How did you get into racing?

My two brothers David and Edmond had a huge passion for it when we were younger. My late dad bought a couple of cheaper horses for us to ride. He bought Miss Leap Of Art for 400 quid in the RDS. She had to be fairly good because I won a bumper on her! I grew up with it because of my dad and my brothers. Then I did the Irish National Stud course before heading across to the States and Australia to learn how other countries do it. That was a phenomenal learning curve and I brought a lot of the good stuff that I learned back to Ireland with me. I learned a lot about making the horse happy and content and fit. If you get a horse fit in the right way he will want to run and it makes a huge difference in performance. As the saying goes, “The road will make a wise man out of a fool”.

What was your best day at the races and why?

Look it, we have had many super days. Different League winning the Albany at Royal Ascot in 2017 was incredible. All of our friends and family joined in the celebrations. We’ve had 25 Group 1 horses and 131 listed horses through our hands. An awful lot of them would have been bought very cheap as well. I have an incredible team behind me. The team here at Bansha House is just incredible. Michael O’Brien, our head man, has been with me for years, We are very lucky to have an incredible team of men and women working for us.

You bought Givemethebeatboys for only €11,000. Can you recall what attracted you to him at that stage?

Amy (Con’s daughter) and I do the sales together. We go our separate ways and come back and have a meeting about what we saw. Amy picked him out in Doncaster and then when I saw him I absolutely loved him. He was my favourite horse at Doncaster at the yearling sales. Unfortunately on that occasion, he was lame so we couldn’t buy him, I was gutted about that.

He came back into a sale in Goffs at the end of the year and we got him then. The rest is history. Bungle Inthejungle is a sire I like a lot as well. I think he is a bit special and I’ve had some very good horses by him. A lot of the agents don’t really go for them because they are not great walkers, but a walking race would be very boring!

What do you look for when picking out a horse, it sounds like you put more of an emphasis on the individual?

Absolutely, you cannot train paper. I suppose breeding helps but first and foremost they have to be the right type for us. I love to have a horse with a lovely relaxed temperament. They are so easy to train. It is absolutely crucial for us that they have a good mind.

Jessie Harrington trains Givemethebeatboys. She is a legendary trainer in Ireland but what do you think makes her so successful and hence appealing to yourself?

She is a superb horsewoman. She has a fantastic team, very professional and friendly. Kate also has a special way with the horses and owners. My daughter Olivia got us in there, she rides out for them. She went up there for a couple of weeks and is still there three years later. We get regular updates. They’re so easy to deal with, it’s just a very professional operation.

Is there any significance to the colours?

The colours are very special to us. My late father had black with a yellow cross of Lorraine. When we started then we reversed it, going for yellow with a black cross of Lorraine.

Before the Curragh race, what were your expectations?

He ran a fantastic race to win the first time out on ground he didn’t like. We decided to step him up then to take on the big guns. The opposition was some of the best in Ireland. We knew he would run a big race but to win was incredible.

You and Amy famously had a Royal Ascot winner with Different League in the 2017 Albany Stakes. Could Givemethebeatboys be the horse for this year ?

Yeah, he will go for the Coventry. We have about eight two-year-olds that have been through our hands that are going to Royal Ascot. Supersonic Man that won in Tipperary this week will go as well. He is a cracking horse, we like him a lot. The lads in our colours will be all taking their chance.

Bansha House was the first major breeze-up operation but in recent years you seem to have taken a different approach and now you put more horses in training. Can you give us an insight into the operation and why you have gone in the direction of putting more horses in training than you used to?

The breeze-ups are gone very difficult. It is all about time and our horses are not primed for a two-furlong stint. They are trained to do the business at the track and they usually do. We could be left with horses that maybe do a slow time on soft ground so, you know, at that stage you have to put them into training. I’m thankful though for the good racehorses that we have had, especially over the last couple of years with Covid and Brexit. The racehorses got us out of jail.

Is there anything that horse racing could do to incentivise more people into racing?

The auction maidens were a great initiative but there really should be more of them. You struggle to get a race for a two-year-old before a certain time of the year. The €10,000 IRE Incentive is fantastic. If you win one of them you get a €10,000 voucher to spend at an Irish sale. The Government needs a standing ovation for that. It has brought so many new people into the game. I would like to see more of those auction maidens because it is a great incentive for people to get involved. If they have a good lad they can get him sold and go again.

What advice would you give to anyone considering racehorse ownership?

If you are a sore loser don’t do it. You will have very good days and very bad days. You should enjoy the good days to the hilt. If needs be, get into a syndicate and surround yourself with good people. And if you need a good horse, give me a shout.

Anything else that you would like to add

Racing is a huge industry. The number of people we have to pay, the staff, the feed, the vets, the transport, the insurance. Racing gives a huge amount back to the economy. For example, the plans that they have for Tipperary will give an awful lot of small lads a lifeline to make a living.

I also want to mention the racecourse staff. I was up at the Curragh on Saturday and Tipperary during the week and I would like to thank them so much for looking after the people we had with us. It was very very appreciated.

Eddie Moran, who looks after the owners, is brilliant. He is so good at looking after people and making them feel appreciated. Same with Sally Carroll at the Curragh. All these people make owners feel so welcome, and it is so appreciated.