How did you get involved in the industry?

My grandad, Mossy Quinlan, was always big into racing and he went to all the race meetings. He was the man that led the way for our family to be into racing.

My family are from Ballingarry in Limerick, the same place Charles (Byrnes, trainer) is from, and my grandad would have been very good friends with Charles’ dad. My dad would have been in school with Charles as well.

We have a very close relationship with them, especially over the last few years, since we’ve had a few horses with them. We’d consider them family to be honest with you.

Who’s in the syndicate with you?

We’re based in Dubai and there’s seven of us in the syndicate, but we’re a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve got a Scottish guy, we’ve got an Aussie, we’ve got a Libyan, and we’ve got one lad from Cork.

He’s a dodgy lad called Kevin Hassett and the rest of us are from Limerick! We met through work, and a few of us are close friends from school.

Did you all make it to Haydock last weekend?

Just four out of seven in the syndicate got to Haydock. When Charles Byrnes rings you and tells you your horse has a chance, you’re going to make the trip from Dubai!

Were you confident in your chances at Haydock?

We were absolutely confident he would finish in the top three, but as you know, these handicaps are not easy to win. When he went from seven to 22s in the betting, we were very confused with that. We didn’t know why he would drift so much.

I think a lot of the pundits would have thought that he wouldn’t like that soft, heavy ground, but Charles and Cathal (Byrnes, assistant trainer) told us that he’d love it, so it really all worked out. It was an amazing ride from Alex Harvey for what I think was the biggest win in his racing career.

The journey with Shoot First hasn’t always been as smooth as it looked last weekend.

We’ve had an unbelievable journey over the last three or four years, especially. I mean, when we first got him, he won in Tipperary, and then he came second in Galway, which we thought he should have won on the day. We took him to the Cheltenham Pertemps Qualifier, which he won, it was an extremely strong handicap.

He was 11/4 favourite for the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival, but three days before the race he got a bit of a bang and we had to pull him out. We were quite confident that he would have won, but unfortunately, he’d done some tendon damage.

We told Charles to give him as much time off as he needs, the horse would let us know when he wants to come back. We gave him 18 months off, and he repaid us big time there at the weekend. It was an amazing training performance from Charles and Cathal, because to get them back from that injury is never easy, and to get him back to win a big race like that is amazing.

To me, Charles is probably the best trainer in Ireland, he just doesn’t have the firepower the bigger trainers would have, but to get a horse ready to win on a big day, Charles is the best. There’s no doubt about that.

Have you got any horses in Dubai?

Yeah, we’ve got two horses in Dubai, one trained by Buphat Seemar, and one trained by Doug Watson.

We’ve got a foal with the Gleeson family down in Waterford as well, and we’re planning on getting another horse with Charles after last week’s win. We trust Charles completely to lead us in the right direction with finding a new horse.

Could you pick out a highlight from your time with Shoot First?

I’d have to go with the Haydock 22/1 winner, but at the end of the day, the real highlights are going racing with your mates and being involved with Charles, Cathal, Philip, Melissa and Cora.

They’re an amazing family and a great racing family so, to be involved with them and to be enjoying these great days with them, is what it’s all about.

Do you ever get nervous watching your horses run?

You’d get nervous because there’s a lot of expectation. There’s a lot of people following this horse. You know, we’ve got cousins in Killfeacle, a lot of friends in Limerick and family in Graiguenamanagh in Kilkenny.

So, there’s a lot of people watching and hoping he’ll win. So you’d be more nervous because there’s so many people involved. Then again, when you’ve got the likes of Philip or Alex in the saddle and being trained by Charles, you’ve got a great chance wherever you go.