SILVER is the metal – or should that be mettle – running through the Watson family story. Two world championship medals won 40 years apart on American turf, an Indian polo memento and a hand-crafted gin. All silver.

Piecing their story together to wedge into an article is a challenge as it would take a book to include every John and Sam Watson anecdote. One on their ancestors has already been published. “It was really only recently I discovered how much horses were in my DNA. An Australian professor, Dr Peter Coutts published in 2019, a history of my family called ‘The Watsons of Kilconnor, County Carlow, 1650 – Present.’ The exploits of my tribe included founding and hunting the Island and the Carlow Foxhounds for several generations,” John said proudly.