Damien Dillon has some lovely up-and-coming horses with Gavin Cromwell. This year at Listowel, Damien had a double when both The King of Prs and Aeros Luck won on the same day. Last Sunday, Damien was involved in two winning syndicates when The Passing Wife and Dgalwaygalivanter won at Punchestown and Cork. He is also involved in an exciting unraced half-sister to Flooring Porter.

How did you get interested in horse racing?

I’ve been going racing for about 25 years. I started off going with my father to the Galway Races. I have family down that direction. That’s where I suppose the bug kicked in and I have been lucky enough in the last couple of years to get involved in ownership. Ownership for me started as a joke at the Galway Races a few years back but it’s been going very well so far.

So how did you come across The Passing Wife?

Gavin bought him at the Cheltenham Sales for us after he won his point-to-point. We looked at the point-to-point that he won before buying him and we liked what we saw, so we asked Gavin, if the price was right, to go ahead and buy him.

It was a great win in what appears to be a fairly good bumper last weekend at Punchestown.

Yeah, we were delighted with the win. We thought he might have gone for his race a bit too early but it is good to see a horse battle when the pressure is on. He finished quite strongly in the end. The ground suited and the trip suited. We were slightly confident, Willie’s horse was withdrawn on Sunday, we were up against Gordon’s and Dermot McLoughlin had a fancied contender in it as well. Our own horse and the Gigginstown horse really kicked clear. So yeah, we were delighted to get the win and, please God, we have good days ahead with him.

What will be next on the agenda for him?

I’m not sure, Gavin is mulling it over at the moment. Another bumper at Leopardstown at Christmas wouldn’t be out of the question. But it’s up to Gavin, we are not ones to dictate to him. He will ultimately decide what route the horse goes down.

How did the Can’t Say No Syndicate come about?

It was put together on the Wednesday of the Punchestown Festival this year. Through work, I bring people from the building industry out to Punchestown every year. Gavin was a guest with us this year. I asked a few of the lads who were attending if would they like to put a syndicate together. I think I was using the words ‘You can’t say no’ so that’s where it was formed. It was great to go back to where the syndicate was formed and get a winner.

Which of your horses are you most excited about?

I suppose Aeros Luck and The King of Prs are exciting. The Passing Wife is obviously one we are all excited about. Dgalwaygalivanter, who won last weekend in Cork, is one that ourselves and Gavin really like. He is a big scopey horse. He was third last coming round the bend in Cork and, all of a sudden, he just exploded and took off. I think he is one for the future. Gavin has always maintained that he is a horse who is going to take a bit of time. He is probably one of the biggest horses in the yard. We are excited to see what he is like when he is fully filled out. He had a wind operation this week so he will be on a break now for a while.

Gavin Cromwell is having a fantastic year himself and his horses are flying, aren’t they?

Yeah, Gavin has a brilliant set-up. He is a great guy. The team around him is fantastic. He knows what he’s doing and he knows what he is about. He will tell you fairly quickly if you don’t have one with promise. He is having a great run of form and long may it continue. Me and Gavin have a great relationship, we get on very well. When I go over to see them in the yard, I’ll go over at around 10 and Gavin is in cooking the breakfast for all the workers. That kind of thing is great to see. It’s a real personable approach.

At the media day last week Gavin was telling the press that he has Paul Carberry in the yard now and that he is a great help to the jockeys.

Yee, Paul is there. It’s funny, Paul broke in a horse for us who hasn’t run yet. She is a half-sister to Flooring Porter. She is a three-year-old and when Paul was working with her during the summer, she gave him a couple of stitches. Paul maintains she will be a feisty one but if she is half as good as her feisty brother we will be doing alright!

How have you found the overall racehorse ownership experience?

Ah, look it’s been brilliant. As a racing fan growing up and looking in from the outside I always wanted to be involved somehow and just for me to be able to have had winners is something I’m very proud of. Thankfully I have had a very lucky and successful period in ownership. Out of the last five horses that I’ve been involved in I’ve had five winners. Listowel was definitely a highlight though. We had a double down there that day with The King of Prs and Aeros Luck. Gavin has played a big part in making the overall experience enjoyable. I’ve gone to him and he has found us good horses and so far so good.

You have had some nice young horses come through over the last 12 months or so. Have you anything in the works that hasn’t seen a racetrack yet?

Yeah, we have that half-sister to Flooring Porter that I mentioned. Her name is She’s A Flyer. She has only started to commence her training regime so it will probably be the middle of next year before we see her on the track. We have another two horses who are unnamed and we are looking at a few more. So, yeah, all of our horses are really three- or four-year-olds. When I started out in ownership, I was told to go for unraced horses that you can nurture and that has worked for me. I’d be very much of the opinion that it is better to start with horses that don’t have a track record with somebody else.