TELL us the backstory behind the mare who won last weekend at Navan, Butty O Brien.

My father actually bred her. We went to the sales and didn’t sell her. I think she was making four thousand or something and that wasn’t enough. So, we brought her home. I was actually having bad luck with another horse of mine so he gave her to me. There is a lot of work that has gone into her over the eight years. She had a lot of niggly problems over the years but she is really coming good now. She came out of Sunday’s race well. She’s after winning twice there now and it’s our local track so it’s been brilliant.

And she won very well too?

She did. She had them strung out. I didn’t actually realise how far she won until I watched the head-on on the replay. She really put them to bed. She handled the heavier ground very well. Now, she got 8lb from the handicapper for it, which is a lot. But yeah, delighted with the way she won.

What might be next on the agenda for her?

Well, it was kind of dependent on the mark she got from the handicapper. I thought myself he might only give her 5lb. If that was the case there was a similar 102 race for her again in Navan but she is gone over that now. There is another higher rated race on the same card that she might get in with a low weight. It’s only three weeks away but she likes Navan, and she seems fine, so all going well that would be the plan. She has a mark of 93 over fences so we will keep that up our sleeve for another while. But I actually think in time she will be a better chaser than hurdler.

The fact that it is your local track, I assume Navan holds a special place in your heart?

Ah, it does, yeah. We had a second in the Troytown a good few years ago with a horse called called Mad Brian. It’s only up the road from us. It’s a lovely galloping track, I rode around it myself a good few times. I actually won there on Mad Brian as well. So, it’s always a place that has been very good to me.

You also had a third-placed finish on Saturday at Navan as well with Good Deal, tell us a bit about him?

He is a very nice horse. One to really look forward to. We have had a few phone calls enquiring about the possibility of selling him and we may very well just do that, to be honest with you. It was a really good bumper.

The two horses that beat him were exceptional. He is very exciting and a great prospect. My father bought him out of a field as a three-year-old. In fairness to Dad, he has a good eye for a horse.

When you are picking out a horse, what are you looking for? I like to pick out something chancy. Nothing that is massive money. We wouldn’t have the budget for that. I like a nice mover. We try and pick out horses to sell on. We have a few fun horses as well, the likes of Arch Enemy, we knocked three wins out of her last year. You see horses here and there. The likes of Good Deal, he hadn’t much of a page but he was a great looker and had good size so we decided to take a chance.

You were unlucky with Arch Enemy at the Galway Festival last year?

Yeah, she finished second. Hopefully she can return this year and maybe go one place better in the same race. She is back in training now about two months. We will go over hurdles with her first in the meantime. If everything goes right, I’d say she will definitely pick up a hurdle race somewhere along the line but the plan is to return to Galway. I’d love a winner there.

How many horses are in training at the moment?

We have four in training with Paddy Magee at the moment. We are also after buying five yearlings. So, I am braking and pre-training them at the minute. There is a couple of lovely ones among them. They’ll be ready to go as two-year-olds. They are well on in terms of development at this stage.

Tell us more about the relationship with Paddy Magee.

We are very good friends. We socialise with each other and we work well together. There are never any issues. He is a nice lad and a hard worker. Because he has a small number of horses, he is able to concentrate on individual horses more than some of the bigger lads might be able to.

Obviously, they are not riding out in a big string of horses. But you know I think there is an awful lot of positives in the smaller operation that Paddy has. He brings his horses to the beach as well which I think is a brilliant thing. It’s very good for their heads and their legs and recovery and all that.

As a former jockey, do you miss the thrill of race-riding?

Yeah, very much so. I’d nearly take my licence out in the morning! I love the jumping. I still have the bottle for it. I’ve no fear that way, I don’t mind schooling horses, I don’t mind jumping up on a horse for the first time.

I just love the adrenaline rush. I’ve a background in hunting, and hunted for the first time in about 10 years there two weeks ago with the Meath Hunt. I enjoyed it immensely but just to get the time to do those sort of things is hard.

You are kept busy these days with pre-training. Tell us a bit more about that operation?

I do a lot of the pre-training. We have 14 horses here at home at the minute. I do a lot of the pre-training for Paddy here so I’m riding out every day. We have a nice set-up here with a two-furlong gallop. I’m probably fitter now than I was when I was a jockey. Myself and Paddy point-to-pointed years ago together and have been friends ever since.