Mick McGonagle

Mick McGonagle

Article by Alan Trout

Mick McGonagle had already ridden a couple of winners in his native Ireland before coming to Britain and joining trainer David Arbuthnot, for whom he rode one winner on the Flat before turning his attention to jumping and recording 15 wins, including nine in one season.    

He rode his first winner in Britain aboard the three-year-old Love Legend in the Northfield Apprentice Selling Handicap at Windsor on July 11, 1988, taking the lead with two furlongs left to run and scoring by two and a half lengths. Among those behind him that day was Franny Norton, still seeking his first winner. 

Mick only had a few rides that season, and by the time he won his next race he was a conditional jockey with Simon Christian, who was to supply all bar two of his winners under National Hunt rules. 

The first of those came at Newbury on March 24, 1990, when Mayfair Minx had eight lengths to spare at the end of the Spring N.H. Flat Race (Division 2). It was the six-year-old’s first appearance on a racecourse. The following season she provided Mick with two of his three wins. 

However, the best  was yet to come, for in the winter of 1991 Mayfair Minx won good prizes at Warwick and Taunton, before Mick had his sixth win on her when defeating four rivals in the Kilfane Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at Ascot in February. 

Mick had nine winners during that 1991/92 season but only managed two the next. The second was at Hereford on May 12, 1993, when Avena had a comfortable victory in the Grunwick N.H. Flat Race, beating Prince Of Prey by ten lengths. That proved to be Mick’s final victory. He did not renew his licence the following season.  

Mick McGonagle’s British winners were, in chronological order:

1. Love Legend, Windsor, July 11, 1988

2. Mayfair Minx, Newbury, March 24, 1990

3. How Doudo, Hereford, March 6, 1991

4. Mayfair Minx, Devon & Exeter, May 6, 1991

5. Mayfair Minx, Warwick, May 18, 1991

6. Just A Wonder, Ludlow, October 18, 1991

7. Reve En Rose, Hereford, October 25, 1991

8. Mayfair Minx, Warwick, November 2, 1991

9. Reve En Rose, Taunton, November 14, 1991

10. La Princesse, Hereford, November 27, 1991

11. Mayfair Minx, Taunton, December 5, 1991

12. Swilly Express, Newton Abbot, January 3, 1992

13. Mayfair Minx, Ascot, February 5, 1992

14. La Princesse, Worcester, February 26, 1992

15. How Doudo, Chepstow, April 12, 1993

16. Avena, Hereford, May 12, 1993