MY father worked here on the track. He was the foreman before I took over. There was always a massive interest in the races in our house from as far back as I can remember. I love watching racing as well. I have a great interest, particularly in National Hunt racing, flat not so much.

I love Cheltenham, the DRF, Leopardstown at Christmas, Punchestown, Listowel - all the main meetings. I’d go a good bit to the Cheltenham November meeting but not so much the Festival; I wouldn’t be mad on massive crowds.

When we were young, we used to walk across the fields to the track. It was only maybe a 10-minute walk. As my father worked there, we were always up and around the place from an early age. I now live within two miles of the racecourse.

The first time I worked up here, I was 11. I was working in Lydon House collecting bottles and stuff. The following year then, I started working out on the track. I did that right up until I was 26 or 27.

My own family have continued that tradition and work here now. My wife works selling racecards and one of my daughters does as well but she is away this year. My sons worked out on the track. One of them is here now and his wife works in the enclosure. We nearly all work here. One son even came back from Australia one year for race week and another came from Brussels.

After finishing school, I went tool-making for a while. I worked here in the summers. Then I went working in a factory. When I got the chance to come in here on a full-time basis, I jumped at it.

Changes

When I started working here, Captain Luke Mullins was the manager. John Moloney was here when I became foreman and now his son Michael is in charge. I took over from my father as foreman in 2002. I learned everything from him. When I got the job, he stayed on for a few years to help me. He wanted to make sure I didn’t close down the place!

He did things right and you don’t change things just for the sake of it. It’s crazy the changes that have taken place - every year there seems to be something new here. The enclosure is totally different, and we have even made the track a lot bigger. We use mobile jumps. We do a lot of different things to get full use out of every inch of the track for the seven days.

Preparations really start after our final meeting on the bank holiday in October. You repair the ground as best you can and it starts up again in early March, you could say.

Doing divot mixing and rolling, spiking, draining; all the usual stuff. It literally is non-stop. Maybe December and January we don’t do much on the track.

This year has been particularly challenging because of the weather. There has been a lot of watering, and the team have put in a massive effort. They do every year but more so this year because it is constant watering with the temperatures and lack of rainfall.

You like to see everyone enjoying themselves at the races. Seeing everything that you’ve worked for during the year come together.

There is good racing. The quality of horses coming here has improved an awful lot over the years. The crowds seem to keep coming and the facilities here have come on massively.

Every summer when the young fellas start coming in to work, you get a great lift out of it. It’s great craic up here. Race week then and a few weeks beforehand, lads that have been off come back in. It’s basically the same faces every year. It’s great to meet up and catch up with them all. Everyone knows their job which is great. If someone is missing, there is always someone to fill in.

Flat out

Although I love racing, it’s purely work for me during race week. I probably wouldn’t even know who won or who was running – you’d be too busy to notice. Your main concern is that everything goes okay.

We have a big team out on the track here during race week. We do everything ourselves; I know other tracks use outside teams, but we use all our own lads for filling in the divots. Between that and putting back the hurdles, we could have up to 50 support staff out there.

Paddy Keary, who is here even longer than me, does a brilliant job. He’s been full-time for over 30 years. It’s a relief at the end of the week but it’s a big comedown as well. You’d be wired for a few weeks in the build up to the festival. Then it’s all just gone.

The week after race week is horrendous, all the lads are gone, and you’re just wrecked but there’s no time to stop. It’s a quick turnaround because you are racing again in five weeks. It’s almost as hard the week after as the week leading up to it because everyone is tired and in need of a break, but they don’t really have time for it.

We have a very condensed season here. There are two days in September, one in early October and then we have two days at the end of that month.

If I go racing on different tracks or watching racing on television, I’d be watching out for what the rail is like and stuff. It’s never far from my mind. I love going to other tracks and walking the tracks. I’d even prefer that when I do go racing sometimes. If you ever need to find out something from lads at other tracks, they are always there to help out.

One of my best days here in Galway was when my uncle’s horse, Waydante, won at the 1999 Festival. That was a great day for us all and we had great celebrations.

My uncle was mad into horses, and it was brilliant for him to have a winner up here. Any time you see one of the local trainers having a winner it’s great. Or a local syndicate.

Gerry Broderick was in conversation with John O’Riordan