How did you get involved in the racing industry?

I’m an accountant, and not from a racing background, but cousins of mine on my mother’s side owned racehorses, and one of them, Sean Lucey, had a horse named Sullane River who was beaten in a photo-finish at Cheltenham in ‘95. I always had a passing interest and there were a few of us in college that watched Cheltenham and Aintree.

I graduated and did my articles in accountancy in the early 2000s. The economy wasn’t exactly booming and I could only get contract work at home in Cork. No Corkman wants to leave Cork, but my mother was getting sick of the stop-start working and told me to get a proper job. I went to a couple of recruitment agencies and I was called for an interview.

It was Cheltenham week, and when I told the agency that I was in the UK at the time, they asked if I was going to Cheltenham, and asked why I hadn’t put on my CV that I was interested in horse racing. I didn’t think many accountants would have racing down as their main pastime, but it turned out that there was a job available with Punchestown, so it’s kind of by chance that I ended up working in the industry.

I’ve had more exposure to horses since working in the industry and you see the best of the best here at Punchestown. There are a few people in the office who have horses and trade shares, so I’ve been involved in one or two other horses but ‘Jazzy’ has been the most successful.

How did the Top Man Racing Syndicate come together?

There are six of us involved in the horse. Cian’s (Collins, trainer) father, Alan, was the driving force behind it all. We had racing here at Punchestown on St Brigid’s Day last year, and Alan was doing some work here. The day after that was the Andy and Gemma Brown Dispersal Sale. I was told that Alan had bought a horse there and then a few days later he told me that he was planning on setting up a syndicate, so that’s how I got involved. Again, it was just good fortune on my part! There’s a few guys from Kerry, Cork and Meath involved. Winning in a syndicate is lovely. They’re a great bunch of lads involved. Punchestown had a trade stand at Cheltenham so we had plenty of boots on the ground and they all joined in on the celebrations. For some of the syndicate members, Jazzy Matty is their first horse, so to throw one dart and hit the bulls-eye is incredible.

What was going through your mind when you were watching Jazzy Matty come up that hill?

He ran a great race at Cheltenham in October, finishing second to one of Gavin Cromwell’s horses. We knew he liked Cheltenham, he’d been over the trip and was well-weighted, so all we needed was luck.

Watching them on the far side, he was jumping great, but you didn’t want to say it out of apprehension. He was travelling grand and Danny Gilligan was superb on him. Turning in, when he moved upsides, you knew once he jumped the second last he’d win it, he just had to pop the last. He stayed on great in October so we knew he’d stay on up the hill.

It was two or three furlongs of just bananas stuff. It was like shouting at an All-Ireland final, my voice was gone. I woke up on Friday morning and felt like I had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, I was in bits! I didn’t realise winning was so painful. It was an emotional win as well for the O’Sullivan family [Jazzy Matty was ridden by Michael O’Sullivan to win at the 2023 Festival] and for Cian to get such a big winner. You couldn’t script it any better.

Tell me more about Jazzy Matty.

For a long time he was the only winner from that dispersal sale. If you look back at his Fred Winter win, the way he was held at the last and then came back and won the race, he has a great attitude. He likes a bit of a battle and seems to love that hill in Cheltenham.

It was a good buy, a great piece of work by Alan, Cian, and Denis O’Regan. Cian’s gotten a great tune out of him. His first run for us was over hurdles in Killarney in May ‘24 and it wasn’t a great run. Cian said we’d take him straight over fences, and that’s been the making of him. As Mark Landers says: “We’ll take you to places that you can only dream of going”, so he’s doing that at the moment anyway!

He probably could have gone back out again and had another race, he seems to thrive off it. Cian has a lovely set-up and they go off to the beach. The whole team up there put a lot of work into it. Every time he comes in from a race, he’s got his ears pricked and he’s delighted with himself. He’s got a great attitude and he’s a great horse to own.

It must be great being involved with a trainer that keeps your horse so happy.

Yeah, it’s really important. Cian and the whole team are all about the horse. Danny Gilligan pulled him up in Listowel one day, it turns out he’d just gone into a divot and could have raced on but Danny did right by the horse and pulled him up in case he wasn’t sound. Cian’s having a lot of success this year and he deserves it.

What advice would you give to someone that wanted to get into ownership?

I’d say syndication is important. You go out together, and you rise and fall together. We’ve had a couple of great days with Jazzy and a few evenings out. If you’re going to go on the journey, it’s nice to be in a syndicate, and with a group of friends. It’s made it more special for us. It helps to split the bills as well, it can be very expensive if you’re doing it on your own. It’s all about the fun really and the day out.