THE Curb Your Enthusiasm Syndicate has had a number of winners since its inception in 2007. Most recently River Tara was a winner for them at Downpatrick last summer.

The syndicate is also very excited about its four-year-old Flemensfirth filly, a full-sister to a very impressive Christmas winner.

Syndicate member Willie Gormley answered our questions.

How did you get interested in racing and how did the syndicate come about?

I suppose my interest came from my uncle, Liam Gormley, who always had horses on the farm. He had a horse who was named after the place we are from, Bunninadden.

Bunninadden won two races in two days at Sligo races. He won a bumper on the Friday and a maiden hurdle on the Saturday.

I was a young teenager at the time and I remember that there were plenty of celebrations with the family. I think I got a new pair of runners out of it.

Liam used to bring me to the local tracks, the likes of Sligo, Ballinrobe and Roscommon. I suppose that is where I got my love of racing from.

The syndicate started at a time when I was working in Dublin. A group of us who had a keen interest in racing had been debating for a while about setting up one. I got to know a guy from Dublin named Stephen Butler and we have been running the syndicate since day one.

In 2007 we had 18 members sign up initially. Of those, I think around nine or 10 of the lads are still involved. We have 26 members now. I would like to mention as well a very important member of our syndicate, Bert Barrins, who sadly passed away in December, and I would like to take the opportunity to offer our condolences to his family.

Tell us about River Tara. She won a mares’ bumper at Downpatrick during the summer. That must have been an enjoyable day.

Yes. She ran in a bumper at Kilbeggan before that and Patrick Mullins actually dropped the whip about three furlongs out and we were beaten by a half a length. James Fenton, who helped us lease River Tara, said that it could be a blessing in disguise because she will certainly win next time out. He was a man of his word and she did win next time out at Downpatrick. We were confident heading to Downpatrick as she had come on a lot and had been working really well at home. There was a crowd of us at Downpatrick so we would have been disappointed if we were not in the shake-up and thankfully she got the job done.

So, tell us a bit more about the leasing agreement and how it came about.

When we started, we were approaching trainers and asking them to buy horses for us. We had a number of horses over the years with different trainers. We started with Ado McGuinness. We built up a great relationship with John Joe Walsh down in Cork and had a number of horses with him over the years. But it was a Garda friend of mine, who is involved in the Blue Bloods Syndicate, that suggested talking to James Fenton, to see if he would have any contacts. None of us were overly-familiar with the leasing process. James was very good and had experience leasing a number of horses to different syndicates. That’s kind of how it started. Our first horse with Willie was Double Pink who was beaten in a race at Sligo as a short-priced favourite. We then got River Tara who has obviously been very consistent for us and hasn’t been out of the top three. Her best performance was probably when she finished second to a very good horse at Listowel in Tag Man. We were delighted with that run. The one thing I like about our set-up with James and Willie as well is that if the horse isn’t up to it, they are not long telling you that.

River Tara was pulled up in a point-to-point before you leased her but seems to be much improved since joining Willie Mullins?

Credit to James, he spotted something in her. He said at the time that she had a bit of a light frame and needed time. He sent her to his brother, David, for pre-training. After a couple of months they really liked what they saw. It’s encouraging when James gives his stamp of approval because, at the end of the day, he doesn’t want to be wasting Willie’s time by sending in horses that are not up to the standard of Closutton. And credit to Willie as well, he has been fantastic. She ran a fantastic race at Listowel on ground that really didn’t suit her. James actually didn’t want her to run that week but Willie was confident that, with the work that she was doing, she would run a good race. Look, that’s why he is the best that’s out there, and has been for quite some time now.

The racing programme for National Hunt mares has been upgraded and you have seen at first-hand the success that you can have with a mare through Princess Mahler and now River Tara. Do you see yourselves investing in more mares and would you advise others to follow suit?

I suppose I would, but you definitely need a good contact. James Fenton has been invaluable in that regard. James knows a lot of the top breeders who have these quality mares and he knows what to look for. Some of the mares that we look at for leasing could be valued at €80,000 to €100,000. We are not in that league but when you lease them, and have someone like James recommending them to you, it’s fantastic. It’s also a bonus to us that James has such a good working relationship with Willie and we are very lucky in that regard. It works both ways too. If you are a breeder and you have a mare that you want to get a winning bracket for, or get her some blacktype, but don’t want the expense of training fees, it’s ideal to have a syndicate to lease to. It’s not cheap to keep a horse in training either. But if you are lucky enough that the mare wins a race or two, it benefits the breeder and the syndicate.

You also have an unnamed four-year-old mare by Flemensfirth who is a full-sister to a very good Christmas winner. Tell us about her.

Her full-brother is Built By Ballymore, who was extremely impressive at Christmas. There was a lot of excitement in the WhatsApp group. One of the lads actually got a tip for the horse and I responded to confirm our mare is a full-sister. I think everyone had a few quid on. Our mare has been in pre-training for the last four months. She is a lovely-looking horse and a lovely mover. When you see James getting excited about her it’s hard not to get excited. We’re hopeful she will be out before the summer, that’s the plan at the moment. She will be trained by Willie and we will see how she gets on.