We were going to say we’ve never seen anything quite like this before, but then we’d be lying, because horse owner and Limerick man Josh Sheahan now has a reputation when it comes to pre-race interviews.
Josh Sheahan burst to fame with two of the most passionate interviews the horse racing world had ever seen when his horse, Top Of The Town was self proclaimed as a “certainty”, before his last race in Limerick.
Top Of The Town disappointed, he didn’t live up to his billing. The owner’s child-like excitement and anticipation, which lit up a Limerick parade ring, was dampened, but his post-race heartbreak was still box-office.
The Askeaton crew were already planning an ambitious assault on the Galway festival, and after weeks of eager anticipation, Sheahan returned to the parade ring and the At The Races cameras, this time with an increased following of 64 who made the journey to Ballybrit by bus.
The boisterous boys were back to their bellowing best in the Galway parade ring, as Sheahan and his comrades’ pre-race histrionics would have you believe that they had watched their horse win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
“If this horse wins, anywhere in the world, you’ll never see the likes of this,” roared the owner.
They hadn’t won a race, but what they had won was the hearts of the Galway crowd and the craic, it looked mighty.
The publican’s emotional attachment to his beloved animal even had him “sleeping with the horse last night for two hours, and rubbing his belly,” but even these scientific measures couldn’t change the fortunes of the Charles Byrnes trained horse.
The horse, named after Sheahan’s Limerick pub was priced at 20-1 for the four-year-old handicap chase, which seemed generous, but as the race transpired, turned out to be typically accurate from the bookies.
You can be guaranteed that the Limerick lads were all over them odds, though, and don’t think for a moment that their horse’s struggles brought them down.
The Top Of The Town team are in lively form @Galway_Races… 😂 pic.twitter.com/ScKQDFkZhO
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 4, 2017
The best supported horse of the week so far turned out to be one of it’s biggest stragglers, finishing 15th out of 17 finishers in the 6:15 event.
We have a sneaky suspicion that the lads still had the craic, though.
Fair play to them, because, in a manner truly reminiscent of the late great Oliver Brady, they are bringing the magic back to the sport of kings.
I'm in tears with these lads
— Bren (@BrendanDRyan) August 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/ste_wu10/status/893544255293186048
