'I’m almost 63. I feel like I’m 23 and want to do more' - Michael O'Hagan on new challenges and old experiences

Let’s dive into your background – where did your interest in racing/bloodstock spring from? 

My personal interest in racing came via my father, Pat O’Hagan, a veterinary surgeon in Dundalk. Dad was a general practitioner with a practice spanning both sides of the border with Northern Ireland. He was passionate about horses and we were lucky enough to always have horses at home on the farm. 

He was veterinary surgeon to Dundalk racecourse for 41 years and for many of those he was a shareholder in the track. I grew up spending many afternoons with him as he drove around the track behind the runners. They were magical days. Our annual treat was to go to Fairyhouse for the Irish Grand National. 

I competed at all levels of ponies, then horses and even rode in a few point-to-points. Dad was also vet at what was the Ballsbridge Sales at the Royal Dublin Society and for a time at the then new Goffs complex in County Kildare, which was the brainchild of the late great Jonathan Irwin. 

A lesser known side of my love of horses came genetically via my mother Oonagh’s family tree. Her grandfather's brother was Freddie McCabe, who on Wednesday, June 5, 1907 saddled Orby to become the first ever Irish-trained winner of the Epsom Derby. He went on to become the first horse to do the Epsom-Irish Derby double. 

Orby’s owner was ‘Boss’ Croker, a legendary and somewhat controversial Irish American political figure. Freddie McCabe lived in Glencairn House, outside Dublin, which is now the residence of the British Ambassador to Ireland. He was also responsible for the establishment of what is today The Irish Field, and was also the founder of Mallow racecourse, now known as Cork. 

Tell us about your earlier career, in France, Ireland and the United States . . .

In the summer before my final year in secondary school, and with thanks to the late Dr Michael Osborne, I travelled to Normandy to work on Comte Roland de Chambure’s beautiful Haras d’Etreham, near Bayeux. Based at Haras de Victot, a farm leased by the Comte due to an outbreak of CEM in France at the time, I was involved in prepping yearlings for the Deauville sales. 

Brendan Hayes, formerly of Knocktoran Stud in Limerick, was the manager there at the time. I went back to Ireland for my final year of school and then straight back to France for my second spell at Etreham. Stallions such as Lyphard, Riverman, Luthier and Caro were all standing at Etreham during those years, I worked the sales in Deauville and paid my first ever visit to Tattersalls in Newmarket. That was the late 1970s. 

Haras d'Etreham: O'Hagan had three enjoyable stints thereCredit: Haras d'Etreham

Having been accepted for the stud management training course at the Irish National Stud, I returned to Ireland for the following stud season. There I met and made lifelong friends, many of whom have gone on to rise to the top of their game right across the world – James Keogh (Kentucky), Con Marnane (Bansha), Ciaran Conroy (Glenvale), Tom Lynch (Coolmore), David Sullivan (Airlie), Niall Brennan (Florida) to mention but a few. We were all members of the Class of ’81. Finishing up at Tully, I returned for what would be my final spell at Etreham. I was so privileged to have had Dr Osborne, the Comte and Brendan Hayes as my guardian angels in getting me totally immersed into this incredible industry.

I then went to work as assistant to another legend, Peter Kavanagh at Kildangan Stud, which at the time was owned by Mr Roderic More-O Ferrall. It was such a beautiful, natural farm and home to Bold Lad, among others. 

After Kildangan, like so many other Irish folk, I took off to Lexington, Kentucky. Working at a small farm called Domino, just off Newtown Pike, I spent just over a year there. Again, Dr Osborne, who had relocated to North Ridge Farm, was a huge influence for so very many Irish who had based themselves in Lexington. 

We had some fantastic times there living on very little. The sense of community was palpable. The Lexington Irish football team was a highlight and of course the coach was Dr O! My time there introduced me to Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton sales, which were just so enormous compared to any European companies. 

While in Lexington, I received a handwritten letter from a leading stud owner in Ireland asking me to come home to discuss taking on the management of his farm – there were of course no emails or mobile phones in those days. So I bummed a lift back from Cincinnati to Dublin on one of those old Aer Turas horse planes.

