Originally from a show jumping background, Damien Conway decided to get involved in racing in 2018. This week he had great success in Listowel with wins for Meyo and Drop The Dip.

How did you get interested in racing?

I come from a background of riding ponies and show jumping. We have always had sport horses. Initially, I started Alberta Capital Ltd to buy sport horse foals. In 2018 I employed Angela Molloy who came from a racing background. She was helping me with my youngstock. She came up with the idea of buying racing stock. I was hesitant because I didn’t really know a lot about it. Show jumping and eventing was my forte. But I decided I would have a crack at it. I bought two Sadler’s Wells mares. One of them I still have, a mare named Bow String. She has a foal this year by Rich History. The mare and foal are in Kedrah House Stud.

Tell us more about your show jumping operation.

We have two horses going to Holland at the end of this month to represent Ireland in a young horses’ competition. We have Castleconnell Candy Man in the six-year-old division and Kilcorig Elysium in the eight-year-old division. They are competing now at a high standard in show jumping which is fantastic. They are both Irish-bred horses. Getting selected for this competition is a big step in the right direction. It’s a very important side of the operation for us at Alberta Capital.

And are there many similarities between how you handle your show jumping operation and operating in racing?

Yes, actually we have brought thoroughbred mares to show jumping sires in the past and have been quite successful in that regard. We are still learning about handling thoroughbreds but we are seeing some success in terms of crossing over the two.

So last Sunday Meyo won in Listowel for you and she did it well in the end.

I wasn’t confident going down, really. She hadn’t run in a bumper or a point-to-point. She took a lot of time to strengthen up. I thought she might come on for the run. She did well in Cork and Galway but she was still quite green. So, we thought she would need another run heading into Sunday. She needs the three miles as she is very one-paced. She is an out-and-out stayer and she will improve again from that.

Meyo and Darragh O'Keeffe win the Dairygold Maiden Hurdle \Healy Racing

What is next on the agenda for her?

She will get a break of about six weeks now. There is a race in Clonmel that has produced some Albert Bartlett horses over the years. If she was ready for that after her break, we will go for it. That sounds ambitious, but we will probably aim her for the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham. She has massive improvement in her. She is exciting, she has so much scope and ability. She will definitely win a valuable handicap chase in the future if everything stays right with her.

And you had another winner in Listowel on Thursday with Drop The Drip.

Yeah, It was brilliant. I did quietly fancy her myself. She has been very consistent. I thought she would handle the ground. She might not have the best turbo engine but she stays galloping. When she got the soft lead in front, she was always going to keep going.

And what’s the plan for her next?

She is entered for the Horses in Training sales at Newmarket. She is also entered in Bellewstown next week and if she is fit and well she will take her chance. She really hurdles well and she has a load of size and scope. She is so stable in her personality. Even when she is in-season, you wouldn’t even know it. Whoever buys her will knock a good bit of craic out of her over hurdles.

So tell us about Tom Gibney and the relationship you have formed with him.

Tom is top-class. We try to put very trustworthy and straight people around us. You need good communication and credible people around you and Tom is brilliant in that sense. He is very upfront. We have about eight horses with him. We are big supporters of him and I can’t see any scenario where we wouldn’t be. Himself, Heidi and the team do great work. It suits us that they are a smaller operation. The big yards don’t suit what we are trying to achieve. You couldn’t get better than Tom.

You have runners in both the flat and National Hunt, which do you get more enjoyment out of?

The National Hunt seems to be working for us. There is a massive gap in terms of spending power between us and the top-level horses on the flat. I can’t seem to be able to buy group-quality horses on the flat. We are getting so much more success in show jumping and National Hunt than we are on the flat.

We think we are running a successful operation on the National Hunt side of things but I don’t think the same can be said for the flat. We are just still trying to learn the flat. It all comes down to relationships and experience and we are hoping it will click for us.

From your time in ownership, is there anything that racing can do to improve the experience?

I think a lot of racing, like show jumping, has a cohort of people who are involved in the sport. I certainly felt, getting into it, that I was an outsider. I didn’t have the network like I would have in show jumping. I find Horse Racing Ireland is very progressive but I think in terms of getting owners in and getting them embedded in racing, I think perhaps Horse Sport Ireland and the HRI could collaborate more and find more synergies between themselves. That would bring people from both sports together.

The knowledge is very transferable. Before I ever got involved in racing, I could tell you what a good mover looked like, or a horse with a good conformation, and those sorts of traits are vital in racing. So I think if they were to collaborate a bit more together, HSI and HRI would be all the better for it.