CORINTHIAN challenger Stephen Thorne hails from Rush, Co Dublin. Stephen grew up on a farm and from an early age he was driving tractors and planting potatoes – he is still very much a grafter to this day. He attributes his work ethic today back to the lessons he had instilled in him on the farm at home, the essence of hard work that he learned from his father Martin.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. He spent five years with Adrian ‘Ado’ McGuinness before he decided to spread his wings to gain more experience of how the industry trains and operates abroad. In Australia, Stephen worked for Anthony Cummings and Coolmore Stud.