At our race meeting on Wednesday 27th November, we are delighted to unveil the new ‘McGoldrick’s’ branded bar, named in honour of Wetherby course-specialist Mister McGoldrick, who passed away earlier this year. The bar carries his name, colours, racing information and images and we are delighted to be joined by his many racing connections to mark his achievements and raise a glass. The bar is an existing bar in the ground floor of the newest Millennium West Grandstand.
To racing enthusiasts, particularly those who frequent Wetherby, Mister McGoldrick was a racing icon – a storied steeplechaser who was the epitome of Yorkshire grit and determination!
To heart patients, Mr McGoldrick was the Leeds-based surgeon whose brilliance is the reason they are still alive. The two were forever linked by Richard Longley, a Yorkshireman who chose to buy a racehorse following major cardiac surgery and name it after the Doctor who gave him a new lease of life.
This in itself is a wonderful tale, but if you throw in the fact that the horse was bred by and purchased from a Butcher in Knaresborough, was trained by Sue Smith, the wife of retired show-jumper Harvey Smith in Bingley, and he went on to win some of steeplechasing’s premier races, after coming back from serious injury, you have a unique rags to riches story. Mister McGoldrick achieved moderate success on the flat before being sent to Sue for training over fences. No one had any clue that he would go on to win a record eight races at Wetherby, finish a gallant third in the prestigious Queen Mother Champion Chase or as a 66/1 outsider, win the Racing Post Plate at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival, by 13 lengths after quite simply galloping the rest of the field into the ground!
Mister McGoldrick’s career spanned 11 years, during which he won £372,000. His last race was at Wetherby in November 2011 and such was his popularity that he returned to Wetherby on Boxing Day that same year, to mark his official retirement, where he cantered past packed grandstands to great applause and a standing ovation.
In the years after racing, Mister McGoldrick became an equine ambassador for New Beginnings, who retrain and rehome ex-racehorses, giving them a new life past the post. He spent many days representing New Beginnings at Racecourses and at equestrian events around the county.
Mister McGoldrick passed away peacefully in the care of New Beginnings in July 2024 at the grand old age of 27. His story is the finest example of what National Hunt Racing stands for and Wetherby are proud to be able to honour him today and keep his story alive for future racing generations. McGoldrick’s Bar is located on the ground floor of the Millennium West Grandstand. The bar carries his name and his colours and is open today, so please go and raise a glass to him. RIP Mac. Some of this text is taken from an article written by the late Tom Richmond, for the Yorkshire Post . He would be chuffed!
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