Mar_139_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 18/02/2016 16:50 Page 44
HENRY DE BROMHEAD
CAROLINE NORRIS
are just as much fun. At times Cheltenham does take too much focus away from the rest of the season, but its position at the forefront of the overall sporting arena has got to be good for the exposure of National Hunt racing. Though it can be a bit frustrating when you win a Grade 1 around Christmas time and immediately afterwards you find it’s not really about winning that particular race, as the focus invariably turns straight towards Cheltenham. That takes a bit of the shine off winning a Grade 1.
De Bromhead celebrates a winner with his young children Georgia, Mia and Jack
>> While you have attracted the likes of JP McManus and Gigginstown to your stable, Ann and Alan Potts are easily your biggest owners and clearly have huge faith in your abilities. Why does the relationship work so well? The first season Alan came to me, I had three winners and was going through a bad patch. He arrived to look at a point-to-pointer, formed an opinion on us and took the view that we could do it together. To have a man that successful in business – his company Mining Machinery Development makes mining machines called Mineral Sizers, hence all the ‘Sizing’ names of their horses – was a fantastic boost for us. So Alan and Ann have been huge supporters from the very beginning and, like a lot of our owners, they enjoy having a chasing type and are very happy to give their horses time to develop. Jonathan Burke, who took over as retained rider for the Potts, seems to be a wise head on young shoulders. What are his main attributes as a jump jockey and is he a future champion? He’s a very hard worker, very intelligent rider and a lovely young guy. It all comes very naturally to him; he seems to be in the right place at the right time, he’s very good at judging pace and presents a horse at a fence so well. He is 19 and I believe he will be a champion jockey one day. His father Liam, who saddled My Murphy to win the Thyestes Chase, has moulded Johnny and Ruby Walsh and has also helped him along the way. A lot of younger jockeys don’t get the opportunity to learn how tough this game can be, but Johnny knows, thanks to people like his dad. He appreciates everything he’s getting at the moment. Are there plans to increase the current size of your 60-box yard and even develop a larger string of Flat horses?
44
You are always tweaking things and you always need to sex things up, but the number we have is just about right. If we can maintain our results for the rest of my career I’d be very happy. As a relatively new project, we have half a dozen Flat horses with a view to jumping. I feel there are opportunities for three- and four-year-old hurdlers and in the past I haven’t really had the right horses for those races. Now I am addressing that situation. You are well known for keeping your owners and followers informed via Twitter and Facebook. Have your daily communications resulted in any new owners or syndicates? We have three syndicates – all with winners – that we run through Facebook. We have a very good man in Michael O’Callaghan, who organises it for us. The first syndicate we set up through Facebook was in 2008. And, as Michael points out, we got 20 people together we had never met before, all keen to be involved during the worst financial crisis Ireland has ever seen. The members, who include English owners, are great supporters of racing and really enthusiastic. We find social media very useful, giving smaller owners a chance to be involved. How much of your schedule is geared around getting your horses to peak at the Festival? Is it now too big, to the detriment of other meetings/races? We try to gear ourselves to all the festivals. We work our way to Christmas at Leopardstown, perhaps with the odd runner at Kempton, and then back off the festival horses before aiming them towards the spring festivals at Cheltenham, Aintree, Punchestown and Fairyhouse. I love Aintree, which is a superb festival and any owners we have brought there have really enjoyed the whole scene. We all focus on Cheltenham but there are other festivals which
At this stage which are your main hopes for Cheltenham? We’ll probably have a core group for some of the Grade 1 races: Supasundae in the Supreme; Sizing John in the Arkle or JLT; Identity Thief in the Champion Hurdle; Special Tiara in the Champion Chase; Smashing in the Ryanair. Then hopefully Aupcharlie will qualify for the Foxhunter and Buckers Bridge may go for one of the Cheltenham handicaps before the Topham at Aintree. Alisier d’Irlande is a pretty good novice chaser who could join the party, but I wouldn’t attempt to say which is my best prospect. I would be putting everyone wrong! Training racehorses is a full-on, 24/7 existence. How do you switch off? If you ask Heather she would say I don’t switch off! I’m very lucky to work in racing – it’s my passion as well as my job. I enjoy watching the good horses and races, even when I don’t have a runner. The twins Mia and Jack, 6, and Georgia, 4, all ride so we enjoy watching them at Pony Club and shows. Sometimes we’ll go and watch rugby together. They also like coming to the races with us.
CLOSE UP AND... PERSONAL I get away from racing by… spending time with the family My weakness is… chocolate I am annoyed by… inefficiency Favourite film… The Shawshank Redemption My biggest fear is… failure
CLOSE UP AND... PROFESSIONAL My advice to a new trainer… do the job to the best of your ability and be straight with your owners I handle defeat by… going into a race hopeful rather than confident Best horse I’ve seen… Sizing Europe My racing hero is… Vincent O’Brien Race I’d most like to win… Grand National at Aintree
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER