Kieran Cotter

I'm from Monasterevin, Co Kildare and am presently living three miles from there in Clonanny, Co Laois. As we like to say here, I'm one of the top trainers in Laois and would be well down the pecking order in Kildare! We bred a good few National Hunt horses and that was my earliest memory of horses, having them at home and bringing them to what was the old Derby Sale at the RDS. My father had horses in training with Andy Geraghty on the Curragh. When I was only a chap, if I heard he was going there on a Saturday morning, I'd be first in the car waiting. Andy was the first person to put me up on a horse when I wasn't more than 13 or 14 years of age. I can still remember thinking I have to do this. I was just bitten by the bug. I was always going to do it, but it probably wasn't what my parents intended because I wasn't too bad at school. I had other interests as well, but it didn't go down too well when I chose the horse route!

First Success with Shindella

My father bred a horse called Shindella and it was the first two-year-old we trained. She won her maiden over five furlongs in Leopardstown by eight lengths. She was sold - David Weston actually bought it for his wife Hilary as a birthday present to run in Royal Ascot and she was third in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot when trained by my father. It kind of goes over your head a bit when you are a young chap, you don't realise the significance of it. She ran in the Prix Marcel Boussac as well and I think she was fifth in that. You kind of think this is par for the course, but it is not.

England, Construction, and Training Facilities

We had stables and gallops at home. I went to England at 21 and rode for about two or three years with limited success. My father was busy at home and I knew there was a nice set up, and that I would go home and do something myself. I came back then and started at home and I was also involved in construction. I only had a small handful of horses and had to subsidise it somehow. The construction went well and in the meantime, I got married and we bought a farm of land here in Clonanny. I subsequently built my own stables and gallops when everything was going well. When the crash came then back in 2008, I suppose, it seemed crazy at the time, but I just said I would go training horses because I had all the facilities at home. It has been a slow climb from then, but it is progressing nicely now.

World class facilities

Danny Murphy (trainer) and I went to the same school. Danny came in to our stable after training abroad and he had a good few contacts. He was amazed when he saw the set up here. His first words to me were "You could train a Derby winner here". We decided we would work together. Extra horses were brought in and it worked out well for a few years. He's training himself now and that was always going to happen. At present, we have 25 horses in. They are mostly young horses, very few handicappers. We have 36 stables with a horse walker and a lunge ring with just short of 100 acres of grass land here. Our gallop is just short of a mile. We are very centrally located so no matter where in the country you want to go, we are probably there in two hours. It is nice and peaceful here and horses relax well. We are open to more horses - if we got to 30 or 35 it would be grand. We have moved a few on recently because they were just not up to making their mark in this country and we send them home. It is just so competitive here and too much work goes into it.

Matilda Picotte's Racing Journey

People talk about their biggest days and it depends on where you are at. I remember winning a Class 6 in Ayr when we hadn't had a winner for two or three years. The Rockingham (Strong Johnson in 2020) was a huge day, the first premier handicap we won by a short head. Then I suppose Matilda Picotte's third in the 1,000 Guineas (Newmarket 2023) was huge. From there we won a Group 3 at Doncaster and a Group 2 in Newmarket. She left some serious horses behind her when making all in a Group 2 at Newmarket in October 2023. We were dreaming then of Group 1 glory the following year but just one of those things that happens with horses, the ball didn't fall right for us. We went to Saudi with her and were drawn 14 of 14 over seven furlongs around two bends (finished fifth). We were drawn on the outside again in Longchamp in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret last year (finished seventh). We had a dry year as well. She owed us nothing and an offer came in for her and she went to a seriously good home in Juddmonte and the lads were more than happy for her to see out her days there. At present, she's in foal to Frankel. You'd love to see her offspring doing well - I've already told them I want the yearling! I don't think they listened to me, though! She has been a horse of a lifetime for me from day one. I can remember the day I bought her, I rang the lads and said we have to buy her. I didn't think she would go to the heights she did, but I was confident she would be a very good horse. From day one, she was a class apart.

'The Best in the Yard at the Minute'

I suppose one they all tell me is the best in my yard at the minute is Edmond Halley and he probably won't run until September when the ground softens up. His dam (Haley Bop) is a half-sister to Matilda Picotte. He had one run in a Curragh maiden in March and he ran very well until inside the last furlong and then had a little bit of a mishap and slipped back a bit. We solved the issue, but we are just going to have to wait until September. I'd say a back-end maiden over six furlongs or whatever.

Horse Racing as a Family Business

My wife retired last week, so she drives me a fair bit! She is going to drive me to do more now! I played a lot of sports in my day - football, rugby and did a bit of racing obviously. I'd be hugely competitive and I just like winning. We get a good buzz out of having nice horses here. I always said I have the best job in the world if I could make it pay a little bit better to keep the ship running straight. My daughter, Grainne, is very much involved now. She is riding in the Corinthian Challenge next Friday. She is in college doing dietetics, so she is doing her internship in Tullamore Hospital on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then she works with me on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. She has one more year left to do in college and we'll get her through that. She is looking forward to the Corinthian Challenge, she is well able to ride and no doubt she will get bitten by the bug after it too.

Current Climate in Irish Horse Racing

The Irish racing industry is hugely competitive and the talent in this country, as everyone knows, is second to none no matter what end you are going to go into. Everybody knows everybody else and most people will help you if they can. If I was to say any drawback in Ireland, maybe it is a little bit insular as in the top yards are just monopolising numerically and it is getting harder and harder to break in. That's part of the reason why we kind of concentrated on the speedier end of horses because we just felt it was too hard to compete in the mile/mile and a-quarter bracket because you have the Coolmore's, the Aga Khan, the Moyglare's and the big powers. There was a little bit of an opening in that end of it and it kind of worked well for us. We had an owner bought a nice horse, Sommelier, on the online sale last week out of England. He had a good bit of form and lost his way a bit, and he is coming here. Hopefully, we can rejuvenate him a bit. He was actually second to Big Evs last year in a Listed sprint at York. The best of Irish grass could do the trick there!

Kieran 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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