THE Glenmore Goes Racing Syndicate consists of family and neighbours. The majority of the syndicate are members of the Aylward family. Here, David Aylward tells us of his family’s success in the past with Moon Dice and how the syndicate appears to have another good horse on their hands in The Big Chap who won at Fairyhouse last Saturday.

How did you and your family get an interest in racing?

It goes back an awful long way, even before my time. My grandparents were involved in racing as well. In the 2000s my father was involved with uncles and neighbours in syndicates.

We have been lucky enough with a lot of our horses. My earliest memory is a horse that my father had in the mid-90s with Michael Butler. It won a few handicap hurdles. I remember it winning at Leopardstown on Mother’s Day. I was probably only about seven or eight at the time. In 2011 we won a Galway Hurdle with Moon Dice. The interest goes back through the family line a long time.

Tell us about The Big Chap. That was a cracking win last Saturday in what looked to be quite a competitive race.

I suppose we were hopeful more so than confident. We were hoping for a clear round and for him not to pick up any injuries. We ran in a beginners’ chase in Sligo about two weeks ago and we unseated at the second. Look, it was great to beat My Mate Mozzie, he was the one everyone thought would win. Our lad put in a very good round of jumping and, for us to win, it is a big bonus. We were delighted with it.

I hope you all had a few quid on at the price he was!

We had a small few quid on alright. I’ll tell you this much though, he wouldn’t have been 50/1 if we thought he was going to win. He didn’t go unbacked, we would have loved to have more on but hindsight is a great thing.

Is there any talk of what might be next on the agenda for him?

We have a couple of options, it depends on what mark we are given. There is a race at Galway at the end of the month for horses rated 130 or less. We may have a look at something at Cheltenham in November. The ground often turns up good there. There would only be five or six horses in the Shloer Chase. I’m not saying we will definitely go there but it might be worth an entry, just to see what is in it.

The ground was more on the softer side last Saturday at Fairyhouse, is that what he likes?

To be honest we always thought he liked good ground. Paul did say to us on a few occasions that he would go on soft ground if it wasn’t too tacky. We got away with it last Saturday. I walked the course and I thought it was a bit soft, but it wasn’t too bad either. It was drying out as the day went on.

It’s evident now that he does handle a bit of ease in the ground. We ran in a handicap hurdle on ground a bit softer at Listowel there a couple of weeks ago and finished last. It was just too tacky for him down there. It’s probably a case that he wouldn’t want it much softer than he got last Saturday.

You mentioned a horse earlier named Moon Dice. It must have been fantastic at the time to win a Galway Hurdle.

Oh yeah, it has to be one of the best days of our lives in terms of horse racing anyway - we will never forget it. We went there just hoping he would be there or thereabouts. We couldn’t believe it when he won it by five lengths, it was something else. It’s something that we will never forget. The Big Chap has a long way to go before he reaches the heights of Moon Dice, but if he keeps improving you never know. But it was fantastic, if we ever get a day like that again, we will be very lucky people.

Tell us about Paul Flynn and how that relationship started? He has had a good time of it lately in terms of winners.

Paul is a top-class trainer. We have been with him now many years. It came about probably around 2008. My father was at the Galway Races. He was in a bar and so was Paul and the two of them just got chatting. Paul told him about Drunken Sailor who was running the next day. Dad had a few quid on him and he won. Dad rang him up then and told him he had one at home that he would like Paul to train. That ended up being Moon Dice and the rest is history. Paul is a fantastic man. He has great facilities, it’s a top-class yard. He knows his stuff and I couldn’t speak more highly of him really.

From your experience of going racing down through the years, is there anything you think can be done to improve the sport?

I suppose I would just like to echo what Shark Hanlon said at Fairyhouse on Saturday. Racecourses are watering a lot during the summer months now. When you turn up at the races you would expect the ground to be good and it actually turns out to be soft to yielding because they have watered so much during the week. You know, some horses need good ground. I think it is becoming more of an issue. It has been noticeable this year that racecourses are watering a lot more and the ground is turning up a lot softer than usual. We are all for the welfare of horses, but some horses need good ground and that’s safe ground.

What advice would you have for someone who is interested in getting involved with ownership.

I suppose the first thing is that you need to go to someone who has a good eye for horses, that knows about horses. For example we bought The Big Chap from Peter Maher in Kildare. He had a number of horses for sale. My father actually brought Paul along and the two of them picked him out together. Paul obviously has a good eye for that and knows a lot about horses. So we have been lucky that way. I think that’s key, to have someone with you with a good eye for a horse is very important. By the nature of the game, you are going to need a lot of luck as well to get a good horse.