The story of legendary Mayo horseman George Henry Moore and Chester Cup champion Coranna
by Jim O'Connor
In a letter written by James Reilly, the last steward at Moore Hall, he recounts the final hours of the house on a February morning in 1923.
From the hill overlooking the garden, he watched the flames and clouds of sparks carried on the wind as the house was totally engulfed.
The letter, beautifully written, is a poetic description of the final few hours, before the mighty crash, with the roof falling down through the building, sealing its fate.
From the ashes of the ruin, many stories have arisen. Stories of Ghosts, Druids, Spanish Gold, and the lost library, all give rise to a pantheon of oral history and folklore, but perhaps the most enduring story is that of the racehorse Coranna.
This story has survived for many reasons, primarily because it is the story of the underdog winning against the odds, but it is what a portion of the winning prize was used for which lives in the memory of the local population to this day.
This month, May 6 to be exact, marked 180 years since Coranna won at the Chester Spring meeting.
George Henry Moore was one of the leading, if not the greatest, horsemen of his time.
Well educated and extensively travelled, he was the only man to have been awarded both the Irish and English Gold Whips.
At the height of his racing, the Blue-bird’s –eye jacket was a familiar sight to both Irish and English race goers. Moore and his racing brothers, John and Augustus, had an insatiable appetite for the sport.
Details on the racing escapades of the brothers are unclear at times, with many varying accounts, but enough remains to know racing mattered to them above all else, for a time.
While competing against other horses, the racing brothers were gambling against the turf itself; unfortunately, for two of the brothers, it ended tragically, by learning that the moment between motion and death was as thin as the rein they were holding.
Only George Henry survived to provide the county with one of the most enduring stories in the racing history from that era.
Before Coranna stole the limelight in local lore the stables at Moore Hall had enjoyed success with many fine horses.
The best of the steeplechasers was Anonymous, winner of the first steeplechase he started for at the Laraghbryan course near Maynooth in April 1841.
This win was followed by a skilled display of horsemanship from Moore at Tuam, where he beat a field of ten.
Anonymous also ran that year at the Castlebar races held over the ancient Breaffy course, close to the town, where he beat Economy.
Unfortunately, in 1843, Anonymous was fatally injured during a fall at Worcester. Not long after Moore lost another great chaser in the Don, who died at the King's County and Ormond races.
Following this setback, Moore turned away from steeple chasing.
Moore also enjoyed success with flat racers such as Wolfdog, Erin-go-bragh and Croaghpatrick, to name a few.
Croaghpatrick, a dark brown colt with white legs, redeemed more of the family's fortunes in 1860 by winning his first race at Howth.
Success returned to Moore Hall, and it became a focal point for breeding, training and rearing horses. The following year, he won the Goodwood Stewards Cup. With odds against him at 40/1, it is said Moore, Blake, and a Mr. Murphy won £20,000 between them.
Unlike George, Augustus continued with steeplechases and in 1845, he went to Liverpool to ride a horse called Mickey Free. He would never return.
During the race, he lost his balance and was thrown from his horse. The horse, Mickey Free, broke his back and had to be destroyed.
Augustus was carried off to the hospital, and he lingered for a few days following the fall, long enough for George to be at his bedside for two days and nights, when finally the spark of life left him.
He died, aged 28, from a fever as a result of the fall and was buried at Kiltoom on the 29th of March in the same grave as his brother John. John had died from a fall from a horse a few years earlier. He was 17.
This new tragedy must have been unimaginable for the Moores.
The tragedy must have weighed heavily too at the stables in Moore Hall - the empty stalls, two saddles gathering mould, stirrups dropping down like brass tears as George Henry reflected on the twice-unlearned lesson.
It must have been unbearable, especially since he, too, had also come close to meeting a similar end when riding Lord Waterford’s horse Milo in Cahir in 1843, where he was crushed by the horse.
George retreated from the world of racing, and yet again he rallied and found a new determination in the face of the realisation that the famine presented across the country and on his estate.
The financial strain on his estate was heavy, due to the famine, debt, gambling, and a reckless lifestyle that both he and Augustus led. They raced, gambled, hunted, duelled and lived with carefree abandon.
Their skilled horsemanship enamoured them and embedded them with aristocratic society, a social circle where money was all.
Despite remortgaging his estates, Moore and Moore Hall were in debt.
ENTER CORANNA
The inspiration for the turnaround lay in the plan to enter his horse Coranna for the Spring meeting at Chester, and bet on winning. He would, however, have to get the horse into better condition.
At the height of its racing history, Moore Hall and the stables were a well-established and respected equine centre.
Along with the stables close to the recently restored walled garden, at a separate yard to the west of the house, they had at least five horses, with accommodation for up to twelve.
A great body of lore exists around the training and preparation of Coranna, the journey to the race and the race itself. What was said and not said, even whispered to the horse, we can never really be sure.
