What got you into racing?

My dad is a very small but enthusiastic breeder, and he’s always loved racing. We’ve always had one or two broodmares in the family and I think it all started from there really. I had a grandfather as well who was very into it; he had a stallion called Rome Rocket back in the day. We’ve always had plenty of pictures at home, and dreams and aspirations, but always very conservative and just enjoying it. We’ve loved to work with the smaller and less flashy side of the industry with smaller trainers.

A brilliant day is when Lorna (Fowler, trainer), who’s got a handful of horses, wins a Grade 2. That’s the definition of as good as life gets. It’s probably just another statistic for a bigger trainer, but for her it’s pretty exciting.

How did you get involved with Lorna?

My wife is from Co Meath. I grew up with Harry Fowler, and he’s married to Lorna. Lorna would be a very good friend of my wife’s and we’ve got lots of friends in common so we’ve known each other for 25 years or so. Harry I’ve known for 45 years, and we’ve always been very good friends. I just think Lorna’s brilliant and she’s got some young horses of our who we think a lot of. We’ve got a Walk In The Park sister to Queen’s Gamble and a Crystal Ocean sister to Don Poli who are coming up soon. The latter is part owned by Adam Petey so it could definitely be quite interesting. He’s one of the most decorated Olympians of all time so that should be fun! They’re great pedigrees, and that’s thanks to Harry Fowler who’s been amazing in finding us horses. They’re all homebreds, and that’s what we love doing.

Tell me about your homebreds.

We’ve got a really nice filly called Molto Bene in training with Charlie Longsdon, and we bred her. She’s going well and she’s two from two this year which is really exciting. We also bred Honesty Policy who won a Grade 1 last year, but we very sadly lost the mare. Those would probably be the standouts.

Queen’s Gamble is a third generation homebred, as is the sister, so we’re looking forward to breeding from them and going down to a fourth generation. It’s pretty special when the kids grow up with them at home. My eldest is 17 and she loves it. She comes along to the races and shouts for all of our horses.

My 15-year-old is mad keen as well. They just love the animals and getting close to them. I’ve got a son who’s 11 and a little girl who’s five and riding away. They’re happy little people and they all have a real passion for the horse. I think it’s a great privilege for kids to grow up with horses.

How did it all start with Colonel Mustard?

He’s a dream horse. We bought him as a foal. His Mustard connection started off with Matt Coleman buying him, and then he’s a bright orange colour so he was easy to name. He started off in bumpers and we knew he was pretty good from the outset, really. He’s got a bit of an edge to him, he’s pretty competitive and he’s a very intelligent horse. He’s right up there with the best over hurdles and he’s worthy of lining up in any of the big races.

We got a couple of other friends involved with him, not least Pete Davis who’s been a great supporter of the National Hunt industry. He’s just about the most brilliant guy you could ever meet really when it comes to his passion for racing and for the longevity of sports generally. He has a wonderful vision about life which is hugely inspiring, he really wants to make sure that these sports and hobbies and the fun things in life will be around forever. Pete, Harry and some friends and I have shared Colonel Mustard and he’s taken us to all of the big days. Lots of visits to Cheltenham, the DRF. Life is best seen through the eyes of a good horse.

He’s not an easy horse, and I think that’s a great testament to Lorna. He’s not a warm, cuddly, fluffy fella, he’s got his own mind and he wouldn’t be the easiest in the world. The way Lorna has nurtured him and kept his mind so good, it’s very rare for a horse to be beaten so many times and come back tougher than ever as a 10-year-old. Very rarely do you see that.

You either have those very dominant horses, but not often do you have a horse that’s been through so many hard races and had hard defeats, and is still winning up gruelling straights at Navan at the ripe old age of 10. Lorna has always placed him so well, and he’s always come to the races in incredible health. You’re so aware of the brilliance of Willie Mullins and the big guys in Ireland, so it’s lovely to see the emerging talent come through. There are some brilliant people out there. It’s also been lovely to support the younger, more novicey jockeys coming through. It’s so lovely to see Lorna stick with people who perhaps don’t have a chance on the big stage very often.

Did you go to Navan when he won?

I had to work, so I couldn’t make it over to Navan when it got rescheduled, but Johnny (Shinnick, jockey) gave us an interview after and said that Mustard was looking around everywhere. Johnny’s old boss Ger Lyons told Lorna that whenever he was feeling down, he’d go and see Johnny, and his smile got everybody through the toughest of days. It was lovely to give him a big winner.

Could you pick out a highlight?

I think Queen’s Gamble winning first time out at Cheltenham will always be my best ever day racing. Poor Oliver Sherwood had just been diagnosed with cancer, and I think Johnny Burke lost his mum to cancer as well, so seeing them come back into the winner’s enclosure on a homebred mare, and my daughter screaming as she came up the home straight and jumping into Oliver’s arms was amazing.

I don’t think I’ll ever get close to that again. We sadly lost my wife’s mum, who shared the dam, and we were incredibly close to her, and very close to my brother-in-law Ed Galvin who’s got a stud just outside Navan. We’re a very close family so when she won first time out and we realised we had a proper one, it was very special.

World Pool got some flack after Derby weekend in Ireland, what are your thoughts on that?

I think it was more the quality of the races that got the backlash; you want to see the top races on the top days. We’re going to learn a lot along the way, but ultimately, we’re trying to create more revenue streams for the sport and we’re trying to make the sport more international.

I think Ireland and the UK have extraordinary international gravitas for racing and we’ve got to try and grow that opportunity. If you look at all the major sports that have survived and thrived, they’ve been successful on the international stage. You’ve got extraordinary growing economies around the world that we should present our sport to, and also, you’ve got to be concerned with the amount of illegal gambling going on.

Unless we present our sport in a very joined up way, with a pool integrated into the system, you’re just going to create an enormous illegal market, bigger than the one already in existence. Unless we create a really exciting well integrated alternative, we’re basically fueling the illegal market.

Overall, people are very quick to criticise change, but not much is changing and I think World Pool is set up exactly how bookmakers and TV companies want things set up. They want to be able to put the best events on, well spaced out, on the best days, it’s as simple as that. If you look at what Hong Kong is doing next week, they’re trying to create the four biggest races in the world with superstars like Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising. They want these horses to be enjoyed by everybody around the world which I think is so exciting. You want these horses to be international superstars.