Marcella, with no previous background in racing, how have you found your experience as an owner, and being so close to the action?

Marcella: It’s been a lot of fun. It started off when Ronan and I were only dating. We were on holidays in Barbados, we’d only known each other five months and Ronan’s dad had a late entry to the English Derby with New Approach. We had to vacate where we were staying because it had no WiFi and he needed to see the race.

We made our way to a little internet café somewhere in the centre of the island to watch the Derby. New Approach won phenomenally. Truth be told, I didn’t understand the gravity of why my boyfriend was in tears in torrential rain in an internet café, but I soon learned what it meant. We had Libertarian then not long after that, who Ronan pinhooked. There wasn’t one bid on him in Deauville, but we sold him at the breeze-ups, and he went on to place second in the Derby.

Ronan: We kept a cheap yearling that we couldn’t sell that year, and that was Marcella’s first horse as an owner [First Cornerstone]. He won a listed race in Tipperary as a two-year-old at 33/1 and then won the Curragh Futurity after we sold him. We will keep a horse if they’re not selling for a ridiculously low price, but we’re easy to buy off.

How was your day at Naas last weekend?

R: It was great fun. It was our wedding anniversary as well so that was nice. He’s a horse that we didn’t sell as a yearling, for a very modest price. Over the last three years we’ve not sold three horses, for relatively cheap sums, and they’ve all won their two-year-old maidens in Ireland for Marcella, and all trained by John O’Donoghue.

She’s a very lucky owner, over the last four years she’s had a horse trained in Ireland and a winner every year. They’ve all won multiples of what they could have been bought for when they were offered. Marcella is still a part owner of a horse that’s in Australia now, and he’s qualified for the Little Dance. I don’t think she knows what it’s like to have losers!

M: My parents live part of the year in Spain, but when they’re in Ireland they really love to come with us.

R: Our daughter came, our son was in the Gaeltacht so he didn’t get to come, but we had great fun. I think Naas is the best racecourse in Ireland for how they treat owners. They offer extra tickets to bring your friends, more than the allocated amount. They have a lovely facility to have your meal and to look over the racecourse, they’re brilliant.

If more racecourses in Ireland could do what Naas do, they would create owners. Some don’t make the experience that pleasurable, but Naas do. People are getting bored of the same outfits winning the same races all the time, so you need to bring fun to the races. Flat racing in Ireland needs more of it.

How did you get involved with John?

R: He was a young trainer starting out. It’s always good to give young lads a shot and we’re only 10 minutes away from him on the Curragh. He keeps delivering for us. It’s really competitive in Ireland, and very hard to have a yard on your own with how much it costs.

Is there a plan for L L Koulsty’s next run?

R: He might go back to Cork because he loves Cork, and it’s John’s local track, for the Platinum Stakes over seven furlongs. He’ll have to go up in grade now and go for blacktype, especially since we have the mare. Why not give it a shot.

Ronan, is there some healthy competition with your brothers also working in bloodstock?

R: We’re all very competitive, but especially on the racecourse, we really want each other to do well. We wouldn’t have many in training each, so we’d be all roaring each other on. I’ve never had a horse run against one of my brothers’ horses, that would be great craic! It’s great to have people to bash ideas off that are not shy to offend you. We can be pretty black and white to each other, and when you’re helping each other out it’s a blessing.

With all of the work that goes into breeding, it must be great to see it work out on the track.

R: From conception or even before, the guys on the farm are great. I bought L L Koulsty’s mother as a foal and sold her as a yearling and then bought her back as a three-year-old. I went to my uncle’s farm (Maurice, Rathasker) to go to Coulsty with her, and then we’d have been up in the middle of the night to foal her.

There’s a girl here, Holly, and she’d never miss a foaling, so it’s very hands on. When we sell them we follow them so closely, and we know every hair on every one of them. I find it hard to get the same sort of buzz from anything. Even if Ireland were in the World Cup, you don’t have the same sort of attachment to the team, unless it was your child playing.

M: I don’t think you can explain to people outside the industry how much work goes into it. I’ve been an observer of it for almost 20 years now. There’s a phenomenal amount of work year-round, so when it does work out the buzz and the craic and the joy is super.

How do you go about choosing stallions for your mares?

R: I spend months at it. I’d have all sorts of lists and pedigree apps. Thinking about physicals and temperaments. The lists will get changed so many times, and then the prices of stallions come out and the list might change a little bit again. It’s getting more difficult with the price of stallions.

The market only wants middle to upper market horses, so there are a lot of cheaper stallions getting completely left behind, and it’s getting a lot more focused just on the top 10% of stallions, but it’s so important to get it right. It’s more important now than it used to be because it’s so polarised. Coolmore are the best of the best, and it’s our job to match them or beat them. Is it not a better feeling beating the best? It’s not their fault they’re doing it better than everyone else, it’s up to us to match them.

Marcella, what’s been a highlight for you as an owner?

M: Australia has been very exciting. Zaphod runs at least once a month, so we get up, usually on a Saturday morning in the middle of the night, to a lot of excitement one way or another. It’s admirable how it goes in Australia. Naming the horses is fun too. Zaphod is a character from one of my favourite books as a teenager, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Mugatu is from Zoolander.

Which is better, getting a good result in the sales ring, or having a winner on the track?

R: They’re all supposed to sell, but the buzz on the track is amazing. That’s where it’s supposed to happen.

M: Yeah, you can’t beat it, that’s what it’s all about.