Where did your interest in the racing industry come from?

I’m a newphew of Gerry’s (Keane, trainer) so I grew up with racing being on in the house. My father wasn’t into racing but we’d have it on the television. As I got older my interest grew, and with my cousin Colin (Keane) being as successful as he was I had a great interest. My mother is a Thornton and they’re into racing as well. My cousin Andrew on that side was also a jockey. He won the Grand National for Tom Gibney on Líon Na Bearnaí.

I always thought about getting a horse. My friend Sean McGivern works for Ken Parkhill and he came across Ragmans Corner. We decided to take a chance on him. He’s been lucky for us so far.

How did you get the syndicate together?

I’m in the construction industry, I have a plant hire company. I know a lot of lads in the industry around Kells in Co Meath so through word of mouth I got the message out that I had a nice horse and wanted to get a syndicate together. Sean broke him in and then we sent him to Gerry to train.

All of us in the syndicate work in construction, apart from Patrick Tunney, who has a bar in New York. I lived in New York for four years and I used to dine in his place, The Copper Kettle. Half the syndicate are from Carlanstown and the other half are from around Crossakiel where I’m from. There’s big rivalry in the GAA but we come together for racing!

Where did the name Ragmans Corner come from?

The Crossakiel side of the syndicate named the horse. There’s a crossroads between Kells and Oldcastle and it was always known as the Ragmans Corner. Louis Leavy has a share in the horse and his farm in on the crossroads. He had been involved in Líon Na Bearnaí and always wanted to name a horse Ragmans Corner. It’s a well-known spot in our area.

When it came to naming the syndicate, I asked the lads from Carlanstown if they had any ideas. Most of them are plumbers and tilers and they build wet rooms all day every day so we came up with The Wet Room Syndicate as a joke and it stuck.

It was an interesting race on Monday. What did you think of the way it panned out?

It didn’t pan out the way we thought it would anyway, it fell asunder really but he did what he needed to do. It didn’t seem to faze him too much. I think they went too quick too early and Eoghan (Finegan) did a great job on him. He said he knew he had them covered at the second last. The way he went on to win by 12 lengths was unbelievable.

Were you confident in your chances beforehand?

We were confident after his last run in Fairyhouse, I thought he ran a blinder but he was a bit unlucky to miss the second last and that probably cost him a length. He was only beaten by a length and a quarter. I was confident going into it but you never know what might happen.

Do you know what’s next on the agenda for Ragmans Corner?

Gerry is talking about going back to a two-mile flat race in Dundalk. I think the key with this lad is to keep him fresh. He got a lot of racing towards the back-end of the year when we were trying to get him handicapped on the flat and over hurdles and it probably tired him a bit.

We freshened him up for Punchestown and it seemed to work so I think that’s the way to run him now. We’ll probably give him a break for three or four weeks and see when the next race comes up.

Have you discussed retirement plans for him when that time comes?

No we haven’t yet. A few of the boys have a bit of land and Líon Na Bearnaí is still alive and kicking and jumping out of his skin at Louis’ so he could go in and keep him company. We have plenty of options.

In your own words, how would you describe the journey so far?

With the syndicate and getting all the boys together, most of them didn’t know each other and they’re all getting to know each other now. We always go for a few pints after the races and have a bit of banter. It’s been great, everyone gets on and that’s the main thing. We had good celebrations on Monday night in Carlanstown!

Some of the boys wouldn’t have gone racing much before so to see the look on their faces when Ragmans wins is brilliant. We don’t all make it to the races every time he runs but we do our best. I’d say from now on they’ll be turning out with their wives and girlfriends as well. There were only three lads missing on Monday: John Clair, John Tully and Pat Tunney. It’s great to have family involved as well with Gerry training him.

Have you dealt with many challenges yet?

Not really. We were ready to go racing one morning to Down Royal and he got cast in the box and had a nick on his leg so we chose not to run him and I suppose his first run was challenging. He went to Thurles with Ricky Doyle on board and he jinked at the first hurdle and sent Ricky out the side door. It was some introduction to racing. In fairness to him, he ran the whole race without a jockey and never missed another hurdle so he learned. Shows how genuine and honest he is. I needed something positive to tell the lads after!

He got through his maidens on bad ground and his jockeys were always happy with him. When he went to Downpatrick he didn’t handle the track and just wasn’t well in himself but he came out next time and won at Galway.

You’ve had fairy smooth sailing so far, would you say you’re prepared if something were to go wrong?

I warned the boys from the word go, that if they put their money into this, they would more than likely never see it again and they all understand that. Thankfully he’s been paying for himself so far. He’s ran into the money on nearly every run and you get a few bob for fifth or sixth so it pays the jockey. It all makes the journey a bit easier.

I can’t imagine what it would be like going to the races with 10 lads and the horse running badly five or six times in a row. I don’t know how you’d keep going. We’ve been very lucky with him and he’s been very genuine and honest and very seldom ran a bad race.

Is there anything that racecourses could improve to make the experience more enticing to new owners?

Yes, definitely. I took my parents racing with me on Monday and they’re well up in their 70s. I was going in at the AIR turnstile, running a bit late and the woman working there just wasn’t very nice to us. She made my parents walk back up and pay in.

There were only six of us from the syndicate there so I thought she would have let them in on my card. It was just bad form because she was rude about it. If you’re trying to get more people to go racing, that definitely doesn’t help.