I’M from Mountmellick, Co Laois, where my stud farm is located. Having grown up with work horses I always had a keen interest in horses. My father Patrick had a work pony he used to breed from so I suppose that’s where my passion for breeding derived from.

I’ve been breeding sport horses for the past 40 years. I sourced my first broodmare, Royal Lady, from Goresbridge horse sales. She was a beautiful, big grey mare by Royal Graney out of a Highland Flight dam. I guess you could say she started the ball rolling! I’ve had many broodmares over the years and have seven at the moment.