I’M from Kilnamac, which, although just outside Clonmel, is actually in Co Waterford.

I bought the first mare in 1982, she was an RID mare by Silver Hunter out of a King of Diamonds-Slieve Callan dam. My second mare was by Golden Wonder out of a Milestone dam and then the third mare was by the thoroughbred Delamain out of a Leabeg-Battleburn dam.

I bred all these three mares to Clover Hill and kept the filly foals and these Clover Hill mares became the Kilnamac foundation mares. We also have a small flock of Suffolk/Texel ewes which go well with the horses.

I spent 38 years as a primary school teacher, the last 16 of which I was principal, before recently retiring. Married to Catherine, we have three boys (Darragh, Emmet and Gavin) and a daughter Jessica.

1. Proudest moment(s) as a breeder?

Seeing Electric Cruise at the London Olympics, Newmarket Clare in Lanaken, Kilnamac Maud winning in Millstreet, watching Calover’s exploits with Roelof Bril, and generally keeping an eye on the progress of stock that were bred here in Kilnamac over the years.

2. Favourite broodmare?

It has to Kilnamac Sally! She is such an excellent broodmare and always went in foal easily. She crossed beautifully with Cruising. We actually have Sally, her daughter Sue, her granddaughter Stiletto and her great-granddaughter Diamant, all here in Kilnamac. Four generations of excellence.

3. Tell us about the Kilnamac mare herd?

Kilnamac Sally is by Clover Hill and is the mother of Electric Cruise and many other top-class performers. She is 25 now and still in great form. She is actually in foal to Greg Brodrick’s new stallion Rock n’Roll and is surely one of the last Clover Hill mares still breeding in Ireland.

Sue, her Cruising daughter, is a full-sister of Electric Cruise and she’s in foal to Luidam.

Kilnamac Ella (by Cavalier) is a full-sister to Calover and in foal to Conthargos.

Kilnamac Stiletto is the mother of Kilnamac Maud and she’s in foal to Diamant de Semilly. She is by Lux Z herself out of Kilnamac Sue.

Kilnamac Annie is by Cavalier out of Kilnamac Lilly (Cruising x Clover Hill) and also in foal to Diamant de Semilly.

Kilnamac Déise is in foal to Dominator Z. She’s by Indoctro out of Kilnamac Ella (Cavalier) and her granddam is Kilnamac Dawn (Clover Hill).

Then there’s Kilnamac Lucy (Lux Z) who is in foal to HSS Cornet.

When I was nearing retirement from my teaching career, I decided to keep a few fillies and I have some very nice youngstock coming up. We have an exceptional three-year-old by Diamant de Semilly out of Kilnamac Stilletto and two two-year-olds by Flexible and Diamant De Semilly.

This Flexible filly is out of the old Clover Hill mare Sally and is as nice a model of traditional Irish breeding as you would see. The Diamant two-year-old is also out of a full-sister of Electric Cruise. We kept a filly foal from last year’s crop. By Cornet Obolensky, she’s out of Kilnamac Annie (Cavalier - Cruising - Clover Hill).

4. Favourite stallion/mare lines?

I love the Clover Hill mares, they were an excellent cross with Cruising.

Both these lines go back to Nearco as he was the sire of Neartic. He was, in turn, the sire of Northern Dancer, who sired Sadlers Wells, Galileo’s sire.

Cruising was out of a Nordlys dam. Nordlys was by Nasrullah, also by Nearco. Clover Hill, on the other hand, was a Golden Beaker horse, who went back through Arctic Storm to Arctic Star and he too was by Nearco.

Isn’t it amazing that the world’s best of thoroughbred breeding and the very best of Irish show jumping lines, go back in three or four generations to that one thoroughbred sire; Nearco?

5. Covering plans – how do you decide?

I always try to breed the next generation a half step ahead of the previous one while also ensuring that the stallion will suit the mare. The aim is to breed something that will jump a Grand Prix course and to use stallions that are consistently producing offspring that achieve this – no matter what country that stallion is standing in.

I tend to look for four things in a stallion: pedigree, performance, performance of progeny and conformation. The ideal is to get all four traits, but sometimes you have to settle for three!

6. How do you market your foals?

Repeat business means the sales of many of the foals. I realise that the next man has to make a profit and if he does, he will be back to you again. It is more important to me to sell foals into a yard where they will be tried and get an opportunity to reach their potential.

I’ve also found the Waterford Sport Horse Breeders website and Facebook page to be excellent platforms and have successfully sold many foals through contacts made on this group’s social media outlets.

7. Best advice you got?

Ted Keane, from Cloneen, was a great mentor to me when I began breeding horses. He was always of the opinion that you should start with the best filly you can afford and cover her to the best stallion you can afford because it takes as much to feed and look after a mediocre mare as a good one!

I’ve always studied closely the breeding of horses competing in the Longines Grand Prix series and tried to see successful breeding patterns and trends.

8. What do you think are some of the challenges facing sport horse breeders?

The biggest challenge is trying to make a half decent profit. This applies especially if using frozen semen. Often this semen is sold per straw with no return covering if the mare is empty and if there’s no way of certifying the semen quality.

9. Have you changed your breeding policy since 1982?

My policy has always been to breed to the best showjumping stallions available and that has never changed.

However, when I started developing an interest in breeding, there were some excellent thoroughbred jumping sires in Ireland, such as Imperius, Artic Que, Carnival Night, Skyboy, Nordlys, Spectrach etc. At that time Ireland was a frontrunner in the world of show jumping. We had a chance then to develop a show jumping line of thoroughbred sires. That chance was lost and so we had to turn to Europe...

Today, there are some really excellent young stallions being bred and standing in Ireland from the best of show jumping pedigrees and I do believe it’s only a matter of time until we regain our high standing in the world again.

10. Would you do it all over again?

I would, just maybe have started even a little earlier! And I’d have gathered more Clover Hill mares.