How did you first get involved in the

racing industry?

My father got ponies for us when I was young, so I started show jumping and hunting with the Conna Harriers. Our neighbour, Sean Aherne, is a trainer and I used to go into him when I was in school. He taught me how to ride racehorses.

Rodgie and Paddy Daly taught me a lot as well. They had a really mixed yard between show jumpers, hunters, sales horses and everything.

I’ve learned a lot from the local trainers in the area. I spent time working for Mike Condon, Liam Burke, Michael Hourigan, Jimmy and Mary Mangan, Pat O’Connor, Pat Fitzgerald, and then I went back to Liam Burke for my final year working full-time with racehorses.

We have a haulage business at home that I got involved with and I have a young family. Every winter, I help out some of the local lads that have horses, so I always kept the interest going.

My young lads got into show jumping and hunting, and, once they were old enough to ride a racehorse, we said we’d get one and that’s how I got back into it.

How did you end up buying My Best Valentine?

In January 2022, I lost my brother to suicide. He was involved in the haulage business with my father and I. A few months later, my friend Brian Archdeacon rang me and told me about a nice Malinas filly he had. He told me to try her out and see what I thought. The first year we ran her, she was quite weak and backwards, but we gave her a chance. We ran her four times last year and she won three, and fell in one. Back at it again and she won two point-to-points in January and then in Gowran. She comes into season and tends to stay like that for a long time. We’ve gotten to know her cycles and, with the point-to-points, we can pick and choose when and where we run, when her cycle is right. It’s more difficult on the track with balloting, but that’s just how it is. We’ve had a lot of luck, but we’re obviously doing something right. My Best Valentine is so genuine and she loves being a racehorse. She’s as genuine as the day is long. The horses are only part-time for me, and the stables are at the back of the house, so at night time, I go out to see them and have a chat.

Your family must be a big help.

She’s part of the family as well. Both of my daughters sometimes help out with feeding her or putting her into the paddock. My wife Mary loves them from a distance, but she’d help out with this one.

I have two sons as well, and the eldest Cian is a huge help. He did his leaving cert last year, took a year out, and now he’s going to college in September, thankfully!

He’s been with Jimmy Kelly this year and spent a lot of time with Sean Aherne as a kid, so we do it all together. He did all of the schooling on her when she was young and he rides her work. He knows her inside out.

Our jockey, Stefan Tobin, is a Tallow man as well. Cian got to know Stefan through riding out at Sean’s, and then he started schooling for us as well.

Stefan’s 5lb claim in point-to-points is so valuable. When you’re running over three miles with a mares’ allowance and a nice young claimer on her, it makes all the difference.

Some people might think she looks like a great ride, but she’s actually very free, Stefan doesn’t show it, he gets on with her. He’s a very big part of it as well.

Were you confident going into the race at Gowran?

I was, but it was different facing that type of horse on the track. The first day she won a point-to-point, we were hoping to sit mid-division, but Stefan ended up letting her lead and they won by 35 lengths. When he came back in, he said they were going way too slow for her, so he let her go, and we’ve ridden her like that ever since.

Once she gets to the front, she’s happy. She loves the soft ground as well. She’d go just as well for you on good ground, but you wouldn’t have a race mare the next day, her joints wouldn’t handle it. We probably would have moved onto the track a bit sooner, but we had a few little hold ups, and I only did the trainers’ course in September to get the restricted license.

The original plan was Limerick at Christmas. Myself and Cian thought it would be a good idea to take her there fresh as a seasonal reappearance, but she was too fresh and ran with the choke-out and pulled up. She was just too wound up.

Do you know where you’ll go next with her?

It depends on the weather. If it gets too dry, we might have to call it a day and start off a bit earlier in the autumn.

Down the line, I hope some day to be riding a gelding that’s out of her, and a few inches taller. He’d have a great chance of being a really good racehorse. I’d love to breed from her.

Does the Tallow community get involved when there’s a nice horse like that in the area?

Definitely, yeah. Within a couple of miles, there’s five or six trainers and people are very interested. There’s excitement around the town and the colours are fairly similar to the GAA and soccer club colours. That’s what it’s all about.

My neighbours and local land-owners look after me. We do a lot of our work on grass and a lot of the local trainers let us use their gallops.

I’m quite old school, so when it comes to galloping, it’s always done on the grass, that’s what I can read from.

What would you say is the best part about ownership?

The horses themselves. It’s all about the horses, I even love the smell of them! Even if it was just a little pony in the stable at night time when I get home from work, it would still keep me happy.

We do a bit of work with half-breds as well, breaking them in. Any horse, any shape or form, I’d have a go with them.