How did you get involved in the racing industry?

We have a farm at home and we always kept a broodmare, mostly for breeding half-breds. My dad ended up buying a filly to run, her name was Porter’s Pet. We went all over the country with her. My mam is from Dublin so all of her childhood memories are of knocking around the RDS when Dublin Horse Show was on. That’s probably where I get my disease from!

Besides rugby, which I don’t play much anymore, horses are my main passion. I set up syndicates with the end goal of making them affordable. I normally sell 20 shares in each horse, so that each owner can be in on the action rather than relying on the luck of the draw in a raffle for racing tickets with a bigger syndicate or racing club.

Before getting into ownership I started with some breeding. The first winner I bred was a filly called Calle Malva. Myself and my brother Brian have a broodmare called Horner Hill, who is the grand dam of Gavin Cromwell’s Only By Night so that’s quite exciting. She’s in foal to a young sire called Khalifa Sat. Brian is my right-hand man with the broodmares and has a share in most of our syndicates. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the support of my wife Orla and my parents over the years.

What syndicates are you part of?

The first syndicate that I set up was called Twenty Fine Men Syndicate. There are now only 13 of us involved and we are all prison officers. We own a horse called Wardens Whisper who is trained by Philip Rothwell. He got his first win at Cork in January. I set the syndicate up last March, ringing a few trainers to see what the price points were.

Philip gave me two or three options of horses that he had available and we went with Wardens Whisper. He was cheap and he’s no superstar but we’ve had great fun with him. People wouldn’t touch him at the sales because he’s a small Youmzain gelding, but his dam is a winning Dubai Destination mare who won as a three-year-old on the flat, and his grand dam won the Fred Winter at Cheltenham, so he is a racehorse, but wasn’t much of a sales horse. The plan going forward is to run at Wexford on St Patricks Day.

Maxios Prime won last time out at Fairyhouse for another syndicate, the Living Life to the Maxios Syndicate. She’s another example of a cheap purchase that we’ve had great fun with. There’s a great mixture of owners involved with her. She’ll go to Ascot for a juvenile hurdle at the end of March. I have two more syndicates set up and one that I’m getting started with so I have plenty to look forward to.

How do you source horses for these syndicates?

When I’m sourcing horses I either get help from the trainer, or I go to a store sale. Philip has been a great help in sourcing horses, we work well together. The point-to-point trainers at the store sales are probably looking for big horses, well over 16hh, but I’m happy with a smaller horse, as long as the pedigree is there. Wardens Whisper is by Youmzain who wasn’t very fashionable when we bought him and Maxios Prime’s page didn’t have any blacktype, yet they’re well able to compete on the track.

Have you discussed retirement options with your syndicates, for when your horses have finished their racing careers?

The plan is always for a filly to go to a breeding shed. I try to have a pedigree strong enough when buying her that she will fit into this role. A friend of mine has a riding school so any geldings that retire will go to him as riding horses.

You played a huge role in setting up Racing for a Reason in 2023, tell us more about that.

Unfortunately, my dad is battling cancer and my brother’s father-in-law has Motor Neurone disease, so I wanted to raise some money for the Irish Cancer Society and Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. I had always wanted to do a Cheltenham preview night, so I was ringing around looking for some support and the first person that I spoke to was Gordon Doyle from Knockmullen House Stud. He gave me two stallion nominations to auction which gave me the idea to ring more studs. I ended up with more than 60 nominations. Joseph O’Brien offered a yard tour, as did 20 other trainers, so it all snowballed into a big auction with over 100 lots which were auctioned by Thoroughbid. Between that and the Cheltenham preview night we raised nearly €100,000. It was unbelievable. The whole industry was top class.

My dad has always been an amazing horseman. If we ever had a horse at home that was a bit mad and gave me a hard time, Dad was always able to get them on his side.