THE Red Mills Trials Day at Gowran Park, now in its fourth decade, is one of the longest running continuous sponsorships in Irish racing. As CEO of Connolly’s Red Mills, I am very proud of that long association between the racecourse, business and our family name. My father, Joe Connolly, has been racecourse chairman at Gowran Park for the last 28 years. Today, the 2025 renewal of the well-recognised Cheltenham trials will take place. It affords us a great opportunity to mix with our valued customers, suppliers, friends and neighbours.

As part of the fifth generation of the Connolly family to manage the business; I work alongside my brother John, who is COO, my brother William, who is managing the Red Mills Store, and my cousin Paul, who is leading our engineering and IT development, while my uncle Michael heads up our export business. Together, we are proud to continue the family legacy.

My great, great grandfather Michael Connolly established the mill business in 1908, having returned from America. He had emigrated to the US before receiving a letter to say that he had inherited a bakery in Bagnelstown. At the time, there was a shortage of flour, so Michael decided that the solution was to supply his own flour via grain through the mill and hence the purchase of Red Mills.

Four years later, he passed the business on to my great grandfather, William. My grandfather, Liam, then took over in 1950, inheriting what was primarily a bakery/cereal producer. However, with the arrival of convenience breakfast cereals in Ireland, he took the decision to diversify, starting the animal feed company in 1962. That change in direction came about quite by chance.

His close friend, trainer Paddy Mullins, had a horse that wouldn’t eat up. My grandfather came up with a mix of ingredients, which the animal eventually consented to eat. That same horse, who was named Vulpine, went on to win the 1967 Irish Grand National!

Humble beginnings

From humble beginnings, the animal feed company grew throughout Ireland in the years that followed. In 1985, it stepped off the island for the first time; exporting to the UK. Eight years later, Connolly’s began exporting our products to mainland Europe, with Germany the initial market. In 1994, my father Joe and uncle Bill took charge of running the company.

As with every family business, children can’t help absorbing what they hear at the dinner table. My four brothers and I grew up on tales of the mill. At every opportunity, we would cycle up there to watch the experts at work.

As we grew older, summers and weekends were spent working in the mill and during the harvest. It was always instilled in us that everything started with those raw materials, that you “can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear”.

Being a family business, we were fortunate enough to get to work in multiple different areas, gaining broad experience. Following college in Dublin, I worked in finance before working internationally in the dairy industry. On arriving home, my father offered me an opportunity to come in to the business on a project basis.

I went on to work in sales and marketing, as well as closely on international sales with my uncle Michael. He has been instrumental in developing the Asian and Middle Eastern markets. In 2008, Connolly’s Red Mills developed the Nutrient Fresh Management System (NFMS), which proved groundbreaking in reaching a wider clientele.

Prior to this, dramatic changes in temperature from crossing these vast distances posed the risk for moisture and mould to affect the product quality. NFMS allowed us to produce a product, which could be exported to one of our furthest, but fastest expanding markets; Japan. Due to those advances, the product can withstand 75/80 days travel, remaining as fresh as the day it left Goresbridge.

Our objective has always been to put the animal at the centre of everything we do. Advances in science and technology has allowed us to export a high quality product to every corner of the world.

Aside from Red Mills Trials day at Gowran Park, we are actively involved in sponsorship throughout the equine industry. We are now in our seventh year linking up with the Irish EBF National Hunt Auction Series, while prior to that, we had the Foran/Irish EBF Flat Auction Series.

Connolly’s also sponsor various sport horse events, such as the Munster Grand Prix, the pony club championships and various point-to-points. We support Treo Eile, which does so much to retrain racehorses once their racing careers are over. To summarise, we see ourselves as stakeholders within the broader equine industry, not just horse racing.

Creating community

Red Mills Day has always been about bringing people together to celebrate great racing, but after Covid, we knew we had to rethink how we did that. Traditionally, we hosted a marquee and fed as many people as we could, but packing crowds into an enclosed space was no longer feasible. At the same time, we still wanted to show our appreciation to our customers. That’s why we decided to sponsor the gate, offering free tickets to anyone who registered.

It’s been a huge success, with attendance growing year after year. The atmosphere on the day is incredible and, alongside Eddie and the team at Gowran, we ensure racegoers enjoy top-class racing, live music and the ever-popular style awards.

Our Lifestyle Store in Cillín Hill, Kilkenny, also plays a key role, hosting fashion shows that add to the excitement. It’s a day we’re incredibly proud of, and we look forward to making it even bigger and better in the years to come.

Connolly’s Red Mills continues to expand, looking towards future trends and innovation in equine health and nutrition. In 2012, we acquired Foran Healthcare, a fellow family-owned business specialising in human and animal health solutions. Since then, Foran Equine has become an integral part of our operation, enabling our team of expert nutritionists to provide targeted solutions across the full spectrum of performance nutrition for our customers.

Just a week before the onset of Covid-19, we acquired Carr & Day & Martin, one of the world’s oldest and most respected horse care brands. This acquisition was a natural fit, completing our offering - nourishing with feed, supporting with supplements, and caring with Carr & Day & Martin.

All manufacturing of the Foran Equine, Carr & Day & Martin and our feed premixes now takes place at our Purcellsinch facility in Kilkenny, where we employ over 70 people, contributing to a total workforce of nearly 360 across our Kilkenny sites, in Goresbridge, Gowran, Cillín Hill and Purcellsinch.

Quality, consistency and service has underpinned the business for generations. As the fifth generation, we are committed to these fundamentals, as we continue to innovate and grow, keeping the health, wellbeing and performance of the animal at the centre of everything we do.

Gareth was in conversation with John O’Riordan.