MATT Mitchell has not opted for a gentle bedding-in period since being appointed chief executive of Tattersalls Ireland in July. Standing still doesn’t pay off in any business of course and as someone with 41 years’ experience in promotion, 26 of that in the bloodstock industry, nobody is more aware of that. Mitchell grew up on a dairy farm in Newport but the family was immersed in point-to-points. His father, Joe, rode as an amateur and booted home one of Vincent O’Brien’s first winners, Good Days, at Tipperary in 1944. Mitchell rode in some bumpers but was tall. Absence of talent, he says, was a hurdle too.

He qualified from UL with a Business Studies degree that majored in marketing and started with An Bord Bainne (now Ornua) in 1977.