A man of many talents
Lissa Oliver meets Jim McCartan who combines life as a breeze-up vendor, a pre-trainer, as well as owning and managing a TV video production company
I
t seems fitting that the main interest of bloodstock vendor Jim McCartan centres on the breeze-up sales, the active and energetic end of the thoroughbred sales spectrum. A more active and energetic buyer, vendor and pre-trainer of horses would be hard to find, and McCartan manages to be all three. In between buying and preparing for the breeze-ups, McCartan also runs a video TV production company, served on the committee of the Breeze-Up Bonus Scheme and is kept busy with two young children. The rest of us can just wonder where he finds the time and energy. “It’s easy when you have a passion for
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it,” says McCartan, and his love of the thoroughbred industry is obvious. Having learned to ride, and honed his practical skills, as a child with local point-to-point trainer Eamon Finn in Ballymahon, McCartan was a keen show jumper until his mid-20s. Then he was first introduced to racehorses and became hooked. “It was through my brother Philip, who was assistant trainer to Noel Meade, that I got a feel for racehorses and I found I liked them more than the jumpers!” confesses McCartan. That passion became racing’s gain, but not before McCartan had taken a short break from horses to set up a video production company, an interest stemming from his love of photography developed when at school.
Adsell Productions produce corporate videos and television programmes for such widespread businesses as The K-Club, Oral B, the Golf Channel in America, RTE and Sky Sports. A division of Adsell is Bloodstock Vision, which specialises in producing stallion, health and safety and other educational and promotional videos relating to the bloodstock industry. McCartan’s specialist knowledge of horses is a key factor in attracting clients, which include studs, trainers and racecourses. “Because I’m involved in the industry I have a good understanding of horses and what’s required,” McCartan explains. Having got his production company successfully up and running, McCartan