How did you get interested in racing?

I’m not from a racing family. I have no connection to racing at all, I was always just watching racing as a young lad. My uncle rang me one day and informed me that a trainer had moved in up the road from us there, Liam Cusack.

I ended up ringing Liam and asking him if could I come into the yard and help him out with a few jobs. That was 16 years ago and I’ve been there ever since. It grew from there and I started going racing with Liam and leading up all the horses.

And you started your ownership journey with Liam as well?

I ended up just getting involved in a few horses that Liam had. Luckily enough any horse I got involved in with Liam won, so he never put me wrong. Liam was always very cautious in terms of what horses he would let people into.

He has been great to me that way. He has brought huge interest in the sport into the area of Mountrath. Horse racing was never a thing in Mountrath before Liam came along, and now there are syndicates all over the town. There are syndicates in both of the pubs in the town and both of them have horses with Liam.

Tell us a bit about Red Letter Bray.

I bought him at the breeze ups two years ago. Michael O’Callaghan bought him for me and Leigh Roche was stable jockey there. Me and Leigh have been great friends for years. It was at Leigh’s ‘stag do’ and I chatted to Michael about getting a horse and that he could train him.

The plan was to get a horse and hopefully sell him on. That’s where the horse came from. He had a few average runs last year and I brought him home and gave him to my buddy Liam.

He is a grand horse, and Liam has done some job with that horse. He has built him up and he is a happier and healthier horse this year.

Where did the name Red Letter Bray come from?

I named him after a man who passed away called Brendan Dowling. He was a great friend of mine who used to go into Liam’s yard quite a bit. He was a racing fanatic. I’ll never forget Liam and his team’s kindness towards him in his last few months. He always brought him up to see the horses. He was in love with the place. He also loved the Curragh so when the horse won there recently, it just made it very surreal and special.  

Tell us more about that fabulous win at the Curragh recently at massive odds of 100/1.

Yeah, he shouldn’t have been that price. He was never a 100/1 shot in our eyes. We thought he would run a nice race without winning it. We were delighted when he won it but it didn’t shock us completely. His form wasn’t that bad and he ran in a few competitive handicaps and was never beaten more than five lengths. He was just under the weather a bit last year that’s all.

How did you think the race panned out for him in running?

Well, I was standing in the parade ring next to Dermot Weld. We were chatting away in the parade ring. He is a fascinating man to talk to. I was just speaking to him about horses in general and he just happened to comment that our lad looked amazing going around the ring.

We don’t normally give Leigh instructions but I think what was said to him was to try and get a bit of cover. Sure, of course, he jumped out of the stalls and hit the lids and was at the front after 500 yards. He was so well in himself and so well prepared, he just stayed going.

He got headed at the furlong pole but he battled very well. I couldn’t believe that we didn’t get swallowed up. It just shows you how well the horse was. I was delighted for Leigh as well because it was his first winner of the year.

Have you spoken since about what might be next on the agenda?

Yeah well, he is rated 94 now so the problem is trying to find a race for him. We think the obvious one is the Scurry Handicap over six furlongs. We definitely will return to the Curragh and we will more than likely be going back on Derby weekend for the Scurry.

That’s if he’s not sold. I bought him intending to sell him. If the right offer came, I probably would sell him. I am a realist and I have seen it down through the years, big money being refused and the general lie of the land is that it doesn’t often work out sweet in the end.

You were also involved with the very talented Snugsborough Hall.

Yeah, I had a share in him alright. Myself and three other lads there. He was a super horse. We bought him from the point-to-point scene. Both himself and Snugsborough Benny were there at the time.

Hindsight is a great thing. We should have bought the two of them because they both turned out to be brilliant horses. Snugsborough Hall brought us to Aintree and Punchestown. We had a big win at the Punchestown Festival and were very unlucky not to win on Easter Monday at Fairyhouse with him. He was a very good horse that was unlucky at times.

Is there any story behind the colours?

I stole them, to be honest. They’re actually the colours of a horse called Ballyglass Beauty. We bought him last year from Kevin Heffernan and got 17 people together to set up the Bennett’s Bar syndicate. Liam has done a fantastic job with him and he has won at the Listowel Festival.

That is where the colours come from. The blue and white are for Laois. The red and white is for our local GAA team and there are a few lads involved from Camross as well so they have a bit of yellow in the Bennett’s Bar version. I just stole them and threw a red cap on him.