HAILING from four generations of renowned horsemen, it comes as no surprise to see Thomas Quigley featuring among the leading sport horse producers in the country. His grandfather Tom Quigley was a legendary show, hunting and dealing man, while his father Austin rode and produced two RDS hunter champions and still trades today.

Thomas, meanwhile, is based at the historic Kellistown Stud, near Carlow, a property he bought from his father several years ago. From there he sells, preps, breaks and pre-trains, and is one of the few of his genre to embrace both the sport horse and thoroughbred industries.

Quigley’s childhood was immersed in horses. Sharing many memories, Thomas and his sister Laura, together with their first cousins Dave and Leah, hunted and show jumped any ponies that came their way. This education stood the quartet in good stead, and indeed one year, Leah qualified four ponies for the jumping classes at the RDS. Her show jumping brother Dave later progressed to represent Ireland in Nations Cup teams, while Laura who was also a top pilot, is married to well known veterinary surgeon Pat Meagher of Kedrah House.

At that time the Quigley generations shared the same, but divided house, in Rathmore, a townland situated between Kiltealy and Enniscorthy, in Co Wexford. “It was a great place for horses, but a terrible place to get in and out of,” recalled Quigley.

“However, that said, the business when I was a kid was fantastic. There were customers and transport trucks in the yard every day of the week – you couldn’t find the horses fast enough.

"Even at that time, Dad and my grandfather were paying 4,000-5000 punts for untouched four and five-year-olds running in the fields, most of which were sourced down in Cork.”

Standing out among Thomas’s earliest childhood memories are the times spent with his grandfather Tom, listening to him, learning from him and accompanying him on his buying trips around the country. Stemming from this initial education, and a factor that singles out Quigley from his peers, is his inherited attention to detail. The turnout and trademark presentation of his horses ranks among the very best in the business, while the yard is similarly immaculate.

“My grandad was a big early influence, and I can remember as a kid, they wouldn’t let me put a pony on the box unless it was washed and plaited,” he explained. “I certainly wasn’t allowed to go hunting until the pony was bathed and the tack was clean – you just had to do it. Even if it meant getting up at four in the morning. It was my grandad who pulled all the tails and plaited, and I suppose I just picked it up from him.”

It was a busy life but a happy one as the family were constantly travelling; and if not seeking horses to sell, they were on the competition circuits.

Changed times

The dynamics changed however, when Thomas was around 12 years of age and his grandfather Tom passed away. By this time, Quigley junior was at senior school in New Ross, but freely admits he wasn’t the most dedicated of pupils. “I wasn’t very good at going to school. I’d go missing for a week or so, so then they sent me to boarding school at St Peter’s in Wexford although I’d still miss days there if I could.”

When out of school – officially or not – Thomas spent every moment he could working for Enniscorthy racehorse trainer Willie Deacon. “He was a very good trainer and a top man at the sales. He fed his horses to perfection, was one of the best to turn them out and was an absolute gentleman.” Quigley also found time to spend a few weeks in England with the late Owen Brennan, another very clever trainer who, at that time, trained privately for Lady Anne Bentinck.

Happy to have completed his schooldays, Thomas had a brief spell in the auctioneering business before, drawn back to his equestrian roots, he went to work for Iris Kellett and then Paul Darragh. This was followed by time with Marc Van Dyck in Belgium, and later for Giuseppe Zancarli, who, from his base in Verona, was to become the biggest dealer in Italy.

“It was right craic and I spent 18 months there,” commented Quigley. “He had a proper, proper yard, with two of the best lads riding for him. He had a stud in Kent as well, but used to come here to buy horses. Tommy Brennan used to take him around, and later Harold and Brian Lusk. Although it was a primarily a dealing yard, I did a lot of competing, jumping in national classes up to 1.20m.”

Still keen to further his knowledge, Quigley then took a job with the former British team show jumper Derek Ricketts, who was based in Buckinghamshire. “I had this thing in my mind, as did the likes of my contemporaries – Shane Breen, Damian Doyle and Tomas Byrne – to go abroad somewhere to learn more. Equally I was determined that if I did, I would remain a minimum of eight months.”

Having stayed with the Ricketts family for the required length of time, Quigley returned to Ireland where he re-joined his father who, by this stage, had bought the Kellistown Stud. Formerly owned by racehorse trainer and music producer Denny Cordell, it was an impressive big yard with massive scope, although, in those days, it was not set up for sport horses.

“When I returned home from Derek’s, I had plans to go to Marion Hughes, but at that time my father had a bunch of hardy horses to get going, so he got me to help him with those. There was no arena at Kellistown and it was tough going, so before long I decided that to make money for myself, I needed to start buying and selling my own horses. My first venture was to buy a comrade of Austin’s RDS champion The General (sold just before the championship to English owner Wendy Trevithick) and by the same sire, Golden River. I got on well with him and did similarly well with the next, paying less than 2,000 punts and receiving 6,000 sterling in Goresbridge.”

