Fans say ‘most Mayo thing ever’ as horse with GAA-inspired name loses crazy race

THE bad luck of Mayo has become the stuff of GAA legend – and appears to have made its way into another sporting realm.

The Westerners have famously not won an All-Ireland SFC since 1951 – a drought that has been credited to a so-called ‘Curse’.

That wait will extend to 74 years at the least after Kevin McStay’s men dramatically crashed out of the championship at the hands of Derry.

Mayo lost to Mickey Harte’s beleaguered Oak Leaf men after a dramatic penalty shoot-out on Saturday.

Just two days later, their poor fortune manifested at the race track when a horse named ‘Mayo For Sam’ rode at Ballinrobe.

Jockey Adam Caffrey was on board the four-year-old in the GAIN The Advantage Series Handicap at 7:50.

And all appeared to go to plan when the Adrian McGuinness-trained mount led the chasing pack and seemed destined for a 9/2 win.

However, as they raced towards the line, Desert Friend – ridden by Ben Coen – made a late charge and pipped Mayo For Sam by a nose at the line.

It didn’t take long for fans and punters to notice the name of the runner-up and draw parallels between them and the team after which it was named.

Daniel said: “Mayo for Sam (purple and yellow) just gets done on the line at Ballinrobe tonight. I’m saying nothing.”

Aidan tweeted: “Even the poor horse is afflicted by the ‘so close yet so far’ syndrome as Mayo For Sam beaten a head in Ballinrobe .”

Alan lamented: “Backed a horse called “Mayo For Sam” there. Beaten on the line in a photo finish after looking a likely winner turning for home. I shoulda known better with a name like that, tbh.”

John added: “The horse called “MayoforSam” get chinned right on the winning line in Ballinrobe tonight. You couldn’t make this s*** up

“And plenty of the lads in attendance…..”

Gary joked: “Mayo For Sam touched off at Ballinrobe. Sure it couldn’t be any other way. The most Mayo thing ever.”

While Mayo were left licking their wounds yet again, victory made for redemption for Mickey Harte and Derry.

The Ulster men had lost three consecutive championship games – against Donegal, Armagh, and Galway – before their first win, vs Westmeath, sent them into the preliminary quarter-finals.

Goalkeeper Odhran Lynch – the use of whom drew criticism earlier in the championship – denied Ryan O’Donoghue in the shoot-out.

And these heroics set the stage for Conor Doherty to smash Derry into the quarter-finals.

A defiant Mickey Harte – who had been subject to online speculation amid their poor run – declared that their season starts now.

He said: “That was part of the plan, to be what they have been for the last couple of years — mean at the back.

“And they were mean at the back.

“Derry have had a great defensive record over the last number of years and maybe we just slipped away from it a bit and took it for granted without actually thinking, ‘Let’s make this work again’.

“Every game is new and every game has new challenges and every venue is different.

“It’s going to be a challenge now to get ready for the next game, but it’s something that we’d love to be doing rather than kicking our heels.

“Six or seven days, I don’t know when it’ll be.

“It’ll not be easy to recover from that but still, I’d rather be thinking about recovering than thinking ‘goodbye’ until January.”

It won’t get any easier for Derry in the last eight, with Kerry next on the agenda.