ON a once-off visit to Pine Hollow Farm in Wellington, Florida, two years ago, I got a feeling for the type of business Clare native David Blake (30) likes to run. Everything was pristine and perfect. While I wasn’t interviewing Blake on that occasion, a chat via a transatlantic phone call this week drove home how hard he has worked on his show jumping career over in the last 15 years.

There is no shortage of talent and success in the Blake family from Tuamgraney. David’s older brother Kevin pursued a career in civil engineering, while the youngest of the family, Frank, hit screens worldwide recently in the huge hit series Normal People.