Where did you get your love of horses?

My family have always had horses. My grandfather trained in Cheshire, so myself and my sister have got a big passion for horses. My husband Pat and I both had ponies as kids and we hunted, competed and point-to-pointed. We just have a huge love of horses.

Pat and I managed a stud in New Zealand for a good length of time, and eventually we came back to Ireland and started up our own place. Our eldest daughter is a vet in New Zealand. She did her degree in Dublin and worked in Fethard for 12 months and then went back out to New Zealand. Of course, Sarah trained Catchabird, so all four of us are mad into horses. It’s completely a family business, we do everything ourselves.

Tell us about Catchabird.

She was small as a foal, but she’s so athletic, so we said we might as well just keep her and race her rather than selling her. She’s a beautiful mover, she just floats along. She tries so hard but just couldn’t get her head in front, and then she did it twice in a week! She didn’t run many times as a younger mare, she had a few niggly issues, so for a mare of her age, she didn’t have much experience until last year.

She’s from a fabulous family. Getabird was the dam’s first foal, and it’s a really lovely family. We have two other full sisters that we’re breeding from, and they’re both young mares so hopefully they’ll produce something good.

We have Geek Chic who is the dam of Global Equity and Search For Glory, and she had a Luxembourg filly the other day, so hopefully we might be able to keep that one and bring it on in time. We sell everything we breed mostly, or we try not to keep them anyway. Sometimes there’s something that stops them going to the sales, but you can’t push them back in once they’ve come out!

Was ownership always an ambition of yours, or did it come about with the breeding?

I’ve always had a huge interest in racing, and I’ve had bits and pieces of odd ones. I think syndicates are absolutely fantastic as ownership goes. It’s very costly, I’m lucky my daughter is training for me, it’s payback time! To own a horse and race it is so exciting, it really is. It’s something that you probably don’t get the opportunity to do until later in life, to actually afford it, but it really is lovely.

Were you confident in your chances heading to

Wexford?

She’d been placed that many times, we weren’t overly confident that she’d win, but we thought she’d run well. Sarah thought that if we ran her in a maiden hurdle, she’d get the 8lb allowance, so maybe with her experience in handicaps she could get her head in front. We had already entered her in Navan in case the ground was too soft in Wexford, and the race in Navan looked winnable and she likes the track.

She was absolutely bouncing after Wexford so we thought we’d give it a go. The jockeys had been coming back in saying that she needed further, and she can be keen enough so we thought we’d run her a bit closer to the pace and see if she’d go better back at two miles, and she did!

Aidan Kelly has ridden her in nearly all of her races, and he’s done a great job. She gets excited in the paddock, there’s no harm in it, but she needs a very quiet rider, and he’s done all the work. I’m glad he got his two wins, he really deserved them, I think he’s a very good young jockey.

What does a day’s racing look like for an owner, breeder, and mother of the trainer?

We got up in the morning and rode out a couple before we left, and it took us about four and a half hours to get to Navan. I go into the stableyard with Sarah, and I always go out to walk the track. I know that’s the trainer and jockey’s job, but I like to do it too. You see some of the jockeys running the track and having a look at the ground, and it’s quite interesting to see who does.

I like to see young jockeys out walking the track, but I don’t see too many of them! I think it’s really important. Aidan came up the outside at Wexford because it was a bit drier in the finish and it helped our filly.

I think the lunch provided by the track is great for owners to get to know people, and the general comradery. Since Sarah’s gotten her licence, I get to meet more trainers and I find everyone really friendly. Asking any of them a bit of advice, they’re more than happy to help you out. It’s a tough game, so for owners coming in that don’t have a lot of racing knowledge, everyone is very helpful.

I don’t often get a chance to interview women for this column, or at all, is there more work to be done?

I have found it quite noticeable that there are a lot of young girls riding out, and in the stableyard, but not a huge amount of female jockeys. Rachael of course was an incredible jockey, and it seems like there’s a big hole since she’s retired, but when you look a bit further down the line, there are quite a few up-and-coming lady riders.

Aine O’Connor and Maxine O’Sullivan are lovely and they’re great role models for younger jockeys. Generally there aren’t many lady owners, I do notice that! I go into the paddock and it’s nearly always full of men. I think it could be something that’s worked on a bit more.