How did the MasterMac Partnership come about?

Tony: We both live in Hartfordshire and Bedfordshire and work together in north London. Roger and I have been in business together for five years as MasterMac Surfacing, hence the name of the horse. We get a great buzz out of it and we like to do things together. My dad Con is big into the horses, so it’s been great to carry it on.

We decided to have the horse trained in Ireland, because it’s better craic over there. Mark (Fahey, trainer) trains for my dad and we got on well with him. James Hughes looks after my dad’s horses and when we were looking to buy a horse, James found us this lad. We haven’t looked back.

He was out in the field as a three-year-old when we went to see him. There was something about him that we liked, he had a bit of a quirky personality and he came running up to us in the field. James has been working alongside my dad for the last 12 years between the mares and yearlings, so it was great to have someone we trusted to source the horse for us.

The racing community and the craic is far superior in Ireland than in England. I go racing in England regularly with my dad and it’s sterile in comparison.

Roger: I set up MasterMac with Tony as my business partner. I’m mad about racing, so MasterMac Surfacing sponsors the British Superbike racing team. I was at the North West 200 two weeks ago with Michael Dunlop. He rides Hawk Racing’s bikes there, and I have two Irish riders on my superbikes, Eugene McManus and Reece Irwin from the north of Ireland.

I own another company called MasterMac Haulage. We ship all of the bikes over to Europe for racing and test days, and we do Formula 1 as well. My whole life is racing. It’s just been great. Ireland is definitely the place for it. When I walk around the paddock with the bikes, everyone calls me Mr Master Mac, so when we bought the horse, it was the right name for him.

Were you confident going into the race last week?

T: Yeah, very.

R: When you speak to Mark and he sounds confident, he knows what Mr Master Mac is capable of, so I wasn’t so confident until I’d spoken to Mark.

T: It’s easy to say afterwards that your horse was the best in the race, but you never know what might happen with jumps racing. The jockey rode him exactly to his instructions and he jumped like a buck. It wasn’t the best of maiden hurdles, but he’s won his bumper and his maiden hurdle now.

How excited were you to see him win?

R: I ran over to the last fence, and then realised there was a screen by the finish, and I was probably running to that screen as fast as Mr Master Mac was! When I got up there, Tony and my wife Jody were there and the horse won. I picked Tony up and we were jumping around forgetting our surroundings. We were absolutely buzzing.

T: To have a winner is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so for this horse to have won twice is amazing.

R: Tony’s dad has been involved with horses for a long time, so for me coming in as a rookie owner, and listening to Con who’s been around horses for so long, it’s a great feeling.

T: The first person to ring me after the race was my dad. My dad’s in this game and that’s been embedded into me, so we know how precious it is when you do get a winner. We’re not going to get too carried away, we want to be careful with Mr Master Mac, but he’s special and we think he can get us to the festivals.

It’s such a buzz, but we’ve got to be grounded as well, back to our day jobs now. You have to go in with your eyes open. The horse’s wellbeing is the most important thing, we just want to make sure he puts his best foot forward and comes home safe every time.

R: The main thing for us is the excitement. We don’t want to put pressure on Mr Master Mac, because we want this to continue for as long as possible. We let Mark run him the way he wants to. There’s nothing better than the buzz we get from winning.

How was the overall experience at Downpatrick?

T: We were going to Downpatrick for the first time not really knowing what to expect, but it was amazing. The owners’ reception afterwards was great, the weather was nice and there was a bit of live music.

R: It’s way better than England. You go racing here and you have to get dressed up all pompus, even on a normal day, and you’re waiting ages at the bar. You turn up in Ireland and you’ve got a person with a glove slapping a bit of bacon and cabbage on your plate and you’re just having the craic.

Everyone’s happy, the food is great, the beer is great, and the sun was shining. The only way I’d bring Mr Master Mac to England is for Cheltenham. I absolutely love Ireland. The atmosphere, everywhere I go in Ireland, is absolutely great.

Do you know what’s next for Mr Master Mac?

T: He’s progressing the right way, so I think the plan is a novice hurdle next, and then hopefully he’ll run in a graded novice hurdle at one of the summer festivals. That’s the plan this season, all being well. If he does what we think he can do, he’ll be a Cheltenham Festival horse next year. Mark is a good lad, he’s grounded. He’s likeable and approachable and he keeps us fully updated. We trust all of his judgement.

R: Grounded? He had a spring in his step last Friday night!

Would you consider buying another horse now?

R: Jody was up at Fahey’s last year looking at horses and she loves it. We have ponies and alpacas at home. Myself, Jody and Tony considered going three ways on another horse, but we’ll never be as lucky as we’ve been owning Mr Master Mac. I have two boys, 18 and 13, and they love it. They’re mad to come over with us. They’ll definitely want to come over to a festival.