The Cork man operates by being a middle man between breeders and syndicates and generally sets up leasing agreements between the two parties. He and his cousin Shane and uncle David also run a successful pre-training operation. James Fenton is currently sourcing horses for six different racing groups and syndicates.

So, let’s start with Maughreen. Her performance in the mares’ bumper on Monday was very eye-catching and had a lot of people talking on social media.

Yeah, we always knew she was a very good mare. My first cousin Shane broke her and she was very easy to break. She was very forward, very professional. She was brought up to Willie’s as a four-year-old.

We avoided the summer ground as she is a big mare. She is more of a winter type. She had done a couple of pieces of work that were very pleasing and we were very excited going into Monday’s race about her. The way she won on Monday was incredible. She is such a professional mare and just a pleasure to deal with. They are the type of horses you want. She just takes everything in her stride. Ashroe Diamond could learn a thing or two from her.

Will we see her at some of the big spring festivals?

Yeah, I was chatting to the two lads (Patrick and Willie Mullins), the day after. She was good that morning anyway. She ate up. We spoke about a lot of the big bumpers. Mainly I suppose the Nickel Coin bumper at Aintree would be something that I would like her to go for. I won it with Ashroe Diamond and I just think Maughreen fits the profile for the race.

The DRF will probably come a bit too soon for her. As Patrick said, mares have won the Cheltenham bumper before, the likes of Fayonagh and Relegate. But we will probably go down the route of a winners’ bumper and the listed bumper rather than throwing her in the deep end straight away.

She is a very good mare and we want to bring her along step by step. At the end of the day, it will be Willie that will have the final say and you know rightly so.

So how did the Closutton Racing Club come about?

It was always there going back years ago. I basically revived it. We did a social media campaign and got members from all over Ireland, the UK and a couple from the USA.

We started well with the likes of Shewearsitwell, Carraigmoorna Queen and a few others. They all started coming out and winning races. So, the interest to get involved in the club was massive from the start. We went through that cycle of mares. Shewearsitwell was retired there last May and the lads were told that it would take a little while to restock and get up and running again. So Maughreen is the first of the next batch. There are some nice mares to run for them during the summer.

How many syndicates are you sourcing for at the moment?

There is six between syndicates and clubs that I am leasing for. I go look at horses and do my own bit of research and if the physical matches the pedigree, I’d be happy enough to take them.

We bring them into pre-training at that stage and after about three months of pre-training we are then in a position to decide if they are good enough or not. If they are not good enough, they go back to their owners and they breed off them. So it kind of works for everyone.

So, is Ashroe Diamond all set for the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle?

Yeah, I think we always said that we would target that race and work back from that. We are looking at Doncaster on the 27th but whether she will go there or not is down to Willie. I suppose her run in the Hatton’s Grace was good. She wouldn’t have been in as long as the rest of them and she performed well enough. Patrick minded her.

With a Grade 1-winning mare there is actually very few opportunities on the mares’ calendar for you. You end up getting penalised for running in races for mares only. So, you are kind of penalised for being decent. This time of year, you are kind of forced to go against the boys or not run. So for that reason we were at one stage flirting with the idea of going over fences because it would open more doors for her. I’m glad we stuck at hurdles though because she deserves her chance at the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Tell us about the relationship with the Mullins’ so and how that works. I imagine there is a certain level of trust there between you and Willie, that you are not going to be sending him horses that are not up to the high expectations at Closutton.

Yeah, it’s between myself, Patrick and Willie really. Before committing, we always discuss between the three of us, you know what the horse is like and we discuss the pedigrees and compare them with similar previous horses so that we can kind of have a draft map in our heads of the route the horse might take.

It’s down to myself, Shane and David at home to try an assess them in the first three months there. They are either going to be good enough to step up the challenge or they’re not. If they’re not, we are not going to be wasting ours or Willie’s time and also the money of the members of the group. There is a certain level of transparency required there across the board, you know. Horses can make fools of you but you do the best you can.

And across the syndicates that you source for, is there any horse that is due to run in the next while that you are excited about?

Yeah, the Lions Mouth Racing Club lads have a very good mare in Friends. She is a mare I really like. She has won her bumper and hurdle race and won them very well. She is a Mahler out of a Presenting mare which I love. Her siblings are doing very well as well. I’m looking forward to her return to the track. Hopefully she will be out again this side of Punchestown.

So, you also have a role with the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners. Can you tell us a bit about what that role entails?

Yeah, I’m one of about seven or eight directors with them. Our function is basically to make sure that the owners are being looked after. We do a lot of work in terms of helping owners out with any problems they encounter. We do our best to resolve, mediate and help with any issues that the owners may have.

And with that role that you have, how do you think the overall race day experience is for the owner? Is it generally quote good or is there work to be done?

There are some tracks that are brilliant and some have work to do. We can’t go in and start giving out but we can advise the tracks and try and remedy some of the issues that they might be having. We have to try and ensure that the owner is looked after because without them there is no racing.

Two example of tracks that do it really well are Downpatrick and Ballinrobe. The atmosphere at Downpatrick is exceptional. The way they look after the owners is brilliant. Same for Ballinrobe, it’s like a mini Punchestown up there. If every racetrack in Ireland mirrored what Ballinrobe and Downpatrick do, we would be flying.