How did you get involved in racing?

My grandparents had a horse with Aidan O’Brien called Blaze Of Honour, and she won eight races, so I’d have been watching and going racing when I was a child. We had big family days out and, as I got older, I started taking it more seriously. I’d wake up on a Saturday morning to watch The Morning Line and Channel 4, so from an early age I was obsessed with horse racing and betting. I work in the betting industry myself.

My parents were owners and had winners with Christy Roche and with John Bleahen. Dad’s very first horse won first time out in Ballinrobe, trained by Christy Roche. My father is a farmer, but he breeds a few horses too. We’d bring them to Tattersalls, but you could see that they were really late foals and probably weren’t prepared very well, so they wouldn’t sell well. We’re learning as we go along!

Our home-bred Andyourbirdcansing was running for John Ryan and I didn’t think she’d be any good, but she showed some ability and I thought why not get our colours out there, so we changed the ownership then.

Would you ever get into the bloodstock industry like your dad?

Maybe. If I was to do that, I’d want to do it in a professional way. My two brothers and I will inherit the farm down the line, but it becomes a whole new job. To master any skill, you need to spend a certain number of hours at it and I don’t think it’s worth it unless you have a nicely-bred horse.

We’d probably keep one or two mares and try and get some nice pedigrees, and outsource a bit in terms of the foaling and sales prep. I’m not ruling it out but I’m conscious of time and money. After college I worked as an accountant for a few years, and looking at some of the farmers’ numbers, you’d wonder why they do it. It’s just their way of life.

Tell us about We Win Entertainment.

It’s a very expensive game, so I want to get something out of it. You see loads of racing clubs and syndicates that take the mick out of people from a cost point of view. I’m trying to take care of the admin side of things and make sure that WhatsApp group is well managed with weekly updates from the trainer.

We Win Entertainment is a company, but in effect it’s a syndicate. We’re always open to new members, I’d rather have lads ready to find the right horse than have a horse ready and trying to fill up shares. Earlier in the year, I was pitching Smallcraftwarning as a purchase for the We Win Farming Syndicate and Kartayaz as a lease for prospective syndicate members of We Win Entertainment. We had takers for both horses.

The real enthusiasts wanted to buy and the more recreationals wanted their monthly share with the leasing option. There’s some of my wife’s family and my dad’s friends involved so it worked out lovely. We have a nice band of horses between Andyourbirdcansing, Smallcraftwarning, Kartayaz, and a couple of new ones for 2026.

How did you get involved with George?

I met George last January at Thyestes Day in Gowran. He really gets the most out of his stock. The common theme of his jockeys’ winning interviews is that he’s great craic, and he is. Zoe is mad about George and he’s a great educator as well. He was a jockey himself. He’s patient with his owners and his horses and they always look a picture. George gives us great access to the yard and he’s great with sending us videos and giving us updates. We’re trying to offer as personable service as possible. Zoe (McMullan, jockey) and George had a runner in Galway a couple of months ago and they called in at our house on the way back for some of my mum’s apple tart. We have a great relationship with both jockey and trainer.

Being 50/1, were you confident in your chances last Wednesday?

A few of the guys in the group had their biggest ever winner, which is fantastic. Small-staking lads with their fiver each-way here and there. I thought that he’s come on for the run because he hadn’t run for a few months, and he was drawn very wide. I thought he’d run a nice race and place, but he broke very well and got a good position and they went a good pace up front. George was quietly confident, but he was also worried about the draw.

Usually he leads but they went such a good pace that Zoe could take a lead. It’s a good sign of a rider when they can make up their own mind in a race rather than sticking exactly to their instructions. You need to tweak them based on what’s going on in the race. I was watching from home with my eight-month-old daughter in my arms. I wasn’t roaring him home, but I was quietly hoping, I couldn’t believe it when he won. It was great to give her a first winner as well.

The handicapper was kind. He was 3lb out of the handicap, so he got his three plus four. I’d say he’ll be competitive again off that, but everything went right last Wednesday so you can’t be too confident it would all go right again. He’s been very consistent. He finished fifth in Laytown and we had a great day out with Seamie Heffernan on board. It was my first time at Laytown and he ran very well, it was a great thrill.

What inspired your colours?

I remember making the colours for that first horse when I was 16 and it was of the local GAA team. My grandparents’ colours were the Loughrea colours. I’ve moved on to soccer teams with my colours, so they’re the Cruyff colours of the 1974 Netherlands team. With the tipping I do, the majority of my bets would be on football, so I like to cross the two sports over. I wanted to use the colours to point back to my business.

You have a good presence on social media, do you think it’s a good way to get more people involved with the sport?

Yes, I think using social media is a way to sell the sport and get maximum reach, but I think the focus needs to be more on the smaller man. How can you sell winning the Derby with a four-and-a-half-million purchase? How is that relatable to the target audience?

I’ll be doing some different things with social media in the next few weeks and months, which will give people an idea of what these days are like as an owner/member of a syndicate. This content will be a bit different (and less boring!) than traditional media so hopefully that will help with promoting the sport to new audiences. I’ll post everything on my X @quarterfirst4 and across my other social media channels too.

Myself and Aidan O’Sullivan of We Win Farming did an interview with Racing TV after Smallcraftwarning won at Clonmel and it got loads of views online!

I think Epsom was on the same day and an interview with Aidan O’Brien didn’t get half the views we got. It’s all about authenticity and relatable content. Zoe’s interview went bananas online and there was even an article in The Irish Mirror. It really captured her enthusiasm and love for the sport. The thoroughbred itself is such a fascinating animal, it’s good to showcase that on social media.