Heather Downey I'm from just outside Slane in Co Meath. We are in an historic area in the Boyne Valley and it is a lovely area to live in. In terms of horses, I haven't known a life without them. It probably all stems back to my grandparents, they would have bred horses and would have had a lot of horses in training with Dessie Hughes and before that with Dick Hoey. Chow Mein won the Galway Plate in 1985 trained by Dessie. I suppose that is how the interest in horses stemmed for my family. Dad (Pat) was bitten by the bug and that progressed to me. When my dad started training, I was absolutely bitten by the bug then - all the people, the characters and the competitiveness. I was hooked! Every year that I have got older, I have got more and more involved to where I am now. I like to think that I'm pretty involved in it all. I'm very passionate about it and work closely with dad. Obviously, I have a full-time job but, in the evenings, weekends and when I'm off, I try to help as much as I can. I do all his social media channels and I've been doing that since I was young. I then kind of help out with entries and declarations and picking races for horses. I enjoy being involved in the whole training aspect. It's an obsession I suppose! Memorable Horses The King Of Brega The King Of Brega was the first kind of classy horse that we had. He was a home bred as well which made it extra special. He was a gorgeous, big horse and even as a breaker dad knew he was nice. He got three lads into him and the rest is history. He was brilliant for us. As a young horse, he was growing the whole time and it was stop-start with him. The owners were duly rewarded and he won a handicap hurdle in Thurles (October 2013) pretty convincingly and then he backed it up just over a week later in Down Royal on the first day of their winter festival. He was even more impressive. I'll never forget when dad and I were in the weigh room watching it, and they were turning for the home straight, and I said 'is there another lap to go?' because he was going so easily! That doesn't happen too often! I was leading him up and I caught him after the race. Robbie Colgan was riding him and he used to ride a lot for dad. He was brilliant in our early years and was a big part of the team. I have great respect for Robbie and fond memories of him. He just said to me 'he's an aeroplane!' He then won a beginners' chase (Fairyhouse, October 2014) for us as well and then moved on after that. He won a lot of times and it is nice when you've bred them and you see that happening. Horses like him could bring you to a festival. The ambition is to find more and breed more like him. Three Bells Three Bells was absolutely fantastic and owned by a fantastic syndicate (Bells Syndicate). They had great fun with him. He won eight times for us. He would rise up the handicap and would get to a mark he couldn't win off and when he came back down a bit, he would win. Loads of jockeys got great days out of him. He would absolutely kill you at home, he was dangerous. He had a bit of character and a bit of fight. He had a kind of sprinter attitude to him. Penny Jar If we had 30 Penny Jar's in the yard, it would be easy! He's great and has guts and determination. You watch him on the gallops and he is loving life. Hopefully, he will be out again soon maybe at the Navan Racing Festival (in November). There's a nice two and a-half mile handicap hurdle on the Saturday actually sponsored by Lisadell Equine Hospital who are our vets, so it would be nice to win that! Heather’s Journey in Racing and Marketing Early Beginnings with Social Media As a teenager, I always had a camera in my hand a lot taking photos and then I started doing dad's social media channels. I just saw it as a free way to advertise. There weren't too many doing it at the time and I kind of got a head start on some and awareness of social media channels has really been an advantage to a small stable. I then did some freelance work - the Dowth point-to-point used to be up beside us and the guys there got me involved. I learned a lot with those guys. I was given opportunity and free rein to look after the social media for that. I used to work in Navan Racecourse during college in the office and doing their website and social media etc. A lot of it was right place, right time, and meeting the right people, but I like to think the work did the talking at the same time too and that helped me get to where I am. Education and Career Development I did Equine Business at Maynooth which was an honours business degree. There was a small amount of equine in it, it was more the business side of equine and looking at it internationally. It was very beneficial as you have a good knowledge of the worldwide global industry that the equine industry is. I enjoyed that and was always very conscious of getting as much experience as I could. When you come out of college, everyone has a degree but you need things that are going to stand out. The only person that can make things happen is yourself. All that work led me to meet certain people to get different opportunities. I finished college during Covid-19 in 2020 which was a strange year for the whole country. In 2021, I started in the Curragh as the acting marketing manager. Then I moved to Horse Racing Ireland in the October. I've done a variety of roles in my time in HRI. At the start, it was very much looking at the youth