BARNEY O’Hare has not just seen it all, he has been responsible for much of it when it comes to horse racing.

The sport captured his imagination as a teenager and the hold has only tightened in the years that have passed.

A self-made man who left school at 16 and worked in the milk sector before setting up his own amusement arcade and snooker club, O’Hare always felt the pull of racing, and particularly the jumping game.

He loved the spectacle and the athleticism of the horses. The war of minds, strategy and information between bookmaker and punter enthused him too, from the time he chalked the board as a teenager for a local layer in Newry.

It all made for a potent alchemy in his mind.

When the opportunity presented itself, he purchased two betting shops - from his former boss in the milk business, Paddy McCourt - and Bar One Racing was born.

That was more than 20 years ago and O’Hare is justifiably proud of the progress the business has made since then, the manner in which it survived the downturn and has evolved with the ever-changing market.

That has enabled him to provide sponsorship in a number of sporting spheres, including greyhound racing and the GAA.

He has a Midas touch in this area too, as his seven-year sponsorship of Armagh giants, Crossmaglen Rangers has coincided with the accumulation of three All-Irelands and three further Ulster titles.

It is difficult to imagine him more excited than he is about tomorrow in Fairyhouse, however. One of the highlights of the entire racing calendar, he is like the proverbial Cheshire Cat talking about his five-race sponsorship including three Grade 1s and a Grade 3 for good measure.

In their own right, the Hatton’s Grace, Royal Bond and Drinmore are important races, with strong traditions. First past the post is invariably a serious animal.

The Royal Bond Novice Hurdle has been won by future champions such as Moscow Flyer, Hardy Eustace, Hurricane Fly and Jezki. While the Drinmore Novice Chase doesn’t boast a roll of honour of that level of achievement, the standard of victor is high-class and last year’s winner, Don Cossack could yet have Cheltenham glory in his sights.

Hurricane Fly and Jezki are previous winners of the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, while the legendary pairing of Limestone Lad and Solerina made it a Bowe benefit for many years, claiming the prize three times each. The horse Aidan O’Brien describes as the best he ever trained, Istabraq, won both the Royal Bond and the Hatton’s Grace.

To have all three on the one day is gluttony but then it is heralding the fact that Christmas is just around the corner.

While they might not all turn up, the prospect last year’s Royal Bond winner The Tullow Tank, Apache Stronghold, Valseur Lido, Real Steel, Allez Colombieres and Nichols Canyon should add to any card’s attendance fingures. Even thinking about sponsoring all three has Barney smiling from ear to ear.

“I’m a total National Hunt enthusiast and to see entries like that is fantastic,” says the Down man. “It will definitely bring the crowd out.

“I was lucky enough to sponsor the Royal Bond initially. Another company sponsored the other two but they finished up and Fairyhouse didn’t want to ask another bookmaker when I was already involved. So they tried to do a deal with me and in fairness, they’ve been very good with me and worked with me towards having the three Grade 1s under our own banner.

“It has been working very well for us and sure it’s fantastic to be associated with it. This side of Christmas, it is probably one of the most sought-after meetings.”

You wonder if he gets confused between being a fan, a sponsor, a bookmaker and a punter but it’s not a problem. It’s the supporter in him that wins over when he’s racing.

“Everybody loves to see a good horse. Willie (Mullins) is bringing out those horses at the moment and people are just standing in awe at what he’s doing. It’s fantastic. The way the man is handling all these horses is incredible. He’s producing one after the other.

“I love going up to the yard where my young fella (Michael) trains the horses but to think of Willie coming out to his yard every morning and there’s a better one in every box, it must be fantastic to have such a class of horse.”

There are detractors who say the Mullins dominance isn’t good for Irish racing, although that never seems to be voiced when he’s raising tricolours at Cheltenham in March. O’Hare certainly has no truck with the argument.

“I wouldn’t be hiding the fact that I think the man is fantastic at what he does. You can’t blame owners for going his way. Why would you not want to have your horse with a guy like him? He just keeps producing one after the other.

“It’s one thing to be given a good horse, it’s another to do what Willie does. If you have a good horse, you’d want to have it trained with him. That’s just a fact. He’s brilliant. He gets the results with them all. He has horses that might be middle of the range in his yard and they’d be superstars in others.

“What people forget is that he just didn’t get to this position by luck. He has worked himself into that position. And now he has the customers that will buy the horses anywhere in the world.

“Horses coming from France, a good point-to-pointer here, he has the customers to buy it. But he built his reputation to get to that stage. He’s ahead of the game and I’d take my hat off to him.”

