Racing/Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe: Brian O'Connor talks to film director Jim Sheridan about his love of racing and his horse Vinnie Roe's chances in the Arc
Jim Sheridan is talking about the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Vinnie Roe and how High Chaparral is his big danger when he breaks off momentarily and thinks about it.
"Christ, will you listen to me. I never thought I'd hear myself saying that High Chaparral, an English Derby winner, is the danger to my horse. He beat Hawk Wing didn't he?" he asks.
The affirmative reply sets him pondering again: "You know, it's not bad company to be keeping."
For a man used to the company of the world's movie elite, the fact that Sheridan gets such a buzz from his horse running in tomorrow's big race tells the casual race fan everything they need to know about the Arc.
France's most prestigious contest, Europe's greatest all-aged prize, truly one of the world's most important horse races: the Arc exudes an air that even the wealthiest Sheikh would concede is pretty rarefied.
As a director of the Oscar nominated films My Left Foot (1989), The Field (1991) and In the Name of the Father (1993), Sheridan's eye for a story is proven.
But the tale of how Vinnie Roe, named after his brother-in-law, has a real shout at winning is one that Sheridan would normally probably dismiss as fanciful.
Last month the horse achieved history by becoming the first to win the Irish St Leger three times in a row. He has already made his mark at Longchamp winning the French Leger in 2001. In racing terms he is already something of a legend.
"Everyone says that Alex Ferguson and me are the two jammiest owners in the business," Sheridan declares. "And I can only agree.
"But if he could win the Arc it would be fantastic. I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably shake the Aga Khan's hand and say sorry, just to show what a sportsman I am!"
Such a picture, of the Sheriff St boy beating the John Magniers and the Aga Khans of this world, may be a little Bill Cullen, but Sheridan's taste for the racing game really does take him back.
"My father was a maniac for the horses, used to go to all the meetings. When I was a kid I'd be sent on my bike down to Kilmartin's and told to go like the clappers to make the 2.30. No messing, I'd be going faster than the horses."
Years later, after a career that included co-founding the Project, attending the New York University film school and reaching the top of one of the most competitive industries, Sheridan decided he would like to do more than just have a bet.
Just An Illusion, "on a wet Tuesday evening in Galway," carried his blue and yellow colours to their first success and Sheridan figured he had a new way to relax.
"Actually you have to learn to relax. You go through stages. At first, it is fun but then if you get successful, it almost becomes a job because there is pressure with a horse like Vinnie Roe. So you have to force yourself to relax and enjoy him," he says.
Sheridan has had time to learn. Even as a two-year-old, Vinnie Roe was a Stakes winner. At three he was good enough to be running just behind the double-Derby winner Galileo before hitting his own classic note in the first of his Irish Leger victories.
Last November Vinnie Roe was in Australia for the Melbourne Cup and went through the pain barrier trying to defy topweight and ground that had all the bounce of the M50.
"Winning the Leger this year was special because he kind of hurt himself in Melbourne and for me it was like a little kid getting hurt in the schoolyard. But he won the Leger and Weld said he wasn't even fully fit that day," he says.
Dermot Weld is the trainer who has cultivated Sheridan's involvement in the game as well as masterminding Vinnie Roe's career. The owner is in little doubt about the substance of the man.
"I would love to have him negotiating my films," Sheridan says. "Weld's powers of persuasion are well known. He would be a great salesman, and everyone knows he's a genius trainer."
The Arc has been one of those hunches that has preoccupied Weld's mind ever since Marienbard won the race 12 months ago.
Marienbard was four lengths behind Vinnie Roe in the 2001 Leger, beaten well and without any obvious excuse. That the Godolphin runner had it in him to win an Arc set Weld thinking and when the Curragh trainer starts to focus on an overseas prize, the world has learned to take notice.
For now though, with all the work done, what Weld really wants is some good old-fashioned rain to fall on Paris.
"Vinnie Roe has won three Legers on fast ground but rain would put the emphasis on stamina which would suit us. It would be a big help," declares Weld.
Sheridan in turn dismisses Marienbard as a "one-off" and points to the quality of last year's Arc compared to this year's with two outstanding Derby winners in Dalakhani and High Chaparral in opposition. The upside of that is all too obvious however.
"He is 14 to 1 now but he was 40 to 1 before we said he was going to run in it. I don't know about the 14 to 1 but he is sure to be a big price over there. I don't think the French will be backing him," he predicts.
Just four Irish-trained horses have ever won the Arc de Triomphe: the outstanding Sinndar in 2000, Alleged, with a double, in 1977 and '78, and Ballymoss way back in 1958.
However it is Levmoss that has been nagging at Sheridan's mind in the last few days. The Seamus McGrath-trained stayer left his Co Dublin yard in 1969 and as an unfancied 52 to 1 shot beat the outstanding English filly Park Top.
The Arc is that sort of race, throwing up shocks like Nijinsky's 1970 defeat and confirming the status of champions like Montjeu (1999), Dancing Brave (1986) and Sea Bird (1965). Vinnie Roe presents an intriguing mix of being a proven champion and a dangerous unknown.
He holds a perfectly realistic chance anyway, but if the skies do open over Longchamp this weekend, then His Highness, the Aga Khan, might see a very happy sportsman walking towards him, hand outstretched.
