How did you get involved in breeding and racing?

Breeding horses and racing has been in my family for a long time. My father and my brother used to have a few broodmares and they used to race a few as well. They were very successful racing and had a horse called Nameloc who won the GPT and seven races altogether. They bred Oscar Time, who was second in the Grand National at Aintree and the Irish Grand National, so that’s how I caught the bug.

Stormalong is from the family of Nameloc, and she’s a sister to The Last Samuri, who was also second in a Grand National. She was the last foal out of the mare Howaboutthis. She ran a few times for me, finishing second in a bumper in Listowel, but got injured so I started to breed off her then and she’s had two good ones.

We have about 10 mares between myself, my wife Barbara and my son Gavin. I used to only have about five or six mares, but Gavin has taken an interest and has three mares, and Barbara has two, so the workload has increased. My hands are full but I have great help. The three of us do it all ourselves.

Tell us about the horses you’ve bred over the years.

I bred Lord Windermere who won the Gold Cup, Sub Lieutenant and It Came To Pass who won the Foxhunters. Barbara bred Wonderwall to win the Foxhunters this year, so Cheltenham has been good to us. Because Stormalong was the last foal out of Howaboutthis, I wanted to keep the line and she’s a lovely mare, so I said I’d take the chance sending her down to Kenneth (Budds, trainer).

We were going to go the point-to-point route, but Kenneth thought she’d win a bumper, and she did first time out, so he got that right! He always said she was a good mare and she’s after winning four now and placed in two Grade 3s. The listed race on Sunday was brilliant. We’ll keep her going now, it’s too late in the year to cover her, and I think there’s more to come from her. She’d jump a fence as well.

We had another mare with Kenneth, Tilloughna was her name. She won last year for us but we retired her. She’s a sister to Wonderwall, so we had the option of breeding off her and she’s in foal now. With the bonuses there for mares it’s a big plus. Stormalong got a bonus when she won her bumper. Hopefully we can win another over fences, that would be the target.

Were you confident in your chances at Killarney?

We were expecting a good run out of her, but not a win. The ground was well-watered and it was safe, but the better the ground is, the better she is. We were hoping she would finish in the first three. It was a huge plus having Darragh O’Keeffe on board as well. He’s a very good jockey and has ridden her before, so he knows her well. There was a great atmosphere, a big crowd and the sun was shining. We were well taken care of as well, they took us in for hospitality after, so it was a lovely day. It’s good to make those wins feel special, I always say that you can’t buy memories, you have to make them.

How did the partnership with Kenneth come about?

Kenneth is only a mile away from us. It’s a huge plus to have a trainer near you, because you can drop in any time you want and the doors are always open with Kenneth. He’s very straight up with us, he’ll tell us if they’re no good.

When he gets a good one, he minds them. The smaller trainers don’t get too many good ones, so he really takes care of them.

How do you go about choosing the right stallions?

When you’ve got a mare that’s a bit excitable, you’d be trying to go to a stallion that wouldn’t have those traits.

If she’s small, you’d try and go to a bigger sire and if she’s throwing them too big, you’d be trying to go a smaller sire. It isn’t always the fashionable ones then.

I have a couple of big mares, and I’d love to go to Walk In The Park with them, but you might get a foal that’s too big which isn’t good. I try to match the mare with the stallion. I have a Milan mare who’s a sister to Lord Windermere and she breeds very big, so I pick smaller sires. I have a small mare then, but she breeds very big as well.

Have you got any foals on the ground?

I have a Jukebox Jury filly out of a half-sister to Lord Windermere and I have a Blue Bresil out of an own-sister to Lord Windermere. She had a Blue Bresil colt last year and I got paid well for him at the sales, and this lad is as nice, if not nicer than the last, so we’re looking forward to November!

Gavin bought two Presenting mares; one of them is a sister to Slade House and the other won a bumper for Nicky Henderson and is a sister to Gold Present. They’re two nice mares to have in the band.

Are there any horses you’ve bred that you’re looking forward to seeing on the track?

There’s a Walk In The Park horse that I sold as a yearling. He topped the sale in Tattersalls and then the Doyles bought him as a store and he went on to win his point-to-point for them.

He was sold privately then and is in training with Paul Nicholls now and they think a lot of him. Talk To The Man is his name and he’s out of an own-sister to Lord Windermere, so I’m looking forward to seeing how his career progresses. My brother bred Soldier In Milan, who won a bumper at the Punchestown Festival this year. It’s a great boost for the mares.

What’s been a highlight for you?

It would have to be the Cheltenham wins with Lord Windermere in the Gold Cup, and I got a great kick out of It Came To Pass and Wonderwall. I was at Aintree the year that The Last Samuri finished second, and he was joint-favourite with Many Clouds.

He won eight or nine races and was placed in a good few blacktype races, but never got big blacktype for breeding. He was rated 160 and usually when you have a horse rated that high, he’d have picked up blacktyppe somewhere along the line! He was a good horse.