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The Story

The life and death of a stable lad

The Story

[email protected]

Politics, Unknown, Daily News, News

41.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Groomsman, Michael Curran, was acclaimed for his dedicated work with top horses but went into a spiral of decline that ended in his tragic suicide. What leads someone who reaches the top of their profession to take their own life?


Samaritans: 116 123 or [email protected].


Guest:

David Walsh, Chief Sports Writer.


Host: David Aaronovitch.


Additional music: Scott Holmes, Komiku, Kai Engel and Jordan Powell (licensed under Creative Commons).


Clips used: Racing TV and Racing Welfare.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Just over a month ago horse racing became the first major British sport to restart as the lockdown eased.

0:11.0

Great moments involving great horses.

0:14.0

The racehorse, the racehorse, Golden Horn triumphing in the 2015 Epsom Derby. The man who, day in, day out, looked after Golden Horn, was

0:27.4

the groom Michael Curran. Every time that horse is feeling a bit down, it's the stable lad who will be whispering in his ear trying

0:34.5

to get him back feeling better about himself. So the relationship is incredibly intense.

0:40.0

But in May 2020, the people of Newmarket learned of Michael's sudden death.

0:45.0

One of them was Sunday Times journalist David Walsh.

0:49.0

What I wanted to do was to say, here is a guy who ended his life by suicide. There were times

0:59.3

when his life was incredibly meaningful and rich and happy and didn't end well but you know what he

1:06.3

was around and he was loved he was loved he was respected yet Michael Curran died.

1:14.0

You're listening to stories of our times from the Times and the Sunday Times.

1:18.0

I'm David Aronovich.

1:20.0

Today, the death of a stable lad. During 2014 and 2015 Michael Curran was at the very top of his profession.

1:46.0

The horses he cared for had triumphed at some of the world's biggest races.

1:51.0

What Michael Curran did in those two seasons was the absolute summit for a person involved in caring for horses.

2:01.0

David Walsh is the chief sports writer for the Sunday Times.

2:05.0

If Michael Curran was a golfer, he would have won the Masters and the Open Championship in the same season. If he was a tennis player he would have won

2:16.0

Wimbledon and Roland Garris the French Open. If he was a Formula One driver. He would have won six Formula One Grand Prix.

2:28.0

Michael's career had really taken off when the up-and-coming trainer John Gosden assigned him to one of his prize horses.

2:35.4

In 2013, John Gosden had a really good two-year-old. The horse was called Kingman.

2:42.4

Kingman in 2014 has the most extraordinary season where he wins four group ones, he wins a classic in Ireland, he wins the St James's Palace stakes, which is for some people the single best race of Royal Ascot. the victory

3:05.0

of the year old for that season.

...

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