Meet Val O’Connell, Field Master, Scarteen Black and Tans. / Catherine Power photo
Val O’Connell’s is possibly one of the best known faces in organised Irish racing through his role in the Turf Club (now the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board). Val serves as chief inspector of courses and clerk of the course for half a dozen southern meetings. Perhaps what is less well known is that Val is one the keenest hunting men in these islands.
He has been Field Master of the famed Scarteen Hounds in Co Limerick for almost twenty seasons. I am among those who have attempted to follow him across the country on his grey, and know what a formidable horseman he is. As Field Master, Val is following in the footsteps of the legendary PP Hogan who held the role for many years when Thady Ryan carried the horn. Longtime Scarteen whipper-in Tommy O’Dwyer became young Val’s mentor. “Give the hounds a chance, and never jump into a field until hounds have left it,” was Tommy’s advice, and Val follows it to the letter in his role as Field Master.
Growing up in Boher, Co Limerick, the home farm was steeped in horses and hunting. His father always kept a very smart gig and ensured there were plenty of good ponies for his boys to ride. Val recalls his first proper pony, Smokey, “a cracking pony that my father got out of Castleisland. Aged about ten I remember a day when we hunted all the way to Bilboa (near Cappamore). When we finished I hadn’t a clue where we were but luckily I remembered a forge where we used to get Smokey shod, so I could find my way home which was a ten-mile hack to arrive well after dark.”
Leading the field at speed / Catherine Power photo
Horses were always going to be his career. He was apprenticed to National Hunt trainer James Murphy in Midleton, Co Cork, where he rode several winners, his first being Vaguely True in a maiden hurdle in Limerick. Midleton was good to Val in many ways as it was there he met his wife-to-be, Gobnett (Horgan).
He then went to the north of England to Ken Oliver where John Joe O’Neill was first jockey. In due course Gobnett and Val married and returned to racing in Ireland. It was with Andrew McNamara (father of racing commentator Andy) that he formed a connection with Yer Man who took him round Aintree on three occasions, being third in the Grand National in 1983 to winner Corbeire ridden by Ben De Hann.
He retired as a result of a bad fall in Clonmel, and he and Gobnett set up a B&B specialising in riding holidays. It was then he was able to return to the hunting field on a former race horse of Lady Earles called Bob. Thoroughbreds always make the most exciting hunters, and Bob was no exception as he would buck solidly for at least five minutes once mounted. But once these preliminaries were over, Bob was foot perfect.
Racing, however, was always in Val’s blood, and in due course the job of assistant course inspector became vacant. He took up office with Bill McLernon as boss and mentor. He was able to hunt on non-racing day, particularly midweek. On the retirement of Eamonn Gleeson as Field Master at Scarteen, Val and James Riordan took over with Chris Ryan carrying the horn.
Leading over the ditch and oto the bank at Cullen / Catherine Power photo
Val recalls some exciting days, particularly a day from Cullen where hounds found in Riordan’s Bog. Running hard for Ballinacree and closely tracking Chris on the grey Sprite, they crossed some fantastic country at speed. There was a stellar line up of jockeys in the field that day: young Ruby Walsh, Paul Carbery, Enda Bolger, all full of running with the Olympian, and Michael Ryan thrown in for good measure. A day like this would test the mettle of even the best Field Master but Val was not found wanting.
He has been hunting for over fifty seasons and while he has seen plenty of changes he is optimistic about the future if a couple of golden rules are followed: “respect the huntsman and hounds and above all acknowledge the farmer and landowner.”
Reflecting on perhaps his greatest and most memorable days he recalled a trip (with this author) to the Ward Union Stag Hounds when, from a meet at Fairyhouse, hounds finished at Summerhill a distance not much short of twenty miles. But for a sheer adrenalin-fuelled day, he recalls hunting in Leicestershire before the hunting ban, when Scarteen travelled with hounds and forty riders to experience the thrill of jumping hedges at speed. This was organised by Scarteen Joint-Master Roger Dungworth who was contemporaneously Joint-Master of the Cottesmore (UK).
As the day progressed, after second horses, with hounds flying, a small group got away with hounds and for a couple of miles had High Leicestershire to themselves. Away with hounds they saw a closed gate ahead. A sporting famer could be seen sprinting to open it, but before he could reach it three lads had taken it in their stride and were gone. All they could hear as they disappeared towards the horizon was “Mad ####ing Irishmen.” Well, this elite group consisted of Val, Enda Bolger and Shane Breen, possibly the three great cross country riders of their generation.
Leaping off a big bank at Emly / Catherine Power photo
“Chris Ryan on Sprite was certainly the most daring and exciting rider I have seen,” recalled Val. “I saw him take on some spectacular fences with sheep wire and other hazards thrown in.” As for advice for the future of hunting, “Yes, prepare and repair.” Val’s current grey, while less exciting than the ex-racehorses of the past, has loads of quality, can gallop like a Thoroughbred, and has never let him down.
Finally, when asked how he would compare the thrill of hunting compared to steeplechasing, Val said, “While hunting at top level is fantastic, nothing can compare with the Grand National in Aintree. It is the high point of any jockey’s life; there is just nothing to compare it with.”
Posted July 3, 2020
This article previously appeared in The Irish Field and is republished with permission.