Aug_84_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 21/07/2011 10:46 Page 34
TALKING TO... >> Having made your name in the jumping world, are you happy to train mostly Flat horses or will you increase your National Hunt string? When I got the job there were mostly Flat horses here and we just carried on. We’ve had some jump winners and have some dualpurpose horses. Commercially, the Flat seems more viable; horses don’t take so much time to get ready, giving owners more opportunities of a day out and, if they’re lucky, a quicker return. Is “Get Your Heart Racing”, a muchused slogan on your website, the
CLOSE UP AND... PERSONAL My favourite film is... The Shawshank Redemption The most challenging thing I’ve done is... making the decision to stop riding My weakness is... chocolate I am annoyed by... people who stand too close when talking to me Four guests for dinner... Peter Kay, Muhammed Ali, Martin Pipe & Rihanna
CLOSE UP AND... PROFESSIONAL Racing has taught me... not to believe the hype I feel the pressure when... I’m watching Smarty Socks coming out of the starting stalls – he always misses the break The hardest part of training is... trying to find enough time for everybody I handle defeat by... taking the positive; you often learn more in defeat I’d most like to train the winner of... the Champion Hurdle
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stable motto, similar to Mark Johnston’s “Always Trying”? Some of the girls in the yard have it printed on their t-shirts. It is a slogan we may well develop. After all, this business does get our hearts racing, doesn’t it? Did your parents, in Fermoy, County Cork, help you on your way into racing? They are both huge racing enthusiasts and have supported me all the way. My dad is an estate agent and property developer, but is also clerk of the scales at Avondhu point-to-point in Fermoy. My mum is a physiotherapist, who has become an equine physiotherapist and is secretary of the Avondhu point-to-point. Dad has bought and sold store horses for years and when I had ponies as a child he encouraged me and took me everywhere pony racing. You went into the property market when you finished riding. Why did you decide to train when racing’s finances are in such a parlous state? Dad has bought run down properties and done them up and he always said to me it pays to buy a house, do it up and sell it on. I am quite practical and can plumb in a bathroom, put in a kitchen and I still have some property. But I always wanted to have a go at training and did the necessary courses when I finished riding. How do you view the prospect of sending out horses to race for £2,000 when costs are rising? Do you agree with the Horsemen’s Tariff and can you be expected to adhere to it? Prize-money does need to be increased and the Horsemen’s Tariff is doing a good job in trying to remedy the situation. By the same token, horses do need to run and owners like to win, even if it’s a seller at Redcar. Poor prize-money was one of the main reasons I stopped riding and started to buy and sell houses. I could make more money buying and selling one house in a year than I could driving all over the country looking for rides. It was better for me to have five rides and no winners at a meeting, rather than go somewhere else for one winner. That’s prizemoney for you and the problem is deep rooted; it’s all about having a Tote monopoly with betting machines in shops all over the country, like they do in France and Hong Kong. Syndication is a popular way of entry into ownership. Is this your focus? How do you attract owners? Syndication is a part of our operation, but we haven’t specifically focused on it. But it can be great fun, bringing a number of people together to enjoy a good day out. We have plenty of private individuals who own horses here. We haven’t made a concerted effort to go
out there and find new owners, they have come to us as a result of any number of factors, first of all winners, or us having a good strikerate, or a winner at a high-profile Saturday meeting. Interest is also coming through our new website, www.davidomeara.co.uk, put together by Ian White, one of our owners. Has the rejuvenation of the nine-yearold Blue Bajan and his victory in Sandown’s Henry II Stakes attracted more owners, horses and interest? Yes, I think so. His Sandown win in May has certainly elevated our profile and people have shown interest in us since then. For that I am mighty grateful to his owner Dr John Hollowood for sending Blue Bajan here. Multiple winner Powerful Presence, bought for £800, is an advert for your ability to spot a bargain. Do you have a specific policy at the sales, and who advises you? We look for value and buy quite a lot of second-hand horses out of other yards. We don’t have a huge budget and don’t want to be left with expensive horses that are no good; that could kill us. I don’t think I’ve had an individual order for a horse; we buy and then try and find an owner, though recently the odd person has started to approach me and said if I find something suitable to let them know. We saw Powerful Presence at Doncaster Sales, a nice big horse who didn’t appear to have anything wrong with him, but had been a very expensive yearling. He was very athletic, walked well, so I started bidding and got him for £800. His first six races for us yielded four wins and two seconds. I don’t use an agent and Roger Fell and I buy most of the horses between us, though Kevin Everitt bought the Newcastle winner Kool Henry. Would you like to compete with the big owners and trainers at the sales as well as on the racecourse? Would you feel comfortable spending £250,000 on one horse? Absolutely. You go there and see horses you like but they go for five times as much as you can afford, or even more. So the time comes when you have to stop bidding. I’d be comfortable spending £250,000 on one, as long as I had an order for it. Do you find you are always trying to get inside the minds of your horses? Yes, we do, even to the extent of moving a horse from one box to another. Anything to keep them calm, happy and stress-free. We usually turn them out for a few hours after they have worked. Would you have any plans to get more young people involved, such as
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER