SHE’S Quality is chilling out in her paddock at Killarkin Stud near Dunboyne just a few days after her close second in the Group 3 Coral Charge at Sandown. Jack Davison is singing her praises as he now eyes her up for the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh next weekend. This race is rather close to his heart - he won it in 2021 with his parents’ home-bred Mooneista - and so too is his current stable star, who he believes has a lot more to give her connections.

“She came out of Sandown really well. She is so laid back. It’s a quick turnaround but we’ll see how things go in the next few days.”

Placed second in big company in all three starts this season at Newmarket (Group 3), Haydock (Group 2) and a week ago in Sandown under James Ryan, Davison believes the four-year-old hasn’t shown us her true potential just yet.

“She’s the best horse I have trained and I think the best days are in front of her. She loves fast ground. She has blistering pace and she’s improving - I’d happily get up in the middle of the night to train her if I had to!

“Other options are the Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes or the Nunthorpe. She also has an entry for the Flying Five. I would love to end up at the Breeders’ Cup - she has great gate speed. To be honest, I think I’m training one of the fastest horses in the world, so let’s hope she stays right.”

Davison recalls pouring his entire life savings into the €195,000 Goffs Orby purchase in 2022. “Mooneista had been sold and I was looking for some new horses. I was still a rookie trainer and the chances of me getting sent another good one like her was unlikely, so myself and a few friends/investors put together €500,000 to buy four yearlings.

“I went to see this Acclamation filly on the best advice of Barry Lynch and John Bourke. She’s out of an Exceed And Excel mare and was bred by Rathbarry Stud. There was no blacktype under the first dam, but she had a good back page. As soon as I saw her walk, the budget went out the window. Thankfully she’s turned out to be a good one.”

Business is business when it comes to horses and, when the opportunity came to sell a half-share in her in the spring, Davison took the opportunity. “David Skelly called me earlier in the year. He is advisor to John Guscic of Aristia Park Bloodstock. He’s an emerging owner in Australia and wanted to buy into some fillies in Europe. Up to then, she had won over €140,000 in prize money but the reality is, horses are expensive to train and travel. Plus, I needed capital to buy new stock, so it was well timed.”

Up and coming

As we head into the indoor arena to see the next lot warm up, Davison introduces me to some of his exciting two-year-olds with runs coming up soon. Among them are the Sioux Nation colt, Stop The Nation, an €80,000 purchase at the Orby Book 1 Sale. “He was third in the Anglesey Stakes and will potentially run in a listed race at Newbury.”

Another one possibly heading to the UK later this week is Whatastarr. “She cost €260,000 as a yearling and has yet to run, but we are very excited about her. We’re chasing the Goffs Bonus with her so she could be off to Newbury next week also as that’s a Goffs bonus maiden.”

When asked if it’s wrong to think of him as someone who specialises in two-year-olds and sprinters, he replies: “Our best horses have been fast fillies, and I am very happy with that.”

Davison currently has 30 horses in training and is pretty much at full capacity in his own yard. Also sharing the fabulous facilities at Killarkin with a separate yard of 20 boxes is Stephen Thorne.

“Stephen was a year behind me in the Flying Start and we’ve always kept in touch. He came here last year when he decided to take out his own licence. He does his own thing. We share the facilities, have separate lots, but help each other out too. It’s great to see him doing so well.”

It is a unique arrangement, but Davison said it works for them. “I’d like to see it catching on a bit more. It works for both of us. Stephen was able to walk into a facility all set up and put his own twist on it. With the help of the training facility, he is getting himself well-established as a trainer. As a result of Stephen taking up tenancy, I am now in a better position to maintain Killarkin to a higher standard.”

The facilities are impressive. Having started out as a breeding operation over 70 years ago, it has been totally transformed. It now boasts 50 boxes, an indoor arena, a three-furlong round sand gallop, stalls, two walkers (with another one under construction), woodchip paddocks, and 45 acres of grass turnout paddocks. Davison also has the use of top-class facilities nearby and he occasionally goes to the Curragh and Skryne to work the horses.

“Killarkin Stud was purchased by my grandfather Walton Davison in the late 1950s. He was a successful vet, consigner and breeder. My parents John and Paula later got into breeding and it was with home-breds that I got my break into racing.”

Making a start

In the run up to him taking out his full licence in late 2017, he had graduated in Agricultural Science in UCD, as well as completing the Flying Start Programme.

“I had also worked in the States and spent time with several trainers here. I had my heart set on training. I knew I had this place. There was always one good mare about and, in fact, my first runner, and winner, were both home-breds.”

Downtown Diva was one of note. “No one wanted her at the sales. I started riding her around the fields and used the gallop at Lee Valley as we had nothing here at the time. She was fourth in a maiden first time out, and after that I figured I could get the hang of this training.”

With a few runs under his belt, Davison was enjoying the buzz and picked up a second horse. “That was Rayita. She cost €15,000 at the Goffs Sportsman Sale and was third first time out. She was later sold for a nice sum and I used the money to put in the gallop.”

It took the Meath native a year to get his first winner. That was at Dundalk on Friday, August 17th, 2018 where another home-bred, Black Magic Woman, won the juvenile fillies’ maiden.

As his confidence grew, so too did the numbers as owners began to take note. “The McStay family have been very supportive from early on. They sent me Fresnel, who gave me my second win at Dundalk. She ran at Ascot and York and ended up being rated 102.”

