ON Monday, Roscommon stages its final meeting of the year. As racecourse manager, I’d describe the year overall as being a good one but not great. Like a lot of tracks we’ve had our issues with the weather. The only difference this year is that we have been looking for rain, not praying it stayed away! In terms of crowds, it was slow to start with but really picked up over the summer.

One thing that I was particularly proud of was receiving the Racecourse Award from the Irish Stable Staff Association at the Irish Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards in June. Both personally and, speaking for staff, we were over the moon. It meant an awful lot to get that recognition from those hard working people, who travel such long distances. I can honestly say, that when the time comes, I can retire a happy man.