these days. Dad has plenty of horses of his own and I brought plenty of clients of my own here when I came back. We've one or two clients involved in Raw Ability and they are interested in getting involved in a few more Flat horses so we'll see how Monday goes.”

Shane Foley was the man for the job and, following that debut win, McNamara says he is hopeful that Raw Ability can go some way to advertising the dual-purpose nature of the stable and provide her investors with some funds to reinvest in the autumn yearling sale markets. 

He explained, “It didn't come out of the blue on debut and, to be fair, a few lads have been a big help to me in getting her ready. Leigh Roche, David Egan and Chris Hayes have ridden work for me when I take them away and have been a huge help. As it transpired, none of those lads were available for her debut but we were keen to get a good lad up and were delighted that Shane Foley was able to ride.

“With the lads involved in this filly, if she was to sell well on Monday it would give everyone the opportunity to go back and reinvest. I've sold one or two horses on the Flat myself down through the years and there is a great market out there. If we could get involved in a few more of those types and keep building and attracting a higher calibre of horse, it would be lovely.”