What spiked your interest in bloodstock and

racing?

I was very lucky as I have been surrounded by horses all of my life. My father pinhooks and produces National Hunt store horses. My mother worked in sales and marketing at Punchestown racecourse and my uncles, Andrew Nolan and Hugh Bleahen are auctioneers in Goffs.

From the age of seven, Dad brought my brothers and I to all of the Irish foal sales. Looking back, I can only imagine how much of a pain it must have been for him lugging young me around the sales trying to teach me what a bad hock was when all I wanted to do was get a hot chocolate!

It wasn’t long before I realised there was more money to be made outside buying foals than sitting inside in the warmth drinking hot chocolate and I soon started paying more attention to what he was saying!

I did all of the usual activities growing up: pony club, hunter trials and show jumping before I moved onto pony racing in which I competed for five seasons riding 50 winners. I later rode as an amateur for a couple of years. All the while I was trading away on a small scale, whether that be Connemara ponies or thoroughbreds.

Who has been the biggest influence on your

career so far?

Without a doubt Mum and Dad have been and always will be the biggest influence on my career. They have always been incredibly good to me whether that involved driving me five hours to go pony racing in Dingle or guiding me in the right direction futurewise.

Others who have taught me a huge amount and looked after me extremely well within the industry are Peter O’Callaghan, David Redvers, Henry de Bromhead and my uncles Niall, Hugh and Andrew.

Are there any challenges you’ve had to overcome? And how did you overcome them?

Capital is always the big one. In this game I believe you need to get lucky with your first couple of horses in order to get the ball rolling and expand. My first pinhook was a Tamayaz foal that my brother Josh and I bought for €1,000.

Every night we dreamed of what we might get for him as a store (The night before the sale we convinced ourselves that he was going to make €100,000). Our dreams were quickly shattered when our uncle, Andrew Nolan, slammed down the hammer for €1,800. That was our introduction to pinhooking! Thankfully we have been very lucky since then.

If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself starting out in the industry?

Be patient. It’s extremely easy to go into the sales ring and stick your hand up and buy. All of a sudden your money and stable space is filled up and more often than not you will see a horse later in the day that you prefer but simply don’t have the money to buy.

Year on year I see the best value in the latter sales where guys have filled their orders and have gone to catch the early flights home.

What goals have you set for yourself going forward?

I am currently in my last month on the Irish National Stud course in Kildare. A course I could not recommend highly enough to anyone thinking of doing it.

This autumn, I am looking forward to bringing my first small draft of flat yearlings to market. Hopefully, they can make a nice twist and go to good homes.

After that, a stint down under looks on the horizon with Magic Millions and Inglis Easter sales. Long term, I would love to sell a Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot winner and help develop my family farm, Lakefield.