Don Browne

I was born and bred in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork and my father had point-to-pointers. He never trained, but he had horses in training. A thing I always wanted to do was train my own horse. I was about 21 before I sat on a racehorse. My father had a point-to-pointer and said to me to crack on and take a chance training him. I then bought a horse with my brother and trained it. She stayed racing, but was never much good. Cloneen Princess was my first winner in the millennium year at Carrigtwohill. She was a point-to-point winner for my father. I bought Cloneen Storm and he won for me as a five-year-old and a six-year-old. That fella won four point-to-points. After him, the licence went. I had another horse for my father, Cloneen Choice, and I took out the licence for him. He won three point-to-points and he came third in a hunters chase in Killarney in 2017.

Horses were always a hobby as I was working in grounds maintenance. I did the training first thing in the morning. I was up early to ride out the horse and then I went and did a day's work. Work was the priority and the horses were a hobby. My father is a farmer and we use the ground here for training but, in fairness, 90 per cent of the time we use Terence O'Brien's gallop. He is very good to us. My son Adrian and I go over there every morning at 6am to ride out - we put on the headlights on the helmet and ride away! We have Speckled Meadow and we have two point-to-pointers and we have a big horse that is taking a bit of time with. We have four stables, a four-horse walker and we have three small wood-chip paddocks. Four is plenty for us because Adrian and I ride out two and two, and after that we are rushing for work because we start at 8.30am in construction.

Speckled Meadow has been a very good horse for me. I bought her off a very good friend of mine. I was going to take out a Flat licence for her, but the yard had to be inspected and it was going to take six to eight weeks before I would get the licence. Time was running out as it was approaching the end of the Flat season, so she ran for Terence O'Brien who has been very good to me. We had her ready for racing and Terence trained her to two victories in Thurles and Galway in 2022. I renewed the licence in 2023 for her. She gave me my first racecourse winner as a trainer in Leopardstown last April. It was a dream come true as were always into horses. She was also second at the Galway Festival and was third in Killarney. Speckled Meadow will go for the same sort of races as last year. She is back on the go and will hopefully be out at the end of March, start of April. On top of the ground, she is tapped for a bit of a gear. When she gets cut in the ground, she can get through it no bother. She can catch out the opposition on heavy ground, and is as tough as nails and stays galloping.

Adrian wanted a horse to ride himself. He previously had a mare, but she got a leg. We went down to Wicklow (to Peter Croke) and looked at two horses and we liked West Of Carrig and took a chance on him. Thankfully, it has worked out. Adrian owns him and rides him and he has won four point-to-points in the last year - the biggest win of all was in Carrigtwohill point-to-point (Ballyvodock) on the home ground. Everyone was there in Carrigtwohill and he got good support! He then won in Curraghmore, in Dungarvan and Tallow. We ran in Dungarvan and we said we would bowl along in front and if it works out, it works out. He won well and we told everyone that we were going to Tallow and if he won there, we would go to Cheltenham for the St. James's Place Challenge Cup Hunter Steeplechase. The way he won by 16 lengths, he is definitely entitled to go now. He jumped very well and travelled well for Adrian - he clicks very well with him. We are still learning about the horse. We were holding him up initially and, basically, wanted to sit behind and hopefully pick up the pieces. The horses in front had a bit more toe and we just hadn't the quick gear to go with them then. We changed tactics then and let him bowl away in front. He's happy doing that and it has worked out well so far. As long as it is yielding to soft ground he is fine.

It is a very exciting time for Adrian and myself. To get a horse on a track is one thing, but to try to go to Cheltenham is a big thing for us. First Cheltenham runner and I've never been in Cheltenham in my life. It is just Adrian and myself that look after him, and we just keep him happy and consistent. He's a good, solid animal - he's strong and he can take the racing. He is improving and is taking his work well. We will freshen him up again after two quick races back-to-back in February. We'll get him in his happy zone again and wind him up again for the track. Adrian will be riding him - if he doesn't ride him, he won't be going! He's excited, but he is as cool as the breeze. I'd be nervous at the races and wouldn't know how he can be so cool about things. He won't have any more runs before Cheltenham. In about two weeks, we will bring him back up to the boil. Terence and Mike Browne, his assistant, have said to us to call down and they will help us in any way they can with the logistics of getting a horse over to Cheltenham. There is Punchestown after Cheltenham and he is handicapped over hurdles.

Don was in conversation with Michael Graham

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About Michael Graham

Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.

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