IRELAND was a very different place in 1925 when William (Billy) Gleeson was born near the sporting village of Hospital on the Limerick/Tipperary border. At an early age, he was unofficially adopted by his uncles who farmed near Knockarron just over the Tipperary border.

This was to be the foundation of an extraordinary career associated with the world of horses, hunting
and National Hunt racing. While his adoptive uncles only had farm horses at
Ballyloobey, their farm was in an area where the horse was king. The Scarteen hounds were kennelled just down the road and almost everyone in the area was involved.