The O’Hares have had some outstanding days on the track themselves but are enduring a lean period of late. There were turbidity issues in their water that had the horses running out of gas long before the end of their races. That has been addressed now and the improvement is evident.

Even allowing for the water problems though, there were too many ordinary horses. It took a bit of straight talking by Michael for Barney to make some tough decisions.

“We’ve cut back in numbers. We’ve only half a dozen. In the summer, when Michael went to take them in, he said, ‘Dad, a lot of these are no good’ so we cut well back. We’re hopefully having a runner in the Royal Bond, it’s probably the best horse we have so we’ll let him take his chance.”

Mike McCann is a former bumper winner that has finished second in two maiden hurdles. This is a huge step up but connections reckon they might as well pitch him in.

“In all these maidens you’re probably going to meet a good one. We think a lot of him and I’d like him to get the experience of running along with really good horses. He has a fantastic big stride on him and we’ll see how he gets on.”

Regardless, the six-year-old gelding’s future will be over the bigger obstacles and that’s where he’ll be headed next year. Meanwhile, the stock is unlikely to be replenished in the near future anyway, as Barney focuses on the business.

Right now, Bar One Racing has more than 20 shops and O’Hare is justifiably proud of the manner in which he not just survived the economic downturn, but faced the challenges head on and came out the other end stronger.

“About 12 months ago, we became a private provider. This was something completely new in the industry. We’re supplying the prices, screen content, special offers and the audio and studio service for about 240 independent bookmakers in the country. We’ve upped our game but we had to because of what the major operations were doing.

“What we’re trying to do is get to the level of competing with the major operators, so that our customers don’t have to leave our shop. And we’ve actually achieved it. The independents are fighting back. We’re keeping our customers. They don’t have to leave to get a price, offer or concession somewhere else.

“There’s one thing about this game is that you can’t sit still. You have to freshen the thing up every day. With the new opening hours coming in January, we’re gonna have more televisions in our shops, and more products to cater for that in the evening when there’s very little on. But all other sports will be catered for. It’s just about upping your game.”

Of course the days about the bookmaker relying primarily on racing for turnover are long gone but O’Hare’s heart is in the racecourse.

No progress has been made in terms of getting customers to bet at the track, he points out. In a betting shop, the punter can watch all the races while getting free tea, coffee and maybe the odd bun and sandwich.

“It’s very difficult. The on-course bookmaker stands on the track and he has seven opportunities to win on that day. Seven races. Whereas in the betting shop there might be 50/60 different races in a day. So there’s more on for the punters.

“Then there’s offers every day. If your horse falls, you get your money back. If your horse finishes second, you get your money back. We have had one from Friday to Sunday in November, where we did one race each day that we paid back on all losers. It was a limited stake - €25 or £25 (sterling) - but that caters for most of the punters in our shop. It’s a free bet. You know if you don’t win, you’re getting your money back.

“That’s the way our game has gone. We have to keep our punters happy. It’s very hard though to bring that to the racecourse and that’s the difficulty for the on-course bookmaker.”

He still stands himself but has sold many of his pitches.

Galway is the big earner, with the festival week providing for 10% of his on-course turnover. He yearns for the times of huge punts unfolding before your eyes but concedes that technology means they’re a thing of the past.

“I noticed a thing that happened on Sunday in Navan. The winner of the Troytown was gambled from 14/1 to 4/1 and there wasn’t a penny for it on the track. It was all on the machine. So I’ve a guy sitting behind me watching the computer, and as the price goes, it’s flashing to him and he’s cutting the price. And all of a sudden this horse travels to 4/1.

“I long for the days when there was a bit of fun standing in the ring watching where the money was going, watching the runners tearing around. It set the pulse racing. The ring was alive. That seems to have been lost from it now through the exchanges.”

He has landed a few good earners himself, usually on his own horses. He hit the bookies hard when Sweet Shock, Montana Slim and Bale O’Shea all came up trumps in Naas on a famous day in 2009, although it was the thrill of it that lasts in the memory more than the money.

The yard has been quiet though, so he’s not going to go backing ordinary horses. Be assured that the powder is just being kept dry though. Barney O’Hare would really like to liven up that ring again, you’d imagine.

He’ll be buzzing tomorrow though. No question about that.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I was in Navan on Sunday and to watch Vautour jump fences was just incredible. I went over to the ring after to see the horse coming in and for a horse having his first run, he looked very fit. I thought Willie turned him out in some shape.

“The Drinmore will be a fantastic race too if they all turn up. There’s such potential.”