TO the Irish racing fraternity, the warm images of red roses as they approach mid-February are not just a romantic reminder but also that Red Mills day at Gowran is looming. For 37 years the company has been one of the longest consecutive sponsors of the needed pre-Cheltenham trial on home soil.

Gowran Park and Red Mills have something else in common, namely Joe Connolly. I have been chairman of Gowran Park since 1997 and as CEO together with my brother Bill (COO) have run Red Mills since 1994.

The racecourse was first opened in 1914 and the Connolly family bought Red Mills six years previously, in 1908. My father, Liam and Paddy Mullins grew up together in the shadow of Mount Leinster – one teaching the other how to add using his fingers - and later Dad was to manufacture a cooked feed for Paddy’s champion Vulpine, winner of the 1967 Irish Grand National.

In 1972, my father joined the board of Gowran, I replaced him on the board in 1994 and three years later took over from Harry McCalmont as Chairman of Gowran Park.

In 2000 we opened our new stable yard. Since I became chairman, we have spent over €10 million on the track and facilities. Our new entrance building was opened on Thyestes Day this year. The new rubber surface in the parade ring has been well received, while we have spent extensively on drainage and sandage on the track itself.

In March 2000, we upgraded the parade ring, planting hedge rows and erecting a curved stand. We also built a new stand in 2003, while the previous year we opened our golf course. The latter was designed by Jeff Howes, who is also responsible for the world renowned, Mount Juliet.

Standing on over 200 acres of ground, we felt it was important to develop Gowran Park’s full potential, so the golf course became a major part of our plans.

I have been very fortunate to work with some excellent racecourse managers over the years. Tom Carroll spent 21 years here before retiring in 2002. He was followed by Ger O’Callaghan, Jane Williams, Margaret Fogarty and most recently, Eddie Scally.

I am very proud of what we have achieved during my tenure Gowran Park; none of which would have been possible without the support and hard work of the board. I would also like to thank my wife Niamh, who has been constantly at my side, never complaining when commitments at Gowran Park took me away from home.

ALWAYS IMPROVING

Gowran Park has been leading the way in terms of racecourse initiatives in recent years. We currently provide two free meals for owners on race day, with the option to buy additional meals for just €10 per person.

I have always believed that while owners are the lifeblood of our sport, they are largely forgotten about. To this end, we are also doing a test trial on a new owners and trainers room, which we have temporarily erected beside the parade ring. If it proves to be a success, we plan to develop a more solid structure.

Another area we have reviewed over the past 12 months is our stable staff offering. In June of 2016 we started our complimentary lunch initiative for all travelling stable staff, which has proven very popular.

We have plans to progress this in 2017 by extending and fully refurbishing our stable staff canteen to ensure a comfortable environment for all staff to enjoy on race days.

We recognise stable staff play an integral part of the day to day running of racing and are often away from home from dawn to dark.

Regarding future plans, we are looking into a new watering system which will help ensure a consistent and safe racing surface on all race days.

On the racecourse itself, Gowran Park has been graced by some of the leading racehorses in the world over its history: Arkle, Hedgehunter, Un De Sceaux, Djakadam, Numbersixvalverde, Trading Leather, Harzand and Vintage Crop, to name but a few. Winners at our trial day have gone on to record successes at the Cheltenham trials day, something we are particularly proud of.

While all this was going on, Red Mills started to expand into the UK from 1985 and from 1993 into Germany, France and mainland Europe. My brother, Michael, and his team, have been instrumental in developing the global markets. Equally with the same vision and through extensive research and development we developed a unique, nature identical way of extending shelf-life called NFMS.

Bringing the wholesome and proven formulations of Red Mills to distant markets and delivering the product with the same freshness enjoyed by Irish trainers and breeders has proven to be as popular abroad as it has at home. Connolly’s Red Mills is now available in 72 national territories worldwide from the UAE to the USA and from Gibraltar to Japan.

The experience of being first-mover in Ireland was to be repeated in 2012 when Red Mills became the first foreign company to secure the required registrations with the authorities of the People’s Republic of China to import horse feeds. We acquired Foran Healthcare – a Dublin-based equine supplement company in late 2012, a move that we felt was a good fit for our business. Connolly’s has grown from a provincial brand to an international one and now employs over 300 people worldwide.

LEGACY

As chairman of Gowran Park, I’d like to think that my legacy will be, that I also brought an awareness of the different business opportunities that exist beyond racing itself. Aside from developing the track and facilities at the racecourse, we have diversified to a large extent and made the most of our surroundings.

Over the past five years, we have had the Santa experience here at Gowran Park, where young kids from the locality and beyond got to come and meet the man himself. We have also run very successful motorbike rallies in conjunction with the Rooters MCC on the Easter bank holiday weekend which was attended by over 800 enthusiasts on each occasion.

In 2015, we ran the inaugural Gowran Festival of Speed which saw all sorts of engine powered vehicles from formula one cars to trucks perform demos on the ambulance track on the fringes of the racecourse. Our 2016 event showed unprecedented growth and we are expecting July 2017 to be even bigger and better.

In 2017, we will see another first for Gowran Park when we host the Kilkenny Country Music Festival in August with all proceeds going to Young Ireland’s GAA Club. This should be a brilliant event with some of the biggest names in country music taking part.

Our golf course continues to develop and go from strength to strength, while our function rooms are constantly booked out. We have a full liquor licence at Gowran Park, which enables us to hold parties, weddings and various events. My remit is to make the best possible use of what is available to us in order to generate a long term profit for Gowran Park. As racecourse Chairman and CEO of our leading sponsor, I am keen to continue to do the job to the best of my ability. Both businesses are long established and we will hand over to the next generation in good stead to build on as we did from the previous caretakers to us.

Joe Connolly was in conversation with John O’Riordan.