Geelong Cup hero Amade worth a very long wait for Eamonn McEvoy

Eamonn McEvoy would be permitted to have forgotten all about Amade, a horse he produced more than nine years ago and whose nomadic career had seen him drop right off the radar out in Australia.

The general manager of Naas racecourse, who retains a live interest in breeding after a long career in the stud world, was actually logged in live at 6am last Wednesday morning as his old friend came in from the cold to cause a 30-1 upset in the Geelong Cup.

The longstanding prize is a qualifier for the Melbourne Cup, providing three different winners this century, although trainer Phillip Stokes and an ownership group headed up by OTI Racing are eyeing up next Saturday's Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on the final day of the Spring Carnival, having decided against the Flemington showpiece.

McEvoy was pleasantly surprised, having followed the son of Casamento since he was sold for €80,000 at Goffs as a short yearling. 

His career included five wins all around France and two more on the all-weather in Britain for Alessandro Botti, before gaining a narrow verdict in the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational in the United States in June 2019.

Between that day and this, Amade had registered just one other victory at Flemington, with a few hard-luck stories not to mention a considerable amount of time on the sidelines.

"He went to Australia when I think he was six and he got injured, which was an awful shame as he was just coming off his Grade 2 win in the States," says McEvoy. 

"I was getting a bit excited as I think he could have been a really good Cup horse down there.

"When I found out where he went, I contacted Phillip Stokes’ racing office and they were great. They send me the update videos, which are brilliant. He’s had his ups and downs, he’s been an awful starter and a few other things, so what a training performance by them to get him back and winning again. He’s still a Cup horse!"

Before taking the helm at Naas in 2019, McEvoy had been the racing and stud manager for Rick Barnes’s Grangecon Stud and had worked all around the world in bloodstock.

It was a bit of old soaked-up information that led him to purchase Sheba Five, an American-bred mare who had raced a few times without much luck for Noel Meade, for 26,000gns through Ringfort Stud at Tattersalls in 2010.

She was in foal on her first cover to Mastercraftsman and happened to be carrying Nakuti, the future Group 3 Atalanta Stakes winner and dam of Andrew Stone’s equally smart filly Heredia. 

"One of the critiques that people have always brought up about the mare is she’s by a bit of an obscure stallion in Five Star Day, but I loved Mr Prospector in a broodmare line and was a huge fan of Carson City as a broodmare sire," says McEvoy.

"I remember I was out in Kentucky and did one season in Lane’s End. I remember the guys there used to talk about Mr Prospector a lot, a few of the guys had a share in Carson City. It was just those conversations, so I used to follow him.

"She was a really pretty mare and came in foal to Mastercraftsman with his first crop. He was a top-class racehorse and she’s from a pretty good family. 

"I was happy to take a chance but a few times now people have said to me, 'But she’s a Five Star Day mare' so I like to correct them and say she’s a Group-producing Five Star Day mare!

"If she was a Carson City mare I never would have been able to afford her; you have to make allowances on a small budget."

Eamonn McEvoy (left) with Rory Mahon on racecourse duty at Naas Credit: Caroline Norris

McEvoy still has Sheba Five, aged 17, who lives at the family home in coastal County Louth along with her daughter, Doris Bleasdale (by Intikhab), whose first foal Callianassa has been running this year for Brian Ellison. They foal at Baroda Stud and he uses either that operation or Ringfort to consign them.

"Sheba Five has an Invincible Army filly at foot, he was a sire I liked and I took a chance on him," he reveals. "She tends to go over her due date so I didn’t cover her this year as it was getting a bit late."

Although now immersed in life at a proactive and award-winning racecourse, Amade’s story has provided McEvoy with a stimulating diversion.

"I used to manage stud farms, obviously I now manage the racecourse but I’m just very much into breeding," he says.

"It’s a tricky business. You don’t know what’s coming out, whereas if you buy a foal you can at least see what you’re getting. But it’s very enjoyable when you breed something that goes and wins something like that. Its just amazing that a near-ten-year-old can add to your mare’s profile."

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