GORTNAMONA Stud is in Schull, west Cork, and has been in the O’Donovan name since my father Jim received it from his uncle John Leahy. I have some great memories of himself and his brother Dan.

There has always been horses about. My first memory was a Gortlee mare he had and she was the perfect model of an Irish Draught and a great mover, until she came towards you! She was bred to Seven Bells when he stood down in Waterford with Declan Fitzgerald in Kinsalebeg before the horse came to John McCarthy in West Cork.