OVER the course of two and a half hours, John Hughes has as many questions as his inquisitor. An entertaining companion, he is non-stop.

“Did you see this?”

“Do you know him?”

“What do you think of this horse?”

And so on. It is the type of engagement that has helped the Warrenpoint bookmaker become so successful, particularly in the UK, where he spends most of his time.

The interesting aspect of all this is that when it comes to horse racing, Hughes professes himself not to be very knowledgeable. Being a form god is not a prerequisite for making money as a major layer at Cheltenham, York (his favourite), Chester, Aintree, Ascot and Galway.

“If you’re asking me here tonight for tips, I know nothing about horses,” he admits disarmingly.

“There’s three different types of bookmakers. There’s the ones like me that don’t know and don’t want to know. I don’t want to know that Weld is going to win the first or Gigginstown will win the third.

“Then you have other bookmakers who are punters and probably fancy themselves on the box. They’re more opinionated and might not lay one because they fancy it, whereas I just play to the market and take what we can get.

“Then there’s the Gregory (Hughes, John’s brother) type. Gregory would ‘give it a lash’ at Cheltenham. ‘This is one week of the year. The turnover is here, we’ll get it all if we can.’ I’m more a book-maker, literally trying to make a book.”

There are six Hughes brothers all operating independently of each other, and all having learned the trade from their father Frank, who opened his first shop in the 1960s. One of the key tenets was “we were told never to have opinions as that makes you a punter”.

If it appears that Gregory has turned against his training, that isn’t the case. His approach at Cheltenham, where he has the No 1 pitch on the rails, or York, where has the No 1 pitch in the Tattersalls enclosure, is specific to those big days.

John would be in Britain on an average of 140 days in a year and thus cannot afford such an approach as Haydock on a Friday isn’t the same as Cheltenham on a Tuesday. Gregory is over for a maximum of 25 days and Cheltenham week is almost a hobby, rather than the bread and butter it represents for the eldest Hughes sibling.

He laughs when he sees a representative from one of the big bookmaking firms revealing that “we” have taken a huge hit on that race.

“They’re on saying they’ve lost this and that but they haven’t lost a penny. That’s why they’re saying it with a smile on their faces. When we lose it hurts because we’ve actually lost it out of our pockets.”

John has the No 1 pitch at the Tattersalls enclosure in Cheltenham and is at the top of the queue at a number of other exalted tracks. He loves what he does.

“When I was a boy, working in my father’s shop, all I wanted to do was stand on that box.”

He is doing that primarily in the UK now because that was where the opportunity to buy prime pitches came up. Crucially, there is a key difference across the water in that No 1 means you get to choose your slot every race-day, while in Ireland, it is a specific location which might not necessarily be the premier position on every given day.

It means he has to fly a lot though, and he is a nervous passenger. Barry Geraghty, Gordon Elliott, AP McCoy, Harold Kirk and Ruby Walsh are amongst those he has bumped into making similar journeys over the years. Republic of Ireland soccer international, Seamus Coleman also sat next to him once and as would be impossible to avoid with Hughes, they had a good chat.

“You do get to see familiar faces on these flights and you get to know the ones going racing, although one evening coming back I tried to talk racing with my neighbour on the plane, an Irishman. Believe it or not, he had never heard of Aidan O’Brien. End of conversation.”

He is ready for Cheltenham now. The first day, with four short-priced Willie Mullins favourites “could be the worst day in bookmaking history or it could be the best.

“I think if you’re going to take one on, it would have to be Annie Power, wouldn’t it? Just for the fact that it’s her first run. But I’ll be going by the book.”

Whether or not he makes a wedge, he will be leaving Cheltenham with an empty satchel but that is because the track has provided banking facilities in recent years for security reasons. It is a welcome development at a meeting with such huge amounts of cash changing hands.

“Any of the good Saturdays in England, 90% of the punters are day-trippers going for a day out from the local club or football team and with a limited knowledge of racing. It doesn’t matter to them if the horse is evens or 200/1 shots. I’ve taken 50 bob each way even-money shots because they don’t understand the odds.

“But at Cheltenham, 90% of the punters do know what the time of day is. The Irish punters are definitely shrewder than their English counterparts. And the Irish lads travelling over have to make it pay.

“At Cheltenham the turnover is colossal but that doesn’t necessarily follow that the profit is good. The off-course firms say the Grand National is the biggest day but in the ring Cheltenham is by far the biggest meeting turnover- and ticket-wise.”

The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is the race he does the biggest number of tickets on (400-500), and so he will be working three hours before the white flag is raised. Friday is the turnover beano though.

While there is a fear that opening day could be disastrous, generally, as Hughes explains, bookmakers don’t mind an even-money favourite in a race of the calibre you tend to get at Cheltenham or Royal Ascot, because it invariably means that there is one well-backed horse with the rest of the field running for them.

It is the handicaps they fear most as they can have six or more losers and then feel the pinch in the place market too. Hughes knows not to expect too many tears when it goes badly though.

There is a difference in how people bet in Britain and Ireland.

“In Ireland usually only the first two or so in the market are backed, so a 6/1 shot could be a result. In the UK everything is backed and you probably need a 33/1 winner to get a real super result.”

He does enjoy the external factors surrounding Cheltenham. The roar that greets the tape going up to signal the start of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. The joy of the winners, particularly the smaller operations – and not just because that will invariably signal a good result for him! He felt downbeat when Our Conor was killed after his fall in last year’s Champion Hurdle. And money aside, he would love one result.

CHELTENHAM BUZZ

“The best I ever saw in Cheltenham was Paddy Brennan winning the last two or three years ago. His emotion after it, you’d think he’d won the Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle. It’s the most exciting meeting of the year and of course there’s a buzz. There’s a kick waiting in the airport, everyone is talking about it, the tips are flying around the place.

“The saddest thing will be if Hurricane Fly doesn’t win. It will be so sad. And he will burst his lungs trying to win. He’ll give his all. It’s emotional. I know it’s ridiculous saying that. But it’s the same with one jockey having one ride. He’s going to give his all. I am not immune to that.”

At most meetings, he feels he can predict the type of bets that the day will bring. At Cheltenham it could be £5 or £5,000. Or euro, if the Irish punter prefers. Whatever it takes to make money.

“I think the Irish horses are a false price. They’re too short. A lot of them win at 1/4 here. They go to Cheltenham and they’re up against Henderson, Nicholls and it’s very competitive.”

Carlingford Lough winning the Gold Cup will be a terrible result for the Hughes boys in Warrenpoint, given that every local will be on. Apart from that though, he’s looking forward to the Champion Chase and the Champion Hurdle.

“The Champion Chase is going to be some race. The last few years it’s been odds-on favourite but it’s threes the field now.

“I think in the Champion Hurdle we can get the front two beat. Jezki or Arctic Fire could beat them, or maybe even Hurricane Fly.”

To finish, there are a couple of tips – more advice than a nailed-on banker.

“My tip for a punter would be in the case of the Gigginstown horses where there is more than one in the race, I think sometimes the outsider has just as good a chance. Bryan Cooper doesn’t always pick the right one.

“When it comes to JP McManus horses though, (AP) McCoy seems to pick the right one most of the time.”