How did you get into racehorse ownership?

IN 1983, while sitting at home with my dad, I picked my first ever winning horse.

My system was purely based on the colours. The horse, Fredcoteri, sported bright vibrant orange silks and was carried home by Tom Taaffe and trained by Arthur Moore.

The silks were so different, fluorescent orange! My dad called the colours obscene but I was 13 and thought they were the best. They provided me with a favourite racehorse for the first time.

One year on and Fredcoteri was on TV again winning the Irish Sweeps Hurdle for the second time– then the richest handicap in Ireland.

From that day in 1983, I had my first ever ambition, to own a racehorse and I had some colours in mind!

What was your best day at the races and why?

I lived for almost 12 years in Birmingham and attended every Hennessy, Cheltenham and Aintree festival with my dad. Aintree was my favourite.

I dreamed of owning a racehorse and of having a runner in Aintree. It actually happened!

I had a runner on Becher Chase day in December 2019 in the Fillies’ Juvenile Listed Hurdle.

I invited friends and family and in the end nine of us travelled to Liverpool. My trainer Shane Duffy, his dad (Paddy) and brother David travelled over with the filly Mianna. Everything about the day was magic. Mianna pulled up, but that didn’t matter.

The dream was realised – a runner at Aintree.

It was on this day at Aintree that I found out my friend Timmy had cancer. He fought through two years and all that kept him alive were the racehorses Molly Kaye and Phoenix Open.

I didn’t own Phoenix Open at the time, but he was by Scat Daddy and Timmy loved him. Timmy and I would regularly head to Maddenstown Gallop on the Curragh to watch Phoenix work. I bought Phoenix Open for me and Timmy after he died.

My second-best day at the races was definitely 10 days ago, when Phoenix Open won at Gowran Park. Timmy was there in sprit, I am sure of it, and Phoenix Open will forever be ours.

What is the biggest drawback about owning a racehorse?

I brought my parents to Gowran Park on May 11th this year. To my horror, Howling Wolf pulled up lame. He had taken a false step and my heart sank. I knew. My trainer Shane Duffy knew. The next morning I waited for the call. It didn’t take long. He was gone.

In your experience, which racecourse in Ireland treats owners the best and why?

Ballinrobe is my favourite town and racecourse in Ireland - I love the place. The owner experience on track is second to none. My only criticism is getting out of Ballinrobe, or it is probably more accurate to say, getting out of John O’Hare’s pub in the square. If you can find the pub buy the Guinness, best pint west of the Shannon.

The owner experience in Gowran Park has improved immensely due to the staff in the owners and trainers, and the food is usually fantastic.

I cannot wait to get back racing in Killarney. I have seen the new entrance being built throughout the summer and it complements the track. I would love to have a winner there in my hometown.

What qualities do you look for in a trainer?

Established, adequate prior knowledge, hard-working and one that talks of nothing else but horses.

Ger Lyons said it took him 10 years to learn how to train a horse, so I wanted an established trainer that had survived the rough and tumble of training in Ireland for at least 10 years. In terms of adequate prior knowledge, Shane Duffy worked for the great Christy Roche for more than 15 years.

It is impossible to qualify hard-working, but nothing is left to chance with Shane. He has that absolute love for horses that consumes so many in the industry, the passion with which he speaks, the empathy and pure unadulterated love for the animal that is so infectious. If you can find a trainer with all these traits it will be a help.

What improvements would you like to see racecourses in Ireland do for owners?

Ground reports. Since April this year, I have travelled to Bellewstown, Gowran Park and Down Royal with Molly Kaye, only to go home again owing to ground conditions. This would have happened for a fourth time in Tramore only Shane rang me at 11pm the night before the race when he was walking the track.

It was obvious we wouldn’t run and could change our plans but just look at the expenses - entry and declaration, travel for the horse as well as myself and any invited guests.

How do you think the current crisis will impact on racing in general and on ownership in particular?

Feed, shavings, diesel and heating have all sky rocketed.

I cannot believe that there has not been a multitude of small independent racehorse trainers going to the wall. This unique group of small trainers are being squeezed from everywhere.

I don’t want to be a number in a big yard paying exorbitant fees, travel etc. I don’t believe it is good for any industry to have three of four ‘superpowers’ with hundreds of horses hoovering up the stable staff, work riders and owners.

Remember when the late Tom Foley had Danoli, John Carr in Maynooth had Sublimity, Jim Culloty had Lord Windermere. Communities brought together by the story of the small man beating the odds.

What can trainers or HRI do to encourage owners to keep horses in training at the moment?

It is obvious that the programme book is designed to cater for the good horses. The proverbial egg and spoon races, namely the 47-65 handicaps, are populated by 70 entries (at least). If owners cannot run their horses’, it will not be too long before frustration starts to bite and owners jump ship. If HRI catered to the horse population based on ratings, the programme would be very different. Racing would still be competitive and everybody would be catered for.

What significance do your colours hold?

Everything. As a ‘paddy’ that lived in England the colours had to reflect the tricolour.

Every Irish runner at Cheltenham or Aintree I attended were cheered and prayed for.

Inevitably, a winner would arrive in a handicap sporting the green, white and gold McManus colours. I adore them. Molly Kaye won in Thurles beating a J.P. horse into third and that picture holds pride of place at home. My colours had to reflect the tricolour, green with a white cap, and the Fredcoteri orange was a must for my Dad.

Every time I drive past a jogger in a luminous fluorescent orange top, or I see a road worker dressed in an orange bib, I think of War Room - my first winner in those colours.

What do you do with your racehorses when their racing days are over?

Gala N Dandy is show jumping in the Netherlands for a 16-year-old girl. Mianna and Scotts Honor are involved in breeding and showing respectively in the UK.

Howling Wolf was not as fortunate, owing to his injury, but after they have run for us rehoming is a foremost.

Border Battle was retired in May and he is still requiring a home but he is happy out in Laois watching everything else work while he rests. Pulling the plug on him was hard.

What would help to make Irish racing more competitive for the smaller owner/trainer?

The programme book should reflect the quality of the horse population.

Something may have to be done about the ‘super’ stables with hundreds of horses, maybe a cap on numbers? I fear just like our high streets in our towns have lost small traditional wholesalers, butchers and sweet shops at the expense of the ‘super’ stores, that racing could go the same way. The small trainer could be a thing of the past and I don’t like that potential landscape.