BOTH sides of my family have a pedigree in breeding horses, so I suppose it was only natural that I should follow suit. My mother’s first cousins, Don and Eleanor Hadden bred Cooldine, Rare Bob and last year’s World Hurdle winner, More Of That, while John and Jo Brophy bred Luska (Galway Plate) and Royal Athlete among others. Billy Barker, another first cousin, also stood a thoroughbred stallion for many years.

Hopefully, I can add my name to that roll of honour very shortly. It would be wonderful if Black Hercules could win an Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, although I feel his true potential will only rise to the surface when he races over fences.

My father bred sport horses and was also a passionate racing fan. During the 1970s he co-owned a horse named Chariots Prince, an average type, who for some unknown reason, managed to qualify for a number of high profile races, such as the Leopardstown Chase. I can still recall Tony Sweeney’s pre-race comment: ‘If this horse wins, the bookies will have a wonderful Christmas!’

Dad was a regular race-goer and punter and by the age of 12 I had visited every racecourse in Ireland. In those days, I would have had small bets of 10 or 20 pence on the Tote.

BOARDING SCHOOL

After finishing primary school, I was sent to boarding school at The King’s Hospital, Dublin. There was always a lot of racing chat and when the paper arrived each morning, the racing pages were always in demand. One chap in the school had a connection with Oliver Sherwood and we followed his horses religiously. We had no opportunity to go to the actual race meetings and only had access to newspapers and television.

During school holidays, I recall going to the Fenagh Pony Club, to watch my sister Norah ride. All the Mullins were in the club back then; Tony was like a circus act, able to do all kinds of tricks, even standing on the horse’s back with his hands in the air. I returned home immediately after my Leaving Certificate, taking over from Dad, running our 200-acre sheep and tillage farm.

I began breeding thoroughbreds in 1998, when my wife Fiona was given a present of a mare by Austin Brady, who once owned leading chaser Flagship Uberalles. I went down to Ronnie O’Neill and put the mare in foal to Shahanndeh but unfortunately she died that summer. However, the experience had sparked my interest in breeding and I subsequently bought another mare named Kemchee from Eugene McDermott. At the time it may have seemed a foolish buy, as she was a barren 18-year-old mare but my father was mad about her and said we just had to have her. Her purchase proved a lucky decision as she went on to have five foals, including Annalecky - the dam of Black Hercules. She also bred three foals to Beneficial, including Stratford Stroller, a winner in England for Jonjo O’Neill and first owned by Eddie Stobart, boss of the famous transport company.

LOTS OF ADVICE

Annalecky is a homebred mare, a fact I am proud of. I received a lot of advice from Pat Murphy of Ragusa Stud when I was starting out and I have to give him special mention. Aside from Black Hercules, Annalecky has produced a Great Palm gelding (ran once in a point-to-point for John Halley) and a lovely Great Palm six-year-old mare which I have in foal to Getaway, then Black Hercules and then a Beneficial gelding that Barry Connell has bought and a Beneficial filly that I sold in the Land Rover this June.

I have a good scopey Whitmore’s Conn to sell in June, just turning three and I didn’t put her in foal the next year because morale was low with a very quiet pedigree (pre-Monksland and Black Hercules), then she had a Shantou colt this year bought by Tony Costello and is in-foal to Flemensfirth. Black Hercules went lame before the November Foal Sales in 2009, so I held him back until the National Hunt Sales at Tattersalls in February 2010. His sire, Heron Island, was not very popular at the time, a fact that undoubtedly led to the foal being led from the ring unsold. He received no bid at all which was a low point. However, he attracted some interest from Brendan Gallagher, who bought him outside the ring for €3,000, a loss cutting exercise. Brendan brought Black Hercules back for the Mixed Sale in February 2012 but again having failed to sell in the ring, he was bought privately by bloodstock agent, Edie Murray Hayden. The latter did a fantastic job with the horse during the short space of time she had him, so much so, that Patrick Mullins bought him later that year, at the Land Rover Sale in June 2012.

Patrick and Emmet Mullins produced the horse to win a Dromahane point-to-point on his first start before selling him on to Graham and Andrea Wylie. Patrick is an absolute gentleman and a very professional jockey and I believe he is as good a rider as is out there when it comes to bumper horses. He does not get the recognition he deserves because of his pedigree. Willie should be prouder of producing him than all his racing achievements!!

Black Hercules proved a wonderful success in bumper races last season and has made a fine start to his hurdling career, winning both starts to date. Hopefully, he can continue to progress up the ladder this season; at the moment all roads again lead to Cheltenham.