How did you get involved with racing?

My dad would have been in his mid-30s, running a business in England, and absolutely loved racing. He decided he’d buy himself a horse and that he was going to ride it himself. He rode it point-to-pointing and my brother and I, who were only babies, would have gone to watch him. I’ve got the ‘Chasers and Hurdlers’ book from 1965, and the horse, who was called Southern Comfort, is described as “extremely slow, but a safe jumper”. We always had the racing on at home, and we didn’t live far from Windsor, so every single Monday evening, we attended the races there. I think I’ve missed one Royal Ascot in about 40 years.

My colours were actually my father’s colours and they were registered in the 1960s. It’s nice for me to think that my dad would have absolutely adored all of this. One of the great things about having the privilege to own a horse is that it’s one of the few sports, where as an ordinary person, you’re inside the ropes and part of the event. You can’t do that with tennis or golf or football, unless you buy the club, but even then it’s not quite the same.

It’s been brought home to me recently that you really need to enjoy the happy days. We had a horrible day last week, losing Poker Face after an accident in training in Dubai. It’s quite painful.

You’ve had some wonderful horses over the years, are there any that stand out for you?

I’ve got a special place in my heart for a horse called Rawdon, who was my first winner, and he was Hayley Turner’s first winner without her claim. I remember that day quite well. Not least because it was the same day that I was floating my company, 32Red, on the London Stock Exchange, which brought its own pressures, but I’m very pleased to say that I was at Haydock Park that day and not in London!

In terms of really good horses, I’ve not had a Saint Sam or a Poker Face before, and I’ve got a strong feeling for both flat and National Hunt racing. Why would you restrict yourself to red wine when you can have champagne as well? I’m so lucky to have Saint Sam, because he is a proper quality horse and Poker Face is similar, the same quality but on the flat. I was at Gowran for Red Mills Day and seeing Saint Sam on the front page of the race card was quite something. I wouldn’t be able to split them, they’re both charismatic and talented, top-class as far as I’m concerned.

I was in Barbados with Willie Mullins when Saint Sam won his first chase, that was a big thrill. I remember asking Willie what we’d do with him and he replied: “We’ll go to the Arkle obviously!” All of those things stick in my mind. More recently, watching Copacabana win first time out at Navan was exciting.

How do you go about sourcing horses?

Harold Kirk and David Loder have sourced some amazing horses for me. Sometimes, when you hear Willie talking on the television, he’ll make an observation, which is natural for him, but actually a huge insight for anyone else. Standing next to David Loder when he’s looking at horses is like that, an absolute education. I’m very lucky to have him and Harold. To say they know what they’re doing is an understatement.

A friend of mine spotted Nab Wood and, within about an hour, I was speaking to his trainer, Nicky Richards. I’m very happy with him and he’s got a lot to give yet. Ed Bailey bought me a lovely horse called Jus De Citron, who we call Lemon Juice. He won first time out in a novice hurdle at Doncaster for Harry Derham and I think he will be a nice prospect going forward. I am totally blessed.

With a lot of my horses, once I’ve bought them, they go to Claire and Chris Bonner for breaking and pre-training. They’re a huge part of the success that I’ve had in the last few years. When they go to the trainer, they are so well-behaved, schooled beautifully and look an absolute picture.

You use quite a variety of trainers, how do you choose where your horses go?

On the flat, most of the horses go to Simon and Ed Crisford. I think they’ve got a brilliant operation and both of them are consummate professionals. The Dubai connection is very helpful, they’ve got a yard there and they know the pitch. They look after their horses really properly. I came across Harry Derham because I had a horse with Oliver Sherwood that went to Harry when he retired and he’s been brilliant.

As I’ve gone through the stages of owning horses, I’ve gotten to the point now where, with people like David Loder, they give you the confidence with buying nice horses and then you just have to look for the best people possible to manage their careers.

David and I were looking at a horse in France at one stage, which wasn’t for sale, but it led us to speaking to Willie and that’s how we ended up buying Saint Sam.

With betting regulations getting tighter, and a lot of talk about the future of greyhound racing, what do you see for the future of horse racing?

I’m not the first person to say it, but the problem we have is that the public no longer have contact with horses like they used to, generally speaking. I think that, to help people understand and to appreciate horses, we could do an awful lot more.

When it comes to the media, I think we’ve dumbed it down. We need to go back to expert-mode rather than catering to everyone that might be watching. When you watch basketball for example, no one is explaining how many times you can bounce the ball or how many points you get in the way we do for racing. They talk about stats at an expert level and it draws people in. More data and more connectivity with the horse is needed. I think we’re getting better, the sectionals are great, but we can do a load more and we shouldn’t be afraid to make it complicated, so that people can immerse themselves in it.

We need people to be stroking more horses and seeing them for what they are, magnificent animals. We shouldn’t be making sausage rolls with James Martin, I’m sure they’re lovely, but during Royal Ascot, we need to be talking about the amazing things that are happening on the track. What are the jockeys saying about which side of the racecourse is riding best? Or what are the jumps like at Gowran compared to Leopardstown? These things all go hand-in-hand with safer betting and making more informed choices.

If more people go racing, so be it they may bet on it. It would be fair to say that bookmaking would be the second oldest profession. It’s part of your DNA as a human being to want to take risks. People used to chase after animals with a spear and they had to take risks to feed their family. This is another way of taking risks and getting some adrenaline, there’s a biological reason for it. Of course, it needs to be controlled and regulated and done in the right way, but if we’re not careful, it’s going to be made very difficult for the average punter to have a bet, and that’s got really bad consequences.