This week, our Friday Night Racing special guest was trainer Ado McGuinness.

The North County Dublin-based trainer joined Ger and Johnny to talk about a career that didn't initially start as a flat trainer.

"I come from a show jumping background. I had an equestrian centre before that and that's what I did before I went racing," he said.

"And I would've show jumped as a kid. I ate, slept and drank horses at home as a kid. My father was a farmer but did always support me. Mother and father did always support us.

"An uncle, who was first cousin of my Dad, was big into horses - Larry 'Gusty' McGuinness. He was a character himself and he always bred. He bred actually Grease Paint who was second in the National and he was big into the thoroughbreds.

"My uncle  ended up being Master of The Hunt, the Fingal Harriers Hunt. And we would've hunted with him and that's how I would've started with him."

Would I train them?

But how did he transition into becoming a racehorse trainer?  That came around 2000.

"A guy came into me one day. He had jumping ponies with me and he just said he'd finished up with them and he said he was after buying a racehorse and asked would I train them. So that's how I started," McGuinness explained.

"I had to go and apply for the [training] licence and I sat the course with Henry De Bromhead, Robbie Osborne. Jimmy Lambe was on the course with me and Jim Gough as well. A good few guys done it.

"It's a two-week course you do in racing. It's all about running your business and doing tacking up and untacking. You have to make sure you can do all that and you have to do a business plan on what was your business is going to go."

You can watch the full interview above via our video player. Friday Night Racing is brought to you in association with GoRacing.ie