EARLIER this month, Dolmen Bloodstock hit the headlines when consigning the sale topping Dark Angel colt at Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze Up Sales in Newmarket.

Even though the horse was returned by the buyer, he has since been re-sold to Amo Racing who were among the underbidders on the day.

For Danny O’Donovan and myself, along with the colt’s owners Jerry Horan and Katharina Irmer, that day in Newmarket was one to remember.

My earliest memory of racing was sitting on my grandfather’s knee watching Fairyhouse on Easter Monday. Although reared in a small housing estate in Carlow, I spent a lot of time on a neighbouring farm next to my grandparents in Tipperary.

The Byron family were very good to me and really opened my eye to farming. It’s funny looking back now to that part of my earlier days, it makes me realise the impact it left on me.

The classroom environment never really appealed to me, so when my science teacher in the Christian brothers in Carlow told me about RACE, I remember looking into it and not being able to get it out of my mind.

Adventure

At 15, I left home for the Curragh on my new adventure and it was daunting because I was coming in with no experience - I couldn’t ride so it was all very foreign to me.

I had to work much harder than everyone to catch up but when you like something it’s incredible how quick you learn.

The years after RACE I worked for a few trainers, just riding out constantly trying to improve. I have been very fortunate to travel to America on a couple of occasions, to Kentucky and Florida.

After coming back from America, I took a job with Jessica Harrington. I actually remember riding out Long Lashes one day on the lead up to her racecourse debut and Pauline Ryan [now Condon] asked me what I thought of the filly - I remember telling her I thought she would be too green to win on her debut.

As it turns out she went on to win first time out at the Curragh and followed up in Newmarket in the Sweet Solera - I guess I wasn’t as clued in as I had thought back then!

After three years, I went to Willie McCreery, who had moved to the Curragh and was very much on an upward curve. Travelling to the races, we’d fill our journeys with stories of times when he’d worked on various farms doing yearling prep and working with young stock and I found it fascinating; it was another element I had never thought about previously.

He’d be talking of pedigrees and different families and it really opened my mind even further. In order to broaden my experience, I decided to make a switch to the breeding sector.

I realised if I was to be good at this then I needed to learn from the early days in a foal’s life and watch how they develop through the different stages and hopefully equip myself with the best knowledge I could get before pursuing a career.

Opportunity

So, with my decision to temporarily leave racing, I got the opportunity to work for the Aga Khan at his Giltown farm in Kilcullen. It was incredible to be working with such high-calibre broodmares on a daily basis and especially helping in the covering shed with the likes of Sea The Stars and Dalakhani.

After only a short period at Giltown, I was fortunate enough to get myself a place on the ITBA’s Next Generation Programme. I had the opportunity of work placement with the Castlebridge consignment of Bill Dwan in Trim and with Con Marnane in Bansha.

I have also been a part of Con’s French racing stable for the last seven seasons. I had already experienced my first pinhook at that stage with a friend of mine Danny O’Donovan.

Having first met at RACE a few years previously, we just decided to buy a horse together for a bit of interest - it worked out well, so we went again. The idea of Dolmen Bloodstock was created at that stage with the intent of trading breeze-up horses and providing pre-training as it core business.

Both Danny and I came into this game with no background in horses so the feeling of being up against it and being against the odds were very much to the forefront. This led us to our tagline “putting the odds in your favour”, something we strive for each day.

Above water

Dolmen is on the go seven years now and luckily enough we’ve kept our heads above water and remained solvent!

I had my first proper touch with a horse that won first time out in Naas and was subsequently sold to America. The last few years worked out quite well with a couple of nice results in the sales ring and a couple of results on the racetrack with two maiden winners at the Curragh costing a mere €13,000 collectively.

Last week we finished as leading consignor at the Goresbridge Breeze Up Sale, something that gave me great personal satisfaction. A good friend, Jerry Horan, has been with us over the last few years; each year we’d have a horse or two, either for him or together in partnership.

I was there in Deauville the day we bought the Dark Angel colt; I remember him being a big raw horse but he was fine and had a bit of ‘book’, being out of a listed performer.

We got him going in November and, to be fair, he was a fairly unassuming character who went about his daily exercise without much fuss. In the lead up to the sale, his work increased and with that he seemed to find improvement with each gallop but he was still just a “grand” horse, without wowing.

Then one morning he galloped really well; it was like the penny had finally dropped with him; he was no longer the raw backward horse I remembered he was in October.

Genuine horse

At this point I was confident heading to Newmarket that he’d breeze well, he was such a genuine horse I knew we’d be selling someone a nice horse but, being honest, I never expected to see the price increase the way it did.

It just shows that when two people really want a horse you never know where the bidding can stop.

Going forward, the strategy for Dolmen is to continue what we’re doing while trying to scale the business and drive it forward. Trying to increase productivity and output is not an easy feat but we’ll try to expand as much as possible to enhance our place within the industry.

The beauty of this game is each time a horse comes into the yard, you never know how good they’re going to be or what the outcome may be.

It’s rewarding playing my part as a stepping stone in what will hopefully be a bigger and hugely successful story for somebody else.

Everyone loves a rags to riches story, so hopefully Dolmen can continue to find the future next superstar.

Justin Timmons was in conversation with John O’Riordan