Limerick-based Michael Hourigan, who trained top steeplechasers Dorans Pride and Beef Or Salmon, has announced his retirement after over 50 years of holding a license.
“It’s time. I’ve been working with horses since I was 14 years old, and I am 77 now. Now is the right time and I’m happy I’m going out on my own terms, I’m not being pushed out,” he said on Monday.
Hourigan was one of the leading trainers in Ireland during the 1990s and 2000s, when Dorans Pride catapulted him to prominence through his 1995 Stayers Hurdle success under Shane Broderick at the Cheltenham Festival.
Dorans Pride went on to become one of the best chasers of his generation, as did Beef Or Salmon, who scored 10 times at the top level over fences.
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Those successes included a hat-trick of wins in the Irish Gold Cup, and he routed the triple-Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate at Leopardstown in the Lexus Chase during Christmas 2004.
“Dorans Pride and Beef Or Salmon would be the highlight, but there were plenty of good horses in between too. I really couldn’t pick between them for the best moment,” Hourigan added.
Other Grade One winners through his hands included Hi Cloy.
Perhaps the most poignant day of his career, however, came at Cheltenham in 2003 when Beef Or Salmon fell in the Gold Cup and Dorans Pride was killed in a fall in the following Foxhunters Chase.
A former jockey, Hourigan’s first winner as a trainer came through Ramrajya in 1979, while Rising Dust at Listowel last year was his final success.
