Tell us about your introduction to the industry.

When I was a kid, I used to go up to Jack Foley in Meath, my mother was friends of the family. He had a stud farm up there and that just gave me the bug for thoroughbreds. My family are in the restaurant business, but when I was a kid, I went to Australia and worked for five or six years. I learned a lot in Australia, the good, the bad, and the different!

How did you come to own Prince Of Air?

I bought a horse called Itsalonglongroad for my friend Pat O’Leary about two years ago. We’ve won four races with him now. We kept bumping into a horse called Prince Of Air at the race course and Pat was quite good friends with Philip Rothwell’s head man, David. The Thoroughbid sale came up about a month ago, and Prince Of Air was in the sale.

We bought him from Philip Rothwell who was extremely honest with us and he said the horse will definitely win more races.

He said in an interview that he knew the horse would win again, but he didn’t know he’d win that quick. We wanted to get a handicapper, and so myself and Pat bought the horse, and we put together a syndicate called 11 Grumpy Men.

The syndicate is just waiting for registration. It’s in the Turf Club at the moment so the next day he runs, probably in Thurles on the 21st of December, hopefully he’ll be in the proper colours and the syndicate name.

Itsalonglongroad has been a fairly reliable horse over the years.

We’ve won four races with him now, and he’s come second about four times, third about four or five times. He’s ran over hurdles and fences and on the flat. We only ran him once this year on the flat, and he won in Sligo. We have a 100% track record on the flat, better than Aidan O’Brien! Watching Aidan O’Brien in interviews, he shows so much humility, we all can learn a lot from that. Everything is a team effort.

Who’s in the syndicate with you?

Two of the members came to Thurles, Con Creedon and Anthony Murphy. They have been in syndicates for the last five years and they never had a winner. We knew the horse was in great form but we hadn’t a clue how he’d run. The lads were absolutely delighted and we had a brilliant day out.

The rest of the syndicate is my neighbour, Dan Culloty, Dessie O’Sullivan who is a cousin of mine, and Pat O’Leary has his two brothers involved with the horse, John and Timmy. There’s another guy that’s a poker player down the road, Keith Cummins, he’s involved with the horse. There’s a mixture of everybody. I think they saw Pat and I did so well with Itsalonglongroad, they wanted to have a bit of fun too. It’s a great distraction from work, and it’s a great day out.

We set up a WhatsApp group with everybody in the syndicate. When the horse goes to the beach and has a roll after, we get the video so everyone feels part of the horses training. They’re really getting their money’s worth.

What’s your long-term plan with Prince Of Air?

We bought him as a summer horse for next year because he has a good track record around Tramore. He won’t go on winter heavy, so he’ll probably have one or two more runs in Thurles. We enjoy the summer racing, you know, you leave in the morning and it’s bright, and you get home when it’s bright.

What have you enjoyed most about ownership?

I’ve met more people in racing in the last three years than I have in my whole life. Everybody from the security guards going in the gates to the vets and even the stewards. They were extremely happy for us last week. They enjoy the small people winning too. Everyone’s working for the same goal. On summer days out, going racing, and you’re meeting these people and having a chat, and you have a cup of coffee with them in the stable yard, that’s the real enjoyment of it.

Do you ever get nervous watching your horses run?

No, I wouldn’t be nervous, once you’ve done your best and put in the work, it’s up to the horse and the jockey after that, and what will be will be. There’s no point in crying over spilled milk, you know.

What advice would you give to other owners?

The one thing I would say to owners, because I was a stable lad when I was younger, is to give 50 quid to the person looking after the horse. I think a lot of people forget that. That 50 quid is nothing to us, but 50 quid to the person looking after the horse is a lot. It’s just a thank you but it means an awful lot to them. These are the people that are around your horse all the time so it’s money well spent.

Life is short. We’re here for a good time, not a long time, so we’re very grateful. Claudia Culloty rides Prince Of Air every day and I told her that the journey is more important than the destination. There are more bad days than good, so you need to take your defeats well and enjoy the wins.

Have you got a retirement plan for your horses?

When the horses have had enough, they’re all sent on as riding horses and we get a good home for them. It’s important to us that if the horses are safe and good rides, that they go on and that they have another life. We’ve got a lot of luck out of racing, and I think the fact that we’re kind to the horses and we make sure they get a good home works towards that.