McAndrew and his syndicate enjoy dream year with Alphonse Le Grande

For Kildare man, Adrian McAndrew and his Bet Small Win Big syndicate, the journey into the horse-racing world has taken them to tremendous heights in 2024.

When the group acquired Alphonse Le Grande some two years ago, they suspected they might have a decent horse on their hands after he won on his first trip to Dundalk.

But little did they know that he would later string together three big victories in England, the latest coming only last month when apprentice jockey, Jamie Powell, another Kildare man, rode him to success in the Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket.

It was a stunning win, but one that was only confirmed just a fortnight ago when the syndicate won their appeal to overturn the British Horseracing Authority’s initial decision to disqualify the horse after ruling that Powell had overused the whip.

Indeed, the rider was cited for using his whip on 10 occasions, the exact number that would trigger disqualification.

But the independent appeals board found that the tenth connection was made inadvertently and could not constitute a strike, resulting in the reinstating of the horse as the winner of the race, which brought with it, a purse of close to £100,000.

It capped a superb year for Alphonse who had also chalked up victories in the Chester Plate and the Jenningsbet Festival Northumberland Vase in Newcastle ahead of last month’s trip to Newmarket.

“I suppose we’re after getting what everyone wants” smiled McAndrew. “We bought a relatively cheap horse and he’s excelled all year.

“The experience alone of going to the likes of Chester, Newcastle and Newmarket and winning, it’s just so hard to describe.

“We’re ordinary working men in a syndicate. It’s for small money and we’re just after hitting those heights where the bigger owners are all the time” he told The Kildare Nationalist.

McAndrew, prior to his move into horse ownership, enjoyed huge success in hurling, winning a string of senior county titles with Coill Dubh, including three-in-a-row between 1998 and 2000.

At inter-county degree, he enjoyed a good run with the Kildare hurlers, winning the All-Ireland Senior B Championship title in 2004, having also spent some time with the county footballers.

Yet, while he undoubtedly cherishes all the great memories he has from his GAA days, McAndrew insists success in horse racing, brings with it, a whole new brand of excitement.

“We’ve all played sports and played in finals, but there’s nothing that can get your heart beating more than a horse crossing the winning line if you have a part of it” he remarked.

2024 has offered the Prosperous man plenty of opportunity to savor such success, something he could only dream of as a young lad when he helped his father on stud farms, the likes of Hamwood in Dunboyne.

“Even though we didn’t grow up with horses, I would have had an interest in them” recalled McAndrew.

“My father would have worked on stud farms down through the years and you’d often be brought off on a Saturday to help out.

“He did a lot of work in Hamwood in Dunboyne, which would have been owned by the late great Frank Dunne.

“I have memories of Johnny Murtagh coming in to ride out there and you’d just be in awe of these guys.

“I was later working for a bunch of lads who owned a horse called Quevega and she won her first Mares’ Hurdle in Cheltenham.

“You were seeing the success they had, and you were thinking you’d love to someday have a horse good enough even just to run at Cheltenham.” 

Following his involvement with a number of horses who enjoyed some success, McAndrew, together with a group of like-minded friends, came together to form the Bet Small Win Big syndicate.

“We’re all from the locality, more or less, and we’re all involved in GAA clubs in one way or another, whether it’s ourselves or the kids. The likes of the Caraghs, the Coill Dubhs, the St. Kevin’s, the Allenwoods. We’re all within that circle.

“We go to Cheltenham most years in November, and we decided, if it was affordable, we’d throw a few quid in every week and maybe buy something cheap.

“About two years ago, Aubrey McMahon from Celbridge, picked up the phone one day to say he was in Newmarket and that there were a couple of horses there that might suit. Luckily enough we ended up with Alphonse Le Grande.

“The horse, himself, is not much to look at. He’s only as small little horse, but he’s very well bred.

“Willie McCreery, the great Kildare footballer, who had loads of success with Clane football and is now an unbelievable trainer, he actually raced the dam of Alphonse Le Grande.

“She ran at a very high level and she produced a good one in this fella. He’s by Sea The Stars, so, pedigree-wise, they don’t come much better than that, but that doesn’t always guarantee that they’ll run well.

“He came home and actually won a race in his first time up in Dundalk, so we thought he had a certain level of ability, not that we ever thought he’d be going to England and picking up three big valuable Saturday races.

“2023 was a very quiet year. For one reason or another, things just weren’t going right for him, but he certainly turned a corner this year” he said.

Indeed, Alphonse Le Grande turned heads with his exploits in Chester and Newcastle, before delivering his most impressive performance when pipping Manxman to the line at Newmarket – a victory that was only confirmed a month later after the syndicate, with the aid of Harry Stewart-Moore of Gardner Leader, successfully argued against the BHA’s move to disqualify the horse for overuse of the whip.

The success of their appeal also resulted in the reduction in the length of jockey Jamie Powell’s suspension from 28 days to 20.

“Jamie is the first apprentice to win the race, nevermind an Irish apprentice. It’s a massive stepping stone for him and his career” said McAndrew.

“Jamie works for Johnny Murtagh and he’s on the edge of the Curragh there. I know Johnny would be a Meath man, but he’s based in Kildare, so there’s a lot of Kildare success in the background here” he insisted.

Regarding the next step for Alphonse Le Grande, McAndrew said:

 “Trainer Tony Martin will have his opinion on that.

“You’d love to think he could step up again and go for those Class One handicaps next year. He seems to travel well and every time he goes to England he brings home some sort of silverware.

“Nobody really knows, and you’re only ever one call away from bad news, but whatever happens, we’ve had an unbelievable year in 2024.

“We’ve got to enjoy it, because this may never happen again. Everyone wants what we’ve experienced this year and if he never wins another race, he certainly doesn’t owe us anything” he said.