Where did your journeys in the horse racing industry begin?

P: I own a pub called The Corner House Bar in Tallow. In 1996 six customers and I bought a horse with Sean Ahern who was training here in Tallow. He won his point-to-point in May ‘96 in Bartlemy so that was the first seven that we had under The Corner House Syndicate.

A: I’m from Bartlemy where his first horse won. My father was always involved in breeding horses. We’ve been going pointing since I was a small girl. I always tell everyone we were great at maths in school, we were very good at fractions from the bookies boards!

My brother branched out into ownership big-time. He has had horses with Gordon Elliot and Willie Mullins. He’s involved in the syndicate with us.

P: The syndicate was formed of customers coming into the pub, we’ve had a few horses and some success along the way with The Real Tyson and Robin The Gypsy.

Expound was bred by Cheveley Park, how did your syndicate come to own him?

P: Myself and Anne went to meet a friend at Roscommon races in June ‘22 and we met Denis (Hogan, trainer). He told me that he’d be going to the sales so I asked him to give me a ring if he found anything.

He went and bought Expound who had been in training with John Gosden for Cheveley Park. We still had the same people in the syndicate and four more came into the bar wanting to join in so we’ve got twelve members now. For two of the newer members, Expound is their first horse so it’s great that he’s won twice.

How do you think this race panned out for him?

P: Denis rang me on Sunday morning, he was a kind of afraid of the distance and hoped that we’d finish in the first three but we’d make the running and see what happens. He did that and he stayed there!

Is there a long term plan for him?

P: He’s going to keep running between the flat and over hurdles, hopefully he can step up some more. Denis is thinking of taking him to Listowel depending on the ground but a race might come before that.

Do you enjoy having a dual-purpose horse?

P: Yeah we do, we had no interest in the flat before but Denis had told us when we met him at Roscommon that if he bought a horse at the sales it would be a dual-purpose horse. Once he could jump hurdles we were happy enough! We’ve gotten used to the flat now and we don’t mind the wins.

We’ll keep at the flat now if we buy again, Expound was bought in July and ran in October. When we breed them we’re waiting four or five years to run them.

Do you breed many horses yourselves?

P: We were breeding two horses up to three years ago and then went down to one. We didn’t get her in foal at all this year. Between Anne and I, we have a Mahler horse that we bred gone to Denis’ about two weeks ago. If we can keep eight of 12 of us in the syndicate we’ll keep going down the flat and dual-purpose route, it’s easier to get going. Denis knows what he’s doing buying horses at the sales, he’s had a bit of success with these ex-flat horses.

What are the main challenges that owners are facing at the moment?

P: Davy Russell had a good piece in the paper recently. He said that even though the prize money in Ireland is fairly good, the expenses of training, like everything else, have gone up. You need a few bodies in these syndicates to keep it going. It’s hard for one or two people to do it.

A: You have to admire the likes of Willie Mullins, he’s put horse racing on the map all over the world. It’s just very hard to compete against himself, Gordon (Elliott, trainer) and Henry (de Bromhead, trainer). I totally admire them, there’s no doubt about it, what they’ve done for Irish horse racing is incredible.

What do you think about the restricted races starting next year? There’s been a bit of fallout around it.

A: I can see both sides to it. I can see Willie and Gordon having young horses or unsure horses coming up that they’d love to run. I also like to see the small man getting the chance. I’m still on the fence about the whole thing. I’m sure there’s horses in the big stables that need to be brought along and given their chance. If I was an owner with an average horse in one of their stables, I’d love to know that my horse would be able to run.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get involved in ownership?

P & A: Patience!

P: It was great to see all of the happy faces there on Sunday. Even though Tallow is only a small town, it’s a big racing place. There’s plenty of stud farms like The Beeches Stud, and Rathbarry is only down the road. There’s a big horse fair here on September 3rd as well.

It’s an expensive game but it’s well worth it when the day comes.

A: Don’t be in it to make money. We’ve had tremendous fun. We go for the enjoyment of the day out, but you have to be prepared for being beaten by a neck. The syndicate weren’t alone with being happy, our customers were thrilled for us as well. They were so happy to be involved. I was walking up the street on Monday and every now and then I’d get a holler of someone congratulating me. It’s nice that people take the interest.