I borrowed my mum's car in Dundalk and went to meet the owner in question. I was 21. We discussed everything and I asked if I could think about it for 48 hours. En route home to Dundalk that evening I stopped in Dublin to meet my brother for supper. As I parked the car in Dawson Street, I bumped into an old friend who asked me what I was up to. I explained, Lexington, the job offer etc. They said, 'Why not go to Coolmore? They are building a new farm', and so on. When I got home that night, my mum told me that my friend had called to say I had to be at Coolmore the next day at 3pm. I was due to catch that lift back to Lexington with the horse plane 48 hours later. Plus I had to decide about the gentleman’s offer to run his farm too. 

I didn’t go to Coolmore as requested the next day but the telephone rang around 3:15pm. A young lady, Louise [Holohan], introduced herself as a secretary at Coolmore and was I coming to meet them? Mr Bob Lanigan and Mr Christy Grassick were waiting. To those who don’t know, Dundalk to Coolmore in those days was almost four hours. So I borrowed poor mum’s car and took off for Tipperary and met them at around 7pm in the old offices behind Coolmore House. The rest is history.

My time at Coolmore taught me so many things, including in order to stand out from the crowd you should do the most ordinary things extraordinarily well. Good wasn’t good enough. Excellence is the base line, so always push harder. This ethos, driven by Mr John Magnier and supported by his wife Sue, was coupled by the expert eye of Dr Vincent O’Brien. Backed by Robert Sangster and others over the years, all this drove Coolmore to their rightful place as one of the world's thoroughbred powerhouses. 

Coolmore: O'Hagan learned plenty thereCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The stallion roster there was incredible. Soon after my arrival a little horse walked in and changed the face of Coolmore. Sadler's Wells was a legend. He will go down in history as one of the greats. My time there exposed me to handling clients, working the breeding shed, working with some fantastic people and paying attention to detail. All of which still stands to me as I launched into the next chapter. 

Then came the step up to being CEO at both the ITBA and ITM . . .

When I joined the ITBA, I'd been previously exposed to the organisation throughout my career at various points, ending up as chairman of the Southern Region for a period. So when I walked in to take the position of regional coordinator, I already knew the territory. Working alongside two fabulous ladies in Paula O’Neill and Angela Brown, we worked so very hard to engage with and support breeders at all levels. 

At the time, the association was slightly Kildare-centric. So I began a campaign of encouraging regional committees to become more active and engaged. Parallel to this, I had morphed into the role of CEO at the organisation. With the help of various chairmen and women, along with so many terrific breeders from across the country, the association became stronger and stronger. We engaged with government at the highest level and with numerous government departments. We also had to travel to Europe on a few occasions to fight the case for the thoroughbred industry there. 

While there, and with the help of many, the Annual ITBA Awards were catapulted to a higher level of visibility, bringing government involvement and outside sponsorship into the mix. The ITBA Expo was born and, probably the most incredible of all, the first ever pre-Cheltenham Festival preview took place in the Grand Hotel, Fermoy, owned by Gerry O’Neill, whose brother just happened to be Jonjo. Joe Hernon, of Castlehyde Stud fame, was the brains behind that event, with more than 600 people turning up on the first evening. Given that the venue held only 350, that proved to be a challenge . . . 

Cheltenham Festival previews are now two a penny but the first one, at the Grand Hotel, Fermoy, had to pack 600 people into a venue that held 350Credit: Ben Hutton

The transition into Irish Thoroughbred Marketing was an exciting time. I was loaned by the then chairman of the ITBA, the wonderful Sir Edmund Loder Bt, to ITM for a six-month secondment. In football parlance, I guess that I was a free transfer. For those six months I looked after both the ITBA and was second in command at ITM to another legend and lifelong friend, Dick O’Sullivan. 

Dick was, and is, a cute Kerryman. Having worked for Denis Brosnan’s empire that is the Kerry Group, Denis as chairman of the then Irish Horseracing Authority and latterly Horse Racing Ireland knew exactly what was needed to escalate ITM to the forefront of the Irish thoroughbred industry. 

Experience equals Dick, while energy equals Michael and off we went. The first project was to form a new team built on a wide variety of skills. A young Joey Cullen was our resident racing encyclopaedia, Nicola Kent ditto for breeding, Nicky Sweetman, organisational skills, Isobel O’Donovan, people skills, and Shona as our administrator. Caroline Gray looked after the day-to-day finance, while the supremo, Margaret Davin, kept a watchful eye on budgets. 