As with many of the stories associated with the Moores and horse racing, it has an element of romance to it.
What is clear is the choice to use Drumnashinnagh Hill to train the horse paid off. By finishing runs uphill, it conditioned the horse for the effort needed to succeed at the Chester course, which favoured quick front running horses.
RACE DAY
The Chester Spring race meeting was held on Wednesday, May 6, 1846.
Racing on that day was for the Tradesman’s Plate of 200 Sovereigns, in specie, added to a Handicap Stakes of 25 Sovereigns each.
The course was 2¼ miles.
Second place was 50 Sovereigns out of the stakes. The winner was also to subscribe to the following year and contribute 25 sovereigns towards expenses.
Certain winners were to pay extra. One hundred and forty-two subscribed, fifty of whom declared and paid 5 sovereigns each. Value of the Stakes £1,940.
The Tradesman’s Plate was officially registered as the Chester Cup in 1884. In 1874, the race had been renamed the Chester Trades Cup; locals referred to it as the Chester Cup from that date onwards. At the time of this race, it was not called the Chester Cup.
In total, following some withdrawals from the field before the race, 31 horses started; certain runners did not come to the post on the day.
The late scratching of some caused a stir amongst the gentlemen and owners.
Odds for some on the field were as follows: 9/1 Miss Burns, 10/1 Best Bower, 11/1 Polish, 12/1 Sweetmeat, 14/1 Vol-au-Vent, 25/1 Magnet, 25/1 Vitula, 30/1 Glossy, 35/1 Lady Wildair, 40/1 Coranna, 66/1 Queen of Tyne, and 1000/10 Sir George.
Withdrawals aside, the draw for placing was awaited anxiously, the feeling being that with 31 horses on a narrow circular course, an inside placing in the front rank would be equal to at least 7lbs.
A start behind would render it impossible for a horse to get in front. The race was begun by Lord Chesterfield shouting “Go”, which caused a confused start for Lady Wildair; it is unclear why a flag was not used.
Then the lot were all off.
Pedometer and her Ladyship got away at a good pace. Coranna, Polish, The Baron, Vitula, Miss Burns and Best Bower were next in front.
All the others were well up too, except for Redstreak, who, having lost start, was 300 yards behind. The troop rushed up around the course, getting out seemed impossible for the horses behind and even to those in the middle.
As the group swept by the Grandstand for the second time, Polish and Vitula had retired; Redstreak caught up and ran through the last division. He was, however, unable to advance his position, as were several others.
The pace now increased, and mud flew from all sides, splattering both horses and jockeys. Lady Wildair maintained the lead to the castle pole; by now, all the favourites were beaten.
The standing now comprised the first four horses placed, with the Baron, Lady Wildair, and Roderic and eight or ten others close.
Approaching the winning chair, Coranna made a bid and advanced half a length ahead of the colt, a lead kept cleverly to the end. Glossy was a length behind the second, and the Queen was about the same behind her, with ten horses in a ruck well up.
RESULTS
Mr. G.H. Moore’s b.h Coranna, by Hymen, 8st. 9lb. Jockey – F. Butler – 1st
Mr. A Johnstone’s b.c. Sir George, 3 yrs, 4st. 10lb. Jockey – Ryder – 2nd
Sir C. Monck’s b.m. Glossy, 6 yrs, 7st. 12 lb. Jockey - Cartwright- 3rd
Mr. Cuthbert’s br.m. Queen of Tyne, 8st.3lb (including 10lb extra) Jockey - Joy - 4th
The race was run in four minutes and 40 seconds.
Moore had almost missed the race as he was delayed in London on business, but arrived just in time to see the Blue bird’s eye colours pass the post.
Press commentary on the race in the Hereford Times also mentions the state of the course, stating that both the length of the grass and the rain had rendered it more like a steeplechase than a flat race. Perhaps this too stood to Coranna on the day.
News of the victory filtered back to Moore Hall a few days later.
Oral tradition puts forward varying accounts as to the amount of the winnings given towards the welfare of the tenants. Suffice to say, in Moore’s own words, of the £17,000 won and taking away Lord Waterford’s share and the settling of some of his debts, it amounted to £1,000, which by any measure was a considerable amount of money at the time.
With part of the winnings, Moore also joined with Mr. Robert Blosse and the Marquis of Sligo in chartering the Martha Washington to bring four thousand tonnes of flour from New Orleans to Westport Quay in July 1847, for the relief of the starving population.
After the famine, Moore focussed on politics and was elected MP for Mayo to Westminster during the 1847 general election.
However in 1857 he took up racing again and had success with Croaghpatrick at Goodwood and Chesterfield.
He died on the 19th of April 1870, aged 60.
On a quiet, secluded hillside in Kiltoom overlooking the shores of Lough Carra, a short walk from Moore Hall, the racing brothers are united in the family burial plot.