WHILE I don’t have any direct background in horse racing, it was hard to escape the racing fever hailing from Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. I grew up attending race meetings with my grandfather Eddie who was a racing fanatic having spent the early part of his life working as an army officer on the Curragh.

Although I had been a regular to tracks like Gowran Park, Punchestown and the Curragh all before the age of 10, it wasn’t until I was 12 years old that my interest in the industry began to accelerate. When Hedgehunter won the Grand National in 2004, he gave local trainer Willie Mullins his first Grand National and captured the imagination of the whole local area and community of Bagenalstown. His victory brought everybody out to pay tribute in the market square, a day I’ll never forget.