Hopefully I can continue with this run of form for the remainder of the all weather season and on into the upcoming flat campaign. 

Although my family had no interest in racing, my neighbour Pat Rooney was a trainer and I spent most of my early years helping out down at his yard. I really loved working with horses and school came a poor second best on my list of priorities.

I rode out for Pat until I was 16 and then I moved down to Kildare to work for leading National Hunt trainer Arthur Moore. I loved my new job, so much so that I ended up spending 15 years working with Arthur. Mary and himself were very good to me and I never thought about moving on from there. I rode as an amateur for a couple of years, winning one race, at Punchestown. It was a great time to be associated with the stable as Arthur was champion National Hunt trainer and had some of the leading horses and jockeys in the country.

I looked after Graphic Equaliser, who easily won the 1998 Ladbroke Hurdle and went on to run in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. We also had horses of the calibre of Soft Day and Klairon Davis in the yard at the time. In terms of jockeys, Franny Woods, Tom Taaffe, Conor O’Dwyer and Barry Cash all rode for Arthur while I was there. I was head man for the last eight years that I worked in Moore’s and it was a great learning curve for me. I always had it in the back of my mind to return home to Garristown and give training a shot. I met my future wife, Louise, who was head woman at Jessica Harrington’s yard, during my final season in Kildare and we started out on our own in 2005. Louise is fantastic and is the brains of the operation!

My family own a business at home and I had started to build a yard and stables during the last few years I was in Kildare. When Louise and myself moved up, we had gallops added adjacent to the yard. I started off primarily as a National Hunt trainer and was fortunate to have a mare called Inistioge early in my new career. She won three races, including a Grade 3 Chase at Limerick, and really helped put us on the map. I always had a few winners under National Hunt and point-to-point rules including a couple for my neighbours, John and Judy Duffy. Those were particularly satisfying as the Duffy’s have been with us from the start and allow us to use their land whenever we need it. A chance meeting with Gerry Clarke at Newmarket saw me change course and turn my attention to the flat. Gerry had horses in training in England and felt that it was time to move home - thankfully I was in the right place at the right time and we have been together ever since, having eight winners so far and becoming good friends.

WINNERS

Dundalk is quite close to us and during the summer, I started to pick out certain horses that I thought would be suited to the all weather racing. Last season was very good to us and I wanted to build on that and take it to a new level. Thankfully everything has worked out really well and the likes of Catwilldo, Home Secretary, Equation Of Time, Ningaloo Reef and Lily’s Prince have all done their part over the past two months. The latter is particularly close to my heart and I was thrilled to see him winning last month. His owner, Martin Sheridan, has been with us from the word go and unfortunately his wife Olivia passed away last year. She named the horse before she died and I must admit I even said a little prayer before he won! I think he will go on and win again, as should Home Secretary, who has already won six times at Dundalk. 

We are very lucky to have great staff and have been extremely lucky to have Gary Phillips riding for us this season. He spent a brief period in England but didn’t enjoy it and once I found out he was home, I was on the phone to him straight away. I promised that if he came up and worked for us, I would give him plenty of opportunities and it has worked out well for both of us. Gary is a great rider who knows horses well and they tend to run for him. He is especially effective on a quirky type and is tremendous value for his claim. Hopefully we can continue to work well together and enjoy many more successful days. 

Garvan Donnelly was in conversation with John O’Riordan