element and helping the Equuip department with their marketing and trying to encourage people to have careers in the industry. I'd like to think I have a pretty rounded skillset now, I've worked in a lot of the areas within Horse Racing Ireland and I think that stands to you in terms of being in more strategic roles now. Now, I'm currently the acting marketing manager at Fairyhouse and Navan covering maternity leave and really enjoying that. I'm from Co Meath and I'm very passionate about the two racecourses. My earliest memories of going racing are at Navan in particular, but definitely Fairyhouse as well. It is an honour to be leading the marketing there, we've a brilliant team at the two tracks and we all get on really well and are striving for the same thing. Marketing and Event Management Very comprehensive campaigns go out for our festivals in terms of paid campaigns, outdoor signage, radio, paid social media, digital and audio. The campaigns start about eight weeks before the festival and they lead the whole way in. I also work on a lot of our event creation aspects for racedays, big filming projects, launches, press mornings, press releases and dealing with the media. There is a lot of variety. The end goal is obviously getting increased attendance and ticket sales. At the moment we are actually doing a partnership with the Meath Chronicle where every week we profile a different Meath trainer or jockey. I think when you go racing and you have a bit more knowledge of the people involved it can only add to the experience. I got to lead the marketing for the Irish Grand National. That's a huge race in the calendar and a proud moment. The pony race was a very popular addition to Easter Sunday this year and was a chance for kids from local pony clubs to ride at Fairyhouse on Irish Grand National weekend. Also, getting the jockeys to come out to the parade ring for the Irish Grand National with no helmets on to help the general public get to know the faces better to make jockeys more recognisable to racing fans was well received. Obviously, the Saturday was cancelled which was heartbreaking. I will never forget Peter Roe (then Fairyhouse manager) ringing me about 7.20am on the Saturday and I could not believe it. So much work had gone into the day, so it was hard. In fairness, everybody got stuck in. We had a really successful Easter Festival this year. We were about 2,000 (people) up on the Sunday and we were on par with the Irish Grand National Day which was at capacity. Ticket sales are going really well so far for our festivals now at Navan and Fairyhouse for the winter. All the time we are trying to improve the customer experience and really focus on that. We want retention and people coming back and enjoying their experience. Huge volume of work, thought and discussion goes into that. Family and Future Ambitions I think what is great about the yard at home is that it is a real family-run operation. It is just my mum, dad and myself. My mum does all the accounting work. My dad works like a trooper and we have brilliant staff as well. It is fantastic to see Paddy O'Brien doing so well and flying it this year. We gave him his first winner a couple of years ago in Bellewstown with Penny Jar (July 2022) and it is fantastic to see him doing so well. He is with us every afternoon and Alix Balfe as well. They would ride the majority of the horses. We have invested a lot in our facilities. We did a new gallop in the last couple of years and we just re-sanded it all there in the summer gone by. We are ready to kick on for the winter. We had to let the horses off in the summer, we had issues with rapeseed, unfortunately, but that is behind us. We minded the horses and made sure we rested them. Now they are getting ready for the winter. Hopefully, we will have Penny Jar out for Navan and Letters To Juliet as we think there are a nice few days left in her. We also have some nice young horses to look forward to. We are always trying to get new horses and meet new people, look at the sales. We are going to try and focus on horses in training and get people in that way. We have got good owners behind us and we just want to drive on. If you are not growing, you are dying, as they say. Please God we can, we have got all the things to make it happen. Growing the Stable We are open to more horses. We have got 33 stables and we have 73 acres of land, so we have lots of room for new horses and are always open to new business. We have an open-gate policy and anybody is welcome at any time. A lot of our owners come down on a Saturday as they love to be a part of it. I think if you are going to have a horse in training, enjoy the journey because there are only going to be so many days you get to the racecourse. I think the personal touch is something that smaller operations can do and can really give people time. I love the Irish racing industry. I think what is special about this industry is the people. For me, it is just such a community and the people are brilliant. We are all bonded by one thing and that is the love of the horse. I really enjoy meeting people at the races and the great craic - no day is a dull day! Heather was in conversation with Michael Graham. If you would like your racing story covered in this section please email vfinegan@bettercollective.com 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. View Latest Articles by Michael Graham
