Where did your love of horses come from?

My father loved horses, my uncle is quite horsey and my cousin was a flat jockey, so it was in the family. I started riding from a very early age, mainly showing, hunting and eventing, but I did a bit of point-to-pointing as well. I had horses over here for a long time before I moved over. My best friend, Mark Gillard was a trainer, and my godsons, Theo and Fergus, both race-ride.

How did buying Ceroc come about?

I went to Tattersalls in England to buy a foal, and I decided I rather liked him. I rang Edward (O’Grady) to tell him, and he said: ‘What on earth are you buying foals for, you can’t do that!’ He sent people down to look at him and everybody liked him. I was buying him for myself, but Edward suggested we buy him together, and we did.

Edward had arranged for him to go to Ireland, and every time I mentioned that he should be going to the sales, I suddenly realised that the man who became my husband was worse at selling horses than I was! So, he never went anywhere. I thought I could collect horses, but Edward was even worse. We’ve had a lot of fun with him, and he has been a great servant. Being the first horse that Edward and I bought together, he will stay with me.

Tell me about Ceroc’s personality.

He’s very quirky. He chooses who he likes to ride him, and he prefers to go left-handed. At the grand old age of eight, he has decided that he can actually go around right-handed tracks, but he’s a real character. If you turn your back, he’ll have his stable door open, he manages to open any door possible with his tongue.

He’s into every bit of mischief. He always looks like a little round pony, a race never takes anything out of him, but he loves his jumping and he loves his racing.

I feel very lucky that I’m able to work with the Slatterys since Edward left us, they’ve been incredibly kind to me. It’s been a fantastic year for the Slattery yard, and we’ve had a lot of laughs together. They are a very kind family, and they look after my horses like family.

Has it helped having the racing

community to support you after Edward’s passing?

I’ve been so lucky. Wherever people can, they’ve helped, and support has come from all sorts of places. The people who stepped up to the mark have been the Slatterys and close friends of Edward’s, who have looked after me. They made it all a lot easier.

I think Edward would be very pleased to know that we’ve gone on with the horses and they’ve been winning and doing him proud. I’ve had to be more involved with the horses than I ever thought I would be, and it’s hard work.

Were you confident in your chances going into the run at Fairyhouse?

Because he’s quirky, we were very careful in our selection of jockey, you can’t just put anybody on him. Eoin Staples came to us from point-to-pointing. He rode Priory Park for Edward and won four point-to-points. We were very impressed with him in those early days, so when we were looking for a jockey, and Andy said we could have him on board, I said we definitely had to run him.

Eoin is a real horseman and gets the best out of them. Although the finish was tight enough for my liking, he said that he knew he had it won going into the last fence and that Ceroc wasn’t going to let us down. It made it even sweeter that Eoin was on board, after having that connection with Edward earlier in his career. Eoin rang Edward in the car one day before he had ever ridden Priory Park, and he was so polite on the phone that I made sure to write down his number.

When we were looking for a jockey for Priory Park, I suggested that Edward use him. Edward’s instructions the first day he rode Priory Park were: ‘Sit still, and as you’re in the air over the last fence, press the go button’ and that’s exactly what Eoin did and they went away and won. It felt like we had come full circle on Tuesday.

I was with Fabio (Neto, groom) watching the race, who has looked after Ceroc since day one, and we were shouting ‘Ceroc, Ceroc, Ceroc’. As he passed the finish line, we heard the commentator say the other horse’s name and we were gutted. Fabio was convinced we’d won it, so it was pretty nerve wrecking but very exciting.

That race takes us over the €50,000 mark in prize money, which isn’t bad for the little foal I bought for 17,000gns. Racing on your own can be jolly lonely, it’s much more fun to go with a big group, and then you can spread your costs as well, because it’s an expensive business. It’s great to share the success and I’m very lucky that my friends get behind me and we cheer each other on.

Do you know what’s next for Ceroc?

We were thinking of targeting some cross-country races. We were thinking of going to Cheltenham next weekend, but that race was called off so we’ll have to look again. He’s growing up, he’ll go right-handed now, and he loves a big jump. He doesn’t love a slog in the mud, so as long as the ground holds up, we’ll be good. We may look at some races in England for him, or maybe a cross-country race in France, he just loves to jump. He owes us nothing, he just makes me smile every day.

Have you got any horses to look forward to through the winter?

Queen Aethelfaed will run on the flat again at Dundalk, and we’ve got the lovely Sovereign Banter, whose favourite place is Dundalk. He was second last week and he’ll be gearing up for his winter campaign. We’ve got some two-year-olds working well that are gearing up for next year and a couple of three-year-olds to start over hurdles, so we’ve got a few there if anybody wants to buy one! I used to only have jumpers, but I’ve been enjoying the speed and better weather with the flat horses, and having a mixture of both is great. If you can have a horse that does both, you’re very lucky.