“THIS was just a field when I started, there was nothing here,” Colin Bowe proudly relates, as he shows me the sprawling training set-up he has built up over the last 20 years in the village of Kiltealy, Co Wexford.

The 13-time champion point-to-point trainer (still only 52 years old), who has unearthed stars such as Samcro, Envoi Allen, Ferny Hollow, Gerri Colombe, Brandy Love and Skylight Hustle, can rightly be classed as the most prolific point-to-point handler of all time. But more than that, Bowe has been the wayfinder for others in this part of the world, showing what can be achieved with hard work, bravery and no small measure of horsemanship.