Glory of Minella horse racing double captured forever on hotel grounds in Clonmel

The magical Minella Racing Gold Cup and Aintree Grand National double of 2021 has been captured forever in a spectacular wood carving.
John Nallen has proudly unveiled the remarkable piece of work at The Minella Hotel.
The hotelier, who bought two horses on the same day, reared them, and along with the rest of the world witnessed them become legends in the space of a few weeks, has unveiled a wonderful tribute to Minella Indo and Minella Times.
The intricate work of renowned wood carver John Hayes now adorns the grounds of Hotel Minella for all to admire.
“I am delighted with it, really pleased with how it turned out. It is an amazing piece of work,” said John.
TRIBUTE
The work is a tribute to both horses, the two jockeys- Rachael Blackmore and Jack Kennedy and the owners, the Moloney family and JP McManus.
The horse feature is a hybrid representation of both Minella Indo and Minella Times in full flight.
John Hayes introduced the characteristics of both horses into the piece, included the colours of both families and, depending on from which side you look at the work, it captures both the winning jockeys.

John said they realised the 160-year-old tree was in a dangerous condition before Covid and he wanted to do something with the stump of the tree that remained after it was made safe.
At the time a number of ideas about what to do with the stump of the tree was going through his head.
One of the options he was considering involved carving the figure of a bride and groom as the hotel has been a very popular wedding venue for decades.
MINELLA HOTEL
Then that all changed when John, his family and the Minella Hotel became known all over the globe following the exploits of his horses in Cheltenham and Aintree.
“I suppose we were lucky not to have rushed into anything at the time. After the Gold Cup and the Grand National wins we had to change course and do something to mark those achievements,” said John.
He was aware of the work of special branch carver John Hayes and after a number of discussions they came to a decision.
“I was aware of how talented John was with wood and I trusted him fully. He has turned out a really great piece of work. I am more than happy with it,” said John Nallen.
John Hayes, who travels the world creating stunning work that is appropriate for and blends into the landscape selected, was also very pleased with his finished product.
“As far as I am aware it is the first jumping horse carved out of wood ever done,” said John Hayes.
The wood carver, from county Waterford, said the tree was a Cedar Lebanon, which was quite rare in Ireland and was very good timber to carve.
“It was an old tree that was in a hazardous condition. Instead of chopping it down and using it as firewood, John Nallen asked me to have a look at it and we took it from there,” he said.
CHALLENGE
“The original idea was to have the faces of the horses carved into the wood but having examined what we had to work with a decision was taken to go ahead with the horse in flight idea,” said John.
John said it was a challenge. He had some idea about horses as his father-in- law was an apprentice jockey.
“I studied the Minella horses on the television. I had done a few horse carvings but never on this scale and never of a horse with movement in it,” said John.
ANATOMY
The in demand wood carver said it was important that John Nallen trusted him to do the job.
“It certainly was a big challenge. I had to study the anatomy of horses, watched them a lot on television and I am very happy with how it turned out, the shape of it and the sense of movement that it has,” said John.
CHELTENHAM
John said he got great satisfaction in delivering the final piece to John Nallen.
“It was nearly a year in the making and I was nervous when showing it to John Nallen for the first time. Thankfully he liked it. It was a relief,” said John.
Cheltenham is on the horizon again and John Nallen is hosting a special racing night to lead into the festival.
RACING NIGHT
Tickets for the night on Friday, March 11 (7.30pm) are available at the hotel reception.
Guests include Brian Gleeson, Barry Geraghty, Jamie Codd, Kevin Blake, Jerry McGrath and Bar 1 Racing.

Hard working Ukrainian lady has made Tipperary her home

Opening a patisserie business is the icing on the cake for Alla