'People used to call me Bosco – he was a puppet with big, red rosy cheeks'

What advice would you give your ten-year-old self?
Work hard, keep your mouth shut, and your ears and eyes open. Listen to people with experience and have respect for everybody. Not being afraid to dream is important too. It might be something that you keep to yourself all your life, but don’t allow yourself not to dream.

What is your earliest racing memory?
My grandfather always had a Lucky 15 bet every day for a couple of euros once he’d retired and I remember sitting with him waiting for the results to come through on teletext. If he had a winner there would be an almighty roar out of him.

When did you first know you would become a trainer and why?
I was preparing breeze-up horses at the age of 22 and started to take an interest in training. I eventually bought a filly and taught myself how to train after watching as much as I could of other people. I read as many books as possible and made plenty of mistakes and learned from them – knowing I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.