I was brought up around horses and racing in the village of Garristown, north Co Dublin.

My dad, Tommy, trained when I was younger and my mum, Margaret, worked in the bloodstock side of the industry in Tattersalls Ireland.

From an early age I was riding horses and I was interested in every aspect of the industry. But it took a while for me to realise what I actually wanted. After I finished school I went on to do the Irish National Stud Course in Kildare,

I loved doing that and, from there, I went over to Jonjo O’Neill’s yard for a season. All that time I had my amateur rider’s licence but didn’t have the full grá for it.

I have no idea what I would have done if I didn’t stick with the horses. My mother told me for a long time I should get a proper job. I didn’t think too far ahead, I suppose.

All I wanted to do was work and work hard. I enjoyed that. I never felt pressure to make it work, just perhaps some thoughts that this isn’t for me.

You watch other people riding winners, I suppose all you want to do is ride one. You second-guess yourself a bit, I guess. I don’t know whether its persistence or ignorance that I didn’t give it up. I’m glad I stuck with it.

The turning point came when I went to Churchill Downs in Kentucky for a couple of months. When I came back, I got my head down and got focused. I got stuck in with my Dad at home and rode out for Jim Dreaper.

I had a lot of rides before I rode my first winner which probably was very difficult and made me think this wasn’t the thing for me. But, once I got it over and done with, once I got my first winner, it really kind of hit home and I knew that this is what I wanted.

The buzz and the adrenaline rush you get is unreal, I suppose it was because I had so many rides before I had my first winner. I got more of a kick out of it because I had worked so hard to that point to get my first winner.

I had ridden so many horses and it never worked out. Then, when you cross the line in front, you realise it’s so worthwhile.

I think I rode between 80 and 90 horses before I had my first winner, that was over a good few years as I was dipping in and out of it a little bit – I rode when I was in school, did the Irish National Stud Thoroughbred Breeding Course, then went to England for the season, went over to America for a couple of months and had a couple of rides in between. But it wasn’t until I rode my first winner that it just really hit home. I loved it and this is what I wanted to do.

Prior to riding that first winner I was thinking about it a lot and was kind of figuring out that this maybe wasn’t for me and there had to be easier ways to be involved in racing.

That first winner came in 2010 at Newton Abbot in an Anglo-Irish lady riders race. Susan Leahy picked me to go on the team.

Our mounts were selected by draw so it was a lucky day for me that I was drawn on the winner, Vintage Fabric. The owners invited me back on three or four occasions and I think I won on him three times altogether.

TRAVEL

The Irish National Stud course opened my eyes to all the different aspects of the industry. It’s probably what pushed me to go to England and America.

It showed me that the industry is just so big – it’s worldwide, so I knew I could travel and do something that I love.

After I rode a couple of winners I was lucky enough to be selected to be the Irish female representative for the Fegentri series of amateur rider races around Europe.

It was a great year and I got to ride in loads of different countries, meet lots of people with like-minded interests and I made a lot of friends. I loved doing it because I love travelling and I loved riding horses, so it tied my interests together and grounded me a lot.

Since I joined Gordon Elliott’s yard over six years ago, I haven’t looked back. I’ve been lucky to have some great winners for Gordon and his high-profile owners.In September 2016, I was jocked up to ride the Gigginstown House Stud-owned Wrath Of Titans, one of the yard’s six runners in the Kerry National at Listowel.

My mount was well fancied and we were lucky enough to win. That race got a lot of publicity and maybe made people realise I wasn’t just confined to riding in flat races.

CHELTENHAM HOPES

During that season Tiger Roll began to emerge as a candidate for the four-