How did you get into racehorse ownership?

My first pony was called Emly, after the village in Tipperary, which Jack and Thady Ryan sourced for my father for us as children and she gave me my first hunt in 1961.

My first racehorse was a gelding called Royal Safari by Halsafari, who stood at Joe McDonald’s Liffey View Stud near Blessington, out of my father’s mare Forget Me Not. He was woefully slow but gave me my first point-to point-ride.

The family colours were with my cousin David who gave them to my son Harry - white, white cap, red hoop so the black, red spots are mine.

Hero

I love all racing and the great Scobie Breasley was my hero. I also love the wonderful literature associated with racing. As a result, I dream of winning Grand Nationals, Derbys, Gold Cups and outside of these islands a Melbourne Cup!

When I was in Australia in the1980s I saw the great Kingston Town win at Moonee Valley and the following he had was amazing. I still have a bottle of Hill Smith’s Yalumba Kingston Town vintage port given to me by Rob Hill Smith.

In your experience, which racecourse in Ireland treats owners the best and why?

I am happy to be at any racecourse but Punchestown will always hold my heart. When I was a child I used to hack over to Sheila Burke’s on the edge then, but now part of Punchestown. Jimmy Dowling, a former jockey, lived there and looked after Sheila. He used to help me school over the little ditches and then put Emly in the stable and we would go into the kitchen with Sheila and sit beside, almost in, this magnificent turf fire with a kettle hanging boiling in it and dogs and cats everywhere and Jimmy and Sheila telling me thrilling racing stories and all about the characters and the horses.

Grand National

Sheila had no legs and always wore black and their mode of transport was a pony and trap. What few remember is that Sheila bred ESB, winner of the 1956 Grand National always remembered for Devon Loch’s fall when about to win. Sheila sold him to Mrs Carver and Fred Rimell and Mrs Carver named him ESB, not for our electricity board, but after Elizabeth Sheila Burke!

I also was lucky to ride over the banks at Punchestown in Ladies Cups and La Touches and will never forget the thrill. Alas my incompetence was such that I never rode a winner but all that was eclipsed when our homebred mare Sea Diva won her very first race, a bumper at Punchestown with my late wife Nicki and children James, Harry and Alexandra present.

Sea Diva died out in the field a couple of years ago but my retired hunter Houdini, now 30, still bosses the young horses around.

Ceuta (by Henrythenavigator), Man O’Work’s dam, was sold in foal to Dragon Pulse a couple of years ago. She was named Ceuta because taking that port was the first expedition sent abroad by Prince Henry of Portugal - Henry the Navigator and his father King John.

What qualities do you look for in a trainer?

I very grateful for the wonderful care Paul Fahey, Pru Dobbs and Enda Bolger and all their teams give the horses. Paul has shoed the horses here for years so it has been special that he trains my recent Naas winner Man O Work and has done so brilliantly, and what a ride Cian Cullinan has given him in both his races.

I am looking forward to Man O Work’s next run and also to that of Ney and Albaquirky.

Encouragement

Looking ahead I would love to see more encouragement given to farmers and landowners to breed and keep a horse or two. Every farm used to keep a horse and from that source children grew up loving horses and riding them.

And there was always a race or two at the point-to-point and all the family and friends went to the races to follow them. So the seed was sown with many and for some it lay dormant but then when they were able to afford it, they had a grá for racing and in time they too kept a few horses.

That, because of today’s pressures on time and money, has largely gone.

Sales arenas

It is good our point-to-points are major sales arenas but they should also be nurturing grounds for the sport and industry for the future.

Early nurturing in every walk of life is the most important.

What other interest offers what racing has, fresh air, history, wonderful books and literature, magnificent paintings, the mathematics to work out the form and the odds, the joy of the spectacle on the gallops and the racecourse, the characters and the camaraderie and most of all the shared love of the horse.

Charlie O’Reilly was in conversation with Olivia Hamiton