Leading trainer at Wolverhampton last season is proving handler to follow in UK

HE’S largely unheralded in his own county, but Dave Loughnane is one of the rising stars of the cross-channel flat racing scene. John McIntyre charts the impressive progress of the Monivea native who saddled a Group Three winner last season.

HE’S only 33; has a trainer’s licence for less than five years; and there is little racing background in the family, but in 2020 Dave Loughnane saddled his first Group Three winner and ended the season as the leading trainer at Wolverhampton.

The Monivea native has emerged as one of the rising stars of the UK flat scene, turning out a total of 43 winners last season, many of whom were partnered by Rossa Ryan, who in a startling coincidence, was born barely a dozen miles from Loughnane in North Galway.

Not alone that, but his first introduction to a racing yard came as a teenager at the stables of Rossa’s father David, who continues to run his training operation in Ballinderry in the parish of Corofin.

It’s been a circuitous route for Loughnane in ending up running his own stables at Helshaw Grange in Shropshire as he had spent a couple of years doing carpentry with Kieran Flaherty in Monivea, before working for the Bank of America based in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Throw in five years in Australia which was initially supposed to be just one, Loughnane has certainly been undaunted in trying his hand at anything in experiencing life in many of its various forms.

Little though did he think when persuading a friend to buy a half-share in a pony with their confirmation money in the late nineties to hack around with on the family farm in Ballyskeagh, that it would eventually lead to a career in horse racing.

A son of Tony and Margaret Loughnane, the only real racing heritage in his background came from his grandfather Pete Monaghan from Lakeview, Caherlistrane who ran a training farm for work horses and Connemara ponies. Monaghan also dealt in point-to-pointers and did a bit of riding himself.

But growing up in Monivea and attending the local national school, Dave Loughnane was prepared to have a crack at most sports, notably hurling, football, soccer, rugby and boxing.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.