Publican hosts Cheltenham Gold Cup hero who ‘persuaded’ him to buy the bar
Never meet your heroes, they say. Not true, says Joe Gregg.
The proprietor of Bradley’s Bar met his sporting hero, retired jockey Paddy Brennan, last Wednesday night in his Labane hostelry. And he has no regrets.
“He’s an absolute legend. We had a great night,” he says.
The Dubliner was in the market for a rural Irish pub to retire in for years. But a framed Connacht Tribune article that hangs on the wall of the Farmer’s Bar in Bradley’s Bar was what convinced him to buy it late last year.
The feature, penned by sports editor John McIntyre, documented Brennan’s village homecoming after steering Imperial Commander to Gold Cup success in Cheltenham in 2010.
“I didn’t know Labane was part of Ardrahan. Colm Farrell, the auctioneer, said he was from down the road. I turned to my brother and said, ‘we’re buying this’. He’s my sporting hero,” he says.
Nine months later, Joe got a text off Ian McCarthy, a Kildare trainer whose aunt has a pub, McCarthy’s in Kilbeacanty. It confirmed Paddy Brennan, now a bloodstock agent, who buys and sells horses, was home in Ardrahan – and wanted a pint in Bradley’s.
“He came with his wife Lindsey, and a load of his old school mates were here. We sang and danced through the night. Paddy and Lindsey both said, ‘we don’t have a pub like this where we live in England’,” recalls Joe.
As a semi-professional gambler in the noughties, Joe says he always admired Brennan, who saddled more than 1,500 winners.
“To do what he did in racing. He was a young lad who made good. He had no racing background. One day he was told to jump up on the back of a pony, and to go from that to winning the Gold Cup in 2010.
“It’s an incredible story, the stuff of legend. I don’t know why someone hasn’t written a book about it, or a movie.
“He’s a legend in Ardrahan and a legend to me. And here he was having a pint with me. Dreams do come true,” he says.
Pictured: Paddy Brennan (centre) raising a pint in Bradley’s Bar with (from left) Lindsey Brennan, Paul Stankard, Gerry Henley Jnr, Aidan Murray, owner Joe Gregg and auctioneer Colm Farrell.