Tell me about Merlin The Wizard and how you got involved in racing?

I’ve been involved with racing down through the years, I’ve had horses with Charles Byrnes and Tom Hogan. For the last six or seven years, I’ve had horses in France with Francis Monfort. I have two three-year-old fillies in training over there at the moment. I bought Merlin The Wizard for my wife, so he runs in our colours under her name. Ronnie Quinn is also involved with us.

I bought him at Tattersalls HIT sale back in 2024 and he came from Harry Charleston. John Feane trained him for us last year and did quite well with him, despite a few niggly issues.

We were all set to go to Galway in July last year, but he got spooked in the horsebox on the way up. He passed the vet checks, but in hindsight, we shouldn’t have run him. He finished last and ran no sort of race.

We decided to give him a change of scenery this year and we sent him to Ray Cody in Kilkenny. Ray has done very well with him so far. He’s turned a corner this year and won his last two races. In March, he finished second in Dundalk, to a John Feane horse would you believe it! He ran a good race in Leopardstown in April, got a bit tapped for toe at Ballinrobe in May when we stepped him up to 10 furlongs, it turned into a sprint.

Then we went to the Curragh and he got chopped at the first bend, so we put a line through that. At Limerick earlier this month, we stepped him up to a mile and a half in a claimer and we won that. We were delighted with that, now we know he can stay. Last Monday’s race in Ballinrobe came up and we knew that he liked the track, so we said we’d go back there at 10 furlongs and he won again.

Do you have a plan for Merlin’s next run?

We were hoping he wouldn’t be claimed in Limerick and he wasn’t. Our plan is to go over hurdles with him eventually, maybe later this year or early next year. He’s having a week off now and then we’ll bring him back in and aim for the 0-90 on the Thursday of the Galway Festival, so that’s the plan. It was unjust what happened at Galway last year, he never had a chance to give his true performance, so he deserves another chance.

My wife and I live outside Gort and we’ve been going to the Galway races for 40-odd years, so it would be nice to go there with a runner, and a live chance. He put his head down and tried all the way to the line in Ballinrobe, so a stiff eight or nine furlongs in Galway should suit him.

The claimer in Limerick probably wasn’t the best race in the world, but it gave him confidence and that showed the last day in Ballinrobe.

Ray does so well with the few he has. He’s only got 10 horses. If a horse is good enough, Ray will win with it. It’s a family-run business, his wife rides out and she’s a vet, so she looks after them. His nephew rides out as well. They keep things tight, but they do a very good job. I was looking to buy another horse recently and I was getting Ray to look into one for me.

We never bought it in the end, but Ray turned around and asked me who I’d get to train it. I had thought Ray would take him, but he says he doesn’t want any more than 10, so we’re privileged to have a horse with him.

Do you go over to France much to see your horses run?

I don’t and I should! I’ve had some very good luck over there, both of the horses have won. I had a horse called Sim Card, who won five times for me, and we sold him in a claimer late last year. I had a horse running on Tuesday called Kitsune, but she finished down the field.

The trip was a bit far after coming back from a three-month break, but she won already earlier in the year. The prize money is good over there and we concentrate on French premium horses, so we get an additional bonus when they win or place.

How do you find the experience of being an owner in France compared to Ireland?

If you can win one race, you’re nearly covered for the year. The race we won earlier in the year was worth €8,000 or €9,000 and then we got an 80% premium of that as well. That’ll keep a horse in training for a year for you. They don’t have to be superstars to get that sort of prize money. Our horses are only rated in the 70s, so it’s good money for the more mediocre races over there.

The training fees are pretty similar to Ireland, but you get €3,000 per annum per horse subsistence and travel. That’s huge really, because it can cost €300 or €400 to get a horse to the races and back. There are definitely more initiatives over there for owners, and breeders also get premiums on horses they’ve bred.

I normally try to buy yearlings with a French premium, or sometimes I go to Tattersalls in October to look for them. The other side of it is that I don’t get to go to the races as much. We enjoy the day out and getting dressed up. I’d been missing that the last few years, so that’s why I bought Merlin to give us the day out.