The McStays have remained loyal to Davison ever since and Fresnel’s full-brother, the two-year-old Sea Lantern, and a filly out of Fresnel are both in training there.

Career highlights

In the early years, the home-bred Mooneista was one of the stable stars and gave the trainer many great days out. Winner of the Woodland Stakes by three-quarters of a length in April 2021, the daughter of Dandy Man went on to land the Sapphire Stakes just a few months later.

“That was definitely the highlight of my career, as was watching Thunderbear winning his Group 3 at Newbury. He’s still here and the oldest in the yard at five. He’s a home-bred too by Kodi Bear. My late aunt Mary (Davison) had his dam Speronella.

“He ran in the Rockingham and was disappointing. He wants soft ground, so we will wait for an autumn campaign, maybe in the UK.”

Thunderbear’s half-brother Lightning Bear (by Kuroshio) won under the Jack Davison Racing Club banner last year before being sold to the UK. “I have shares in some of the horses here and I am always trying to bring more people on board, so I set up the racing club in 2024. We’ve had some fun and have the two-year-old filly Sup Of Red this season.”

Mooneista went through Tattersalls at the December Mares’ Sale in 2022 and was snapped up by Kia Ora Stud for 850,000 guineas. She ran a few times under Joseph O’Brien, after which she was sent to stud in Australia. She is due her first foal, by Farnan, in October.

Davison said there’s always a good time to sell a horse and he has no regrets. “The timing is usually right.”

Important connections

If it were not for the sale of a horse called Take Me To Church, Davison may not have been introduced to prominent American owner Staton Flurry.

“He was a good horse that was fifth in the Irish 2000 Guineas. We had bought him for €38,000 at the Goresbridge Breeze-Up and Staton paid £300,000 for him at the Goffs London Sale in 2024. He was due to run in the Jersey Stakes that week but pricked a foot. That was hugely disappointing, and I was gutted for Staton, who had flown in to see him run.

“Shortly after the Ascot fiasco, I claimed Bucaneer’s Spirit for €5k and I quite brazenly got on the phone to Staton, imploring him to take this horse, and he did. Thank God, the horse won two and was placed multiple times. Staton is now a huge supporter of the yard.

“Ownership communications is an important part of our business and we work hard on that. I do the entries myself and we have someone doing accounts, but I am very lucky that I have a small team of fantastic staff. James Ryan, who was champion apprentice last year, works here Tuesday and Friday. He still has his 3lb claim and it works for both of us.”

“The top-five jockeys generally speaking get the pick of the rides, and I was becoming frustrated being let down when I knew I had some bloody good horses on offer. James is a big part of the team and he rides all the horses. I think that he’s a real talent and he’s very dedicated to stay light for a tall lad.”

Getting good staff and retaining them is one of the many headaches of racing, but Davison has the key. “We are in a lovely location here. I pay well and look after them well, so I am doing okay. With 30 horses, you need the staff to have any chance of succeeding; thankfully I have some exceptional horse people and riders on the team.”

Ups and downs

Racing, and horses in general, are a great leveller and Davison has learnt to cope with setbacks when things don’t go according to plan. “As a child, I was a terrible loser. Being ultra-competitive and a fiery character, racing has put manners on me, but I’m a very determined person so I persevere.

“At the start when I was let down on Group 1 days, I took it badly. But it was a first-world disappointment. I handle it better now that I am older and I take the positives from a disappointing run. You can’t let it infiltrate into the yard. You need to remain level and focused when things aren’t going according to plan. It’s no use getting emotional and throwing the toys out of the pram.”

Having notched up 19 winners in 2024, Davison, who turns 38 later this month, has also had plenty of highs. “I’ve enjoyed all the winners and celebrating afterwards with owners. The fact that wins are so hard to get makes it more enjoyable. If it was easy everyone would be doing it.”

Davison particularly likes racing in the UK. “I really look forward to going over. Saturday racing is huge at the premier racetracks and She’s Quality has had great support - the general public want her to win. She has raised my profile considerably over there.”

Davison believes racing is struggling everywhere, but the Irish have a lot to learn from their British counterparts.

“Everything in the UK is on a different level. Attendance is better and facilities are better, which adds to the owner experience. Here in Ireland, it is all a bit predictable and uneventful. We are 10 years behind.”

Davison also believes that flat racing in general is too business-orientated, which takes away from the sport. “Jump horses are easy to follow over a number of years, whereas flat horses have a two-year lifespan. People like Aidan O’Brien are great to explain about a horse and what makes him so good. That’s very good for the appeal of the sport to the general public. We need more of that to engage people so that the sport can grow, or at least not regress!”

In the short-term, Jack Davison has a lot to look forward to with a new baby due any day with his partner, Jodi O’Connor. In the long-term, Davison’s goal is to train a Group 1 winner.

“That is the ultimate aim. I have my full licence now eight years almost to the day. I’m glad to say I turned Killarkin from a breeding operation to a training operation and made it work.

“I get a lot of pleasure out of seeing the place look well. I wouldn’t have it running at half capacity or in disrepair. If it wasn’t for the home place I’d be training in England, or California ideally. The main thing now is to stay in business and steadily increase the quality of horses.”

So why should racehorse owners send you a horse to train?

“We have proven we can make it work with average horses and, when I come across a good one, I like to think we really got it right. We’ve never not got it right. We try to have our horses in a good routine.

“They are all very fit. The happier they are, the more they will do for you. That has to count for something.”