How did you get into ownership?

I have been going racing as long as I can remember but my first real experience with ownership was with a horse called Indian Tomahawk. We contacted Richard O’Brien as he’s based in Ballingarry, Limerick and we are from Castleisland in Kerry so he is only over the road from us.

We told Richard we’d be interested if he knew of any cheap horse and he got Indian Tomahawk for us. A few friends and family got together and bought him for €2,000 and over the next six months he won twice and won over €18,000 in prize money. Indian Tomahawk was the first winner any of us had so we were well and truly hooked after that thrill.

What was your best day at the races?

Unfortunately due to the pandemic, I wasn’t at the track, but I can’t imagine Irish Acclaim’s win at Dundalk (December 11th) will ever be topped. I purchased him at the Tattersalls Horse-in-Training Sale in October with the aim of setting up a syndicate for a very low cost, with a horse that might win a handicap in the next 12 months.

Irish Acclaim didn’t get that memo though and duly won on his first run for us at 50/1! Richard had two winners on the night and a few lads in the syndicate had the double.

It was a sweet victory for me personally as it was the first time for a few of the syndicate members to own a horse and it was my first time sourcing and buying a horse. It was fairytale stuff.

What is the biggest drawback about being a racehorse owner?

You need to be incredibly lucky to make money in this game. However, once you understand that and treat it as a hobby you will have nothing but love for the sport and the horses.

Which racecourse in Ireland treats owners the best and why?

I had the pleasure of (barely) knowing Mick Winters when he won the Galway Hurdle in 2012 and I somehow ended up in the winner’s enclosure with connections. From what I could see Galway treated those owners pretty well!

What qualities do you look for in a trainer?

All the horses I’m involved in are with Richard O’Brien and that won’t be changing. His communication and honesty is second to none and they would be two of the most important factors to look for in a trainer aside from their ability to train horses.

And there isn’t many better around in that department either.

What improvements would you like to see racecourses do for owners?

Without owners the game is nothing but to be fair to the racecourses and HRI you are generally pretty well looked after. Maybe a free bar anytime you have a horse running; mind you they’d be out of business pretty quickly if our syndicate is anything to go by!

How do you think the current crisis will impact on racing in general and on ownership in particular?

I do think the current crisis has made it harder to attract new owners. If you are getting into ownership you really want to be able to go racing and get the full experience. Hopefully this will be rectified as soon as possible.

Some of the best people I’ve ever seen to social distance are trainers after your horse runs badly; they’ve been doing this long before Covid so it should be very safe!

How did your syndicate get its name?

We are the Kingdom Thoroughbred Syndicate, and it comes from the Kerry connection. I set up a website and Twitter page under the name Kingdom Racing Syndicate before checking with HRI if that name was available – sure enough it wasn’t!

Some eejit. Cart before the horse.

Flat or jumps, which do you prefer?

Cheltenham is probably my favourite festival of the year to watch but as an owner I prefer flat racing.

I would see myself as much more elite than the lads who own National Hunt horses and would prefer not to associate with them – just kidding, obviously.

Takes nerves of steel to own a jump horse and Richard is mainly flat-based so we will just be sticking with that, although Richard has a 100% record with horses over fences (one from one).

When buying a horse, what do you look for?

We’re buying for small money at the moment so you’re really just looking at horses who are well-handicapped because they have lost their way, the change of scenery may bring them back to form and you’re in business if that happens. Obviously the risk is that they continue on losing their way and may be gone at the game.

Or a horse like Irish Acclaim who wasn’t actually totally exposed but had three dreadful runs before we bought him. I felt gelding and a move to Richards would improve him but that’s only an opinion until it actually works out.

Hopefully in the near future we can grow our syndicate and start looking at buying a higher grade of horse who may be able to compete in Premier Handicaps at the big festivals.

What horses do you currently have in training?

Musalsal and Irish Acclaim are in training at the moment and Chessman will be back in training in January.

What’s next on the agenda?

Irish Acclaim didn’t win the five o’clock in Dundalk last Friday so we will regroup.

Musalsal is struggling to get into races at the moment as the number of entries for Dundalk are through the roof; that’s frustrating as he’s ready to run so we’re needing to bide our time with him.

Chessman is one of the classiest horses you’ll ever see, he has placed in listed and group company for us but just can’t get his nose in front. The handicapper isn’t relenting much with him either which is frustrating, but hopefully he can land a big pot this year.

What would help to make Irish racing more competitive for the smaller owner/trainer?

One improvement seems really easy – put more Dundalk meetings on. The fallout from the Covid 19 crisis reduced prize money across the board but the group races took the biggest hit which is exactly what should happen and when the prize money begins to be restored to pre-Covid levels, group races’ prize money should not be going back to the levels they commanded before. The owners typically winning group races aren’t going to be too bothered about an extra €100,000 for a number of reasons (the main one being that you own a horse who just won a group race).

That €100,000 would be much better distributed at the lower end where it really can help owners pay their bills.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of becoming a racehorse owner?

Join a syndicate. It’s so much more affordable and if run well, it comes with all the perks of being an owner. It can be expensive to be an owner at the best of times but if you’re in a syndicate it’s much easier to pay the bills.

Call me! Ownership is much more than just owning a racehorse, it creates many new friends and is great for keeping you connected with people.

John Culloty was in conversation with Olivia Hamilton.