Things continued in the same vein for several years. “I rode for Austin as well as wheeling and dealing on my own,” explained Thomas. “Between us we were selling around 250 horses a year both for ourselves and for owners.”

Truckin’ on

The enterprising young Quigley also started a profitable side-line selling horse lorries. “We had an old truck that we needed to replace so I managed to sell that and reinvest. Things did not go quite to plan initially, but with help from my mother, I was able to get a small bank guarantee and bought a truck in England to build. I’ve always had a big interest in trucks and although I don’t do the mechanical things, I’m handy enough. The trucks I have would be fit for purpose and robust, suitable for dealing, and racing people, not the hobby stuff.”

A few years later, Thomas managed to buy Kellistown from his father, who was moving to Castlecomer with his partner Emelda. Austin has since established his own purpose-built yard from where he still sources and sells show horses and eventers.

It’s not hard to see where Thomas has gained his presentation ethos as, a similar perfectionist to his son, Quigley senior will never pull a horse out of a stable unless it has its mane damped down and its tail brushed out. By this stage, the yard at Kellistown had had a much-needed facelift, and now boasted an indoor school and gallops. Just 10 minutes from the motorway at Carlow, and with stabling for 40 horses, it was perfect for any job.

It was not long before Thomas’s reputation spread to all quarters of the equestrian world, and soon he attracted the attention of Willie Mullins.

“At that time, Willie was buying a lot of stores, so we would break them and have them all polished. He would bring customers in and we would parade them. This suited me at the time as I had bought the place and everything I earned I was ploughing back into it.”

Dealing world

Although Mullins was to become his biggest owner, Quigley nevertheless felt that by putting the majority of his eggs in the same basket, he was losing touch with his sport horse roots. “I eventually realised that doing the thoroughbreds on the scale that I was, it was at the expense of my own horses. I came to realise that if you’re so busy at home, you’re not out at shows or sales and in turn, you’re not meeting people and therefore not dealing.

"You very quickly drop out and people forget you. So, although we still have horses for Willie, we have cut down on the number of thoroughbreds, and have gone back to concentrate on what we started out doing.”

Moving full circle, Thomas quickly immersed himself back into the sport horse world, breaking, selling horses and trading in trucks. Owners such as Richard Sheane, Drumhowan Stud and Kedrah House Stud are among his many regular clients, while his own long-term aim at this stage is to keep sourcing three and four-year-olds, retaining some to produce.

In this phase, he is ably partnered by show jumping rider Shane Dalton, with whom he already has some notable successes. Among these was a smart five-year-old by Tolan R who, realising €24,000 at the Go For Gold last year, was secured by French eventing ace Astier Nicolas. At the same sale, Quigley’s own three-year-old by Tullibards Bennys Legacy also sold well at €28,000.

On similar lines, he is also a much in demand as a handler and producer for the in-hand performance classes, notably at the RDS. In 2014 he won the potential event horse class with the Lalor family’s Annsfort Quality (OBOS Quality) while two years earlier, he filled the runner-up loose jumping spot with Pat Kehoe’s young ABC Quantum Cruise. The former is currently eventing in England, while in show jumping circles, the latter needs no introduction as the high-class mount of Harry Charles now competing at 1.55m level.

Top care

A talented rider, Quigley also breaks in many horses for the Co Wicklow producer Richard Sheane, and indeed gained many plaudits for his presentation and handling skills of the Cooley horses at the Teasasc young breeders’ competition 12 months ago. “Thomas looks after the horse like babies,” explained Sheane. “They are always well fed and bedded – and turned out immaculately, whatever stage they are at. Also, and most importantly for me, I could come in the middle of the night with customers and he’ll always have a smile on his face.” Indeed, as Quigley confirms, “The horses I have for owners – I treat them like my own. No horse is different and no owner is different.”

Another of the services that Quigley provides for breeders, especially those without facilities, is a mutually agreed arrangement where he will take the horses for a few weeks to assess them. Many of these youngsters have not even been led, so Quigley collects them loose in his truck and works quietly with them at home. At the end of two or three weeks, the breeder is told exactly what he has and how much it could be worth.

Obviously, this is very much a trust- driven operation as Quigley explains. “It works both ways, and I’ll tell the owners as it is. If the horse isn’t any good – I will tell them – there is no point in them wasting money.”

Looking to the future, there is yet another generation of this equestrian steeped family waiting in the wings. Thomas’s seven-year-old son Robbie is already showing plenty of enthusiasm for the activities in the yard and loves going off into the truck with his father, and riding his ponies.

Who knows whether young Robbie will have a maintain a liking for the horse industry, but the Quigley dynasty is, for this generation at least, in very capable hands.