'Oliver always told me that, no matter what, share the experience with people'

In a new series, owners tell us about how they took their tentative first steps in the sport and how their involvement has grown. Rita Shah, a well-known owner in Ireland, tells Brian Sheerin about her relationship with the inimitable trainer Oliver Brady.

My story has been unreal. Oliver Brady bought a horse for me back in the late eighties – Barr's Hill – for £150 and, Lord rest Dessie Devlin, he gave us a £20 luck penny back on the horse. The horse went out and won 11 or 12 times for us and all that money went back into the stables. The rest, as they say, is history.

My dad made a promise to Oliver that he would always buy a couple of horses for him, because we had the plastics business together but the racing was a pastime, and I have kept my dad's promise, now with Anthony McCann now that Oliver is no longer with us. Every year we buy one or two more, or whatever it takes.