Carl O’Callaghan goes from homeless to hopeful
Royal Ascot conjures up images of a world removed from the one that bustles past its perimeters.
The real one, where the outcome of a horse race might not be of paramount importance and men walking around in attire that was considered outdated 50 years ago looks just plain stuffy to some. Carl O’Callaghan seems the type who is probably more comfortable in a baseball cap and jeans but wearing a top hat and a morning suit is just one more experience for a man who has packed plenty into his first 34 years.
Just 12 months into his career as a trainer he has already won a $2million race with a horse who was close to being a cripple and who lives on a diet that would seem to give him little chance of galloping in a straight line, much less winning one of the major prizes at the royal meeting. But O’Callaghan has spent much of his life battling odds greater than that from the days as a teenager when he was living rough on the streets of Brooklyn.
Irishmen have been seeking their fortune in the New World for centuries and when O’Callaghan left home in Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, as a 16-year-old it was with dreams of a career in racing, believing that America held the best chance. “I started out in New York and was at Belmont,” he explained. “It was tough at the time; I was young, I missed home, missed holidays, birthdays. I hung in there – a little bit depressed at some points – I left the racetrack and was living on the streets of Brooklyn.”
All the while he kept his situation a secret from his parents, Seamus and Patricia back in Ireland. “I never really told my parents about it. They don’t really know about it even now,” he confided. “I would get a phone card, call home and tell them ‘everything’s grand’.”
The starkness of his “grand” existence, in a city where people can be swallowed up as if the sidewalks have turned to quicksand, did not faze O’Callaghan and he found kinship among the homeless community who took him under their wing. “I just stayed under a bridge in a box, washing cars to make some money. Those guys, they know how to find food, especially at the back of restaurants. You’d be surprised what people throw out. I met one guy named Roger who helped me. He passed away, they notified me, not too long ago. And there was another couple that had lost their house and they were very nice to me.”
However, the real help had to come from within. “I woke up one morning with my guitar, my two dogs were starving and I struggled back into Belmont. I knocked on John Kimmel’s door and he gave me a job. I stayed with him for seven years and rode some beautiful horses. At that time Todd Pletcher was just getting started and I jumped ship and set out with Todd for eight or nine years and this past year I’ve been on my own.”
Based in California, O’Callaghan started with just five horses, now close to 50, including Kinsale King, a horse whose career was in terminal decline because of hoof injuries that had thwarted the best efforts of two other trainers. O’Callaghan decided to switch the horse to turf in an attempt to protect his fragile hooves and found himself with a world-class sprinter, winning four races in succession, culminating with a victory in the Group One Golden Shaheen on Dubai World Cup night that was a cue for manic celebrations from the trainer which he described as his “Irish river dance”.
“That’s how I felt inside,” he explained. “Two million dollars, a Grade One, what more can you ask for?”
How about winning the Golden Jubilee Stakes on Saturday week? They reckon to pop 60,000 champagne corks at the meeting but Kinsale King sticks to a diet that includes Guinness and eggs. The trainer believes in it, for himself as well, and the horse has yet to complain. “It’s just an old myth that it’s good for them, puts a shine on their coat,” O’Callaghan said. “Guinness has got a lot of yeast in it and it just helps a horse eat.”
The horse may not go wanting but O’Callaghan is still hungry for success. “I’m always confident – that’s how I live my life, but it’s a tough race and these things are never easy. They’re not going to sign you a cheque with your name on it. I think he’s got a good chance. He’s got a lot of heart, loves to run and I think that’s important to have in a horse.
“He’s a legit horse - he’s proven that already – he’s got to take to the turf here and he’s got to take to the straight line. But one thing’s for sure, he’s going to run and he’s going to run hard.
“If he won I’d like to take him back to Ireland for a couple of days, drink a few Guinnesses with, him and come back for the July Cup.”
The past may be another country and those streets of Brooklyn could be on another planet, except that O’Callaghan refuses to forget because it is what has made him and why he devotes time and money to aiding homeless charities. “I never regret anything I’ve done. It’s a choice I made, I did it and survived,” he said.
Royal Ascot may have a stuffy image to some, but the story of Carl O’Callaghan is the stuff of dreams.
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