How did you get involved in the racing industry?

I always had an interest in racing. When I was about four years of age, my grandfather took me racing in Mallow. He used to go to point-to-points when he was young, so he needed a companion. As time went on, I got into following form, and a very good friend of mine is a jockey, so through following his career, I got immersed in it.

How did the syndicate get started?

Last autumn, my friend Jack Broderick asked if I’d be interested in starting a syndicate with him. I’d been involved in a few at different stages, but a lot of syndicates are run poorly and a bad experience would put you off for a long time. I was happy to work with Jack, because he’s good at keeping the books right and I’m the form man. Once Jack was happy to deal with the admin, I was happy to pick out the horses. It works well between the two of us.

Most of the lads in the syndicate had never come across me in their lives, they just knew me from Twitter (X), so it was interesting for everyone. We’re all racing-mad and we’re dealing with a very nice group of people. They’re all a pleasure to deal with and we can count ourselves very fortunate for that.

We try to incorporate as many people as we can on racedays. Our owners are spread around the country with some in America, England and Australia, so we normally have spare tickets for friends and family. The more people that can enjoy the horse, the better.

Where did you source Smallcraftwarning?

I’ve been keeping track of horses for a long time that I think could benefit from a change of stables. Their form might be gone a bit stale and they’re bored of what they’re doing, or the trainer wouldn’t have the right standard of horse to work with them. We’d enquired about a couple of horses over Christmas, and we couldn’t get anyone to bite, or they were asking for more than I was willing to pay.

The day Smallcraftwarning ran at the student raceday in Mallow, I rang Jack to say that it was worth keeping an eye on his run. As it happened, he clipped heels and unseated his rider on the way to the first, and we decided to go and enquire as he was still on the mark that he’d finished second off in Tipperary in May 2024. We felt like he was on a workable mark, and Evanna (McCutcheon) was very easy to deal with. We struck a deal fairly quickly.

She gave the horse a great education and he got amazing care from her staff. We heard from one staff member after his win, she was delighted for us and said that he had always been the yard favourite. I’d been following him for 18 months or so and he was a horse that I wanted, so it was good to get him eventually. We bought the horse at the end of March. It could have slipped into April 1st when we were buying him, but the last thing we wanted to do was pick him up on April Fools’ Day!

Were you confident going into the run at Clonmel?

It was a nervous start to the day anyway, I was fairly anxious in the morning. I live on my nerves a small bit, because I’d built him up to the lads when we were getting a few people together for the syndicate. I promised them that we were buying a well-handicapped horse and that they’d see a return before too long. I put pressure on myself in that regard for him to perform.

I was probably more confident than John [Ryan, trainer], I’m an optimist when it comes to horses. He’d had a run for Evanna and then he ran around loose in Mallow before having two runs for John, so fitness wasn’t going to be a problem. The handicapper had dropped him a few pounds for his previous runs, so we thought if he handled the track on the day, he’d have a good each-way chance off his mark. For 85 or 90% of the race, it didn’t look too likely so we’re lucky that he’s tough, genuine and loves what he does.

When push came to shove and Liam (McKenna, jockey) really asked him, he picked up. He had to be brave to go through the gaps when they came. If you had a timid horse we wouldn’t have won. We rode our luck a bit on the day, but it all worked out in the end, there’s nothing like your first winner.

Liam gave him a fantastic ride and never panicked when the horse didn’t travel. He’s great value for his claim, so huge credit goes to him.

What have you learned about the industry since becoming an owner?

I suppose you’d learn fairly quickly about the dedication that people like John put into the game. John’s attention to detail is second to none, we couldn’t ask to be dealing with a better person. All of his family are involved as well. I’d never met John before the horse was brought to his yard, and we were brought straight into the house for a cup of tea with Sean O’Keeffe. We had a tour of the yard and the gallops as well. When we left the yard that day, we felt like we couldn’t be in a better place or have put our trust in better people. We never have to go looking for information from him either, he’s very open and honest, you can take what he says as gospel. You don’t get access to trainers like that anywhere. His daughters take pictures and videos for us whenever we need. We couldn’t be happier.

It was 10 weeks to the day from the day we bought him to the day he won, and only 26 days from his first run for us, so it’s been a quick progression. We’d want to be careful or people might think this game is simple!