WATCH: Eric McNamara gears up for Mr Binman Limerick Christmas Races

RATHKEALE horse racing trainer Eric McNamara is gearing up for a business festive period as his yard prepares for the Mr Binman Limerick Christmas Racing Festival, which takes place between December 26-29.

While the festival is always special to a man who trains 20 minutes over the road, this year will have even more resonance, as the 40th anniversary of his first winner.

McNamara was better known for his show jumping exploits at this juncture and had just started to dip his toe into the world of training racehorses. For John, owned by his brother Jimmy and ridden by Michael Byrne, did the business at Limerick’s Christmas Festival on December 27, 1984, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I didn’t have as many grey hairs then,” McNamara observed after watching his string canter over two and a quarter miles on his six-furlong sand gallop. “It was in the old Limerick Racecourse obviously. It was the start of the career that we’ve had, a reasonably good career I suppose. We’ve won a few lovely races.

“For John was the start of it. I suppose everyone remembers their first winner and For John was a super little horse. Jimmy had a couple of nice horses that used to be trained by Mickey Lee.

“When I gave up my show jumping career, I ended up starting to train some very good horses: For John and War Saint were two. There were one or two others came as well and they all won three or four races.

“I got the bug and of course I thought this game is simple and I knew more than everyone else whereas what really happened is I had a few very good horses that all won for us. As you go through the years, you realise, you need a good horse.”

Eric McNamara will aim to run ten horses at the Christmas festival including Bitofajokelike, Decimation, Embittered, Gaelic Des Chastys, L’Evangeliste, Meehall, Mount Ferns, My Friend the Wind, Storm Mahler and Munster National winner Reel Steel.