ITM worked hard to establish itself as the premier thoroughbred marketing organisation in the world. We were aggressive and fearless. We were omnipresent and we pushed the boundaries all the time. The answer was always ‘yes’ . . . now what was the question?! We all knew that in marketing especially the skill lay in trying to identify the next big fish versus ending up with a tyre kicker. The person who taught us the difference was Dick. That was his skill. I'm sure over the years he knew that we, or more likely I, had backed the wrong person. Sometimes he'd let me crash and burn. I now understand why. Unless I caught the odd bloody nose every now and then, I'd never learn how to spot the difference myself. I still get the odd bloody nose.

The team evolved over the years but the premise for our activities and initiatives was always the same. Get into a room, thrash out ideas and make a plan. Most importantly, always be aware that not all plans work. Having earned the respect and support of the finance department, we became fierce in our activities. 

By a chance encounter in my early days, with the then Irish Ambassador to Singapore, Brendan Lyons, we began to explore using already available existing resources. We worked through a network of Irish embassies, overseas trade board offices and tourism offices dotted around the world. Suddenly we didn’t have one office in Ireland, we had 137 around the world, all working for us. 

This opened doors. It also led us to developing a very close working relationship with a number of government departments, officials and ministers. This in turn led to the door of our Taoiseach and our President, both of who were incredibly supportive of what we did and took us with them on numerous overseas trade missions. To those old enough to remember the TV show Yes Minister, you should always remember that Sir Humphrey is, without doubt, the most important man in the room . . .

Yes Minister - left no doubt as to the most important man in the room Credit: BBC

After almost 12 years with ITM and having been appointed a communications and international affairs director at HRI, I stepped down and started to do some private consultancy with, among others, Connolly’s Red Mills. As a multigenerational business that started so many years ago in a red feed mill in Goresbridge to what is today a multimillion international brand, it was a joy to be involved in a tiny way with such a wonderful team. It was led at that time by Joe Connolly, who even though he has now retired and handed the reins to his son, Gareth, is busier than ever. 

And your most recent role with Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai, what did that involve? 

When Mr Malih Al Basti approached me in 2014, I wasn’t sure what to do. I had already known Malih for many years, and it was a pleasure to work for and with him. 

For the last nine and a half years I have travelled around the globe many times for Malih. Primarily setting up sponsorships and branding opportunities for Al Basti Equiworld, representing him at various business meetings or events, buying and selling his thoroughbreds and basically being there when he couldn’t, wherever ‘there’ was.

In that time, and with Malih's incredible support, we built up the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai brand into what is almost a household name, certainly within the worldwide thoroughbred community. I guess my speciality was spotting opportunities and convincing Malih to allow me to do them! 

Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai has become a well-known sponsor of races Credit: Mark Cranham

This role involved a considerable amount of travel and gave me the opportunity to increase my connections around the world. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Malih, but as his requirements reduced, I began to consider another challenge. Hence MOH Consultancy was born. 

Moving on to your own business, MOH Consultancy, what’s the thinking behind it and the plan? 

The thinking behind it is really quite simple. I've had the most incredible career, I’m almost 63. I feel like I’m 23 and want to do more. So I'm using my past to fuel my future. I want to bring my expertise and experiences to a variety of companies and individuals across the globe. 

I launched as MOH Consultancy about two weeks ago and have already eight people talking to me about an incredible variety of projects. Some marketing. Some branding. Some business to business. I'm talking to entities in the Middle East, the USA, UK and Ireland. Their lights won’t all turn green. There will be plenty of red lights. 

While obviously looking to the wider global thoroughbred community as a core business, there are so many opportunities sitting perhaps just outside the industry. I want to hunt a few of them down and perhaps convince them to see the world through a fresh set of eyes. 

What were the key factors in choosing to be based in Newmarket? 

A number of reasons. I initially moved here for personal reasons, plus it was where Malih had all his horses and major sponsorships. So it made sense. 

With no disrespect to Ireland, I have found there are so many more opportunities in the UK. Sheer number of people gives it the edge. Plus the amount for foreign investment in the British thoroughbred sector is considerable. So I guess the simple answer is more opportunities. 

Favourite racehorse past or present – can you tell us yours?

I feel obliged to say Orby, but it has to be Sea The Stars, with Mick Kinane doing what he was a master at doing. Brilliant.

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