CAMERAS always fascinated Mary Crowley, even as a child, and she is one of the fortunate few to have developed that early interest into a fulfilling career as a camera operator for Bart and Helen Arnold’s company IRIS, which covers every aspect of Irish racing from integrity to the broadcasting of RTÉ Racing and the transmission of pictures from the races.

Unsurprisingly, for a woman who does her best work behind the camera on Racing TV and its predecessor At The Races (ATR), the Corkwoman’s face isn’t immediately recognisable. As she quipped herself: “I was probably one of the first people to try walking backwards and that’s probably my best view! You do learn very quickly to avoid trees and steps when you’re live on camera, especially in Gowran!”