How did you get involved in the racing industry?

One of the first horses I had was in ‘99. Louis Archdeacon bought a three-year-old at the sales and we raced him in Carrigtwohill and he finished second. We sold him to Henrietta Knight and he ended up giving Jim Culloty his first Grade 1. So that’s where I got going. I went on my own then and bought a mare. I named her Sharon’s Touch after my daughter. She won in Killarney and got blacktype in Fairyhouse in an EBF Mares’ Final. We went to Cheltenham one November for a conditional riders’ race on the Friday evening and she won that at 33/1. Rob Flavin rode her, and Louis trained her. We were the only Irish winner there that evening. It was some buzz. I covered her with Presenting, but she ended up breaking a front leg in the paddock, the same day as the Twin Towers.

Tell me about Corbally Cross.

Corbally Cross was unlucky. As a four-year-old, he ran in a point-to-point and finished third. If he had jumped a little bit better, I’d say he’d have been sold. He got a very bad injury as a five-year-old and we were told to put him down by three vets. Con McSweeney has a child with special needs, and the horse and herself get on very well, so he couldn’t put the horse down. He decided to keep going, and PJ Murphy stuck with me as well. Last December, Con rang me to say that the horse was back in action, so we went for a point-to-point at Curraghmore and won. The rest is history.

How did the partnership with Con come about?

We have a lot of very good trainers down this side of the country in Cork. I’ve been with Con for a while. We’ve had a few more horses and he used to be a jockey, so I’ve known him all my life. I share my horses around local trainers. It’s very hard to compete in the four-year-old point-to-points now. We took them on for a while, but it’s getting harder and harder. Con bought Corbally Cross and syndicated him, so that’s how I got him. He’s a smashing looking horse. Things didn’t go right for a while, but he’s turned a corner now so we’re hoping to have some more fun.

Were you confident going into the race at Wexford?

Oh yes! We were. He was in great form, and the three miles suited him big time. We were expecting a big run and that he’d be placed at least. He was in great form. We had a few pound on him and it paid off. If we could win another race over hurdles, we’d be delighted and then he’ll go over fences hopefully.

How do you think the race panned out?

I thought he went to the front too soon, but he couldn’t do much about it. He brought himself into the race. He was very fresh in himself and you could see that he was loving it. He jumped the last very big as well. He didn’t get a hard race, he just enjoyed himself. He wouldn’t be the fastest out there, but he’d keep going and that’s the main thing. Any horse that will keep going will pick up a few races. We might go to Listowel for a two-mile-six. It’s very hard to find races at the moment. It would be nice to have a runner there.

What’s your favourite racetrack?

Killarney is a beautiful track. It must be the nicest in the world. There’s nothing wrong with Cheltenham now either, it’s nice to be there and look down over the hills. You can only dream of taking a horse there again. It’s a shame about Thurles going, it was a grand track. A real good National Hunt track. It will be missed. If you could win around Thurles you were going places, a good tough hill coming home.

What challenges have you faced as an owner?

There should be way more racing for the small trainers to keep it competitive and there would be more owners. It’s very hard to take on all of the big lads. We drive on anyway because we enjoy the sport. It’s expensive too, so you’d want a few good days to keep it going. You’ll never make money, but there’s a great buzz out of it. Going to the point-to-points and the races is great.

Are you looking forward to the point-to-point season kicking off again?

I used to go to a lot of them before, but not so much now. We have another horse in Eugene O’Sullivan’s that will be out in a couple of months and I have a couple at home, so we’ll play it away by ear. You never know what’s going to happen until you get them to the start. So many things can go wrong before then. It’s half the battle just getting to the white flag.

Have you been at the sales this year?

I’ll probably buy a few foals this year, or maybe yearlings, I’ll see. They mightn’t be that expensive this year. They’ve been making too much the last few years. Stallions are very expensive, which is a lot of the problem. It turns a lot of people off. This year might be the year for farmers to buy a couple of foals and dream away again for a few more years.

What advice would you give someone that wanted to get into ownership?

There was great value at the last sale with three-year-olds. You could bring home a few cheap ones and you might just get lucky. You don’t realise the buzz that’s in it until you have one. Life isn’t all work, you must relax a few days and go racing. You make a lot of great friends as well in the racing world. I have a couple of great friends that I go racing with, like PJ Murphy, there’s a few of us there.

Con tells me you have a nickname, can you tell me about that?

My nickname is ‘the Frog’. We had a good racing donkey that I went all over the country with. I bought him at Spancill Hill. We named him after Camelot, and called him Frogelot! We had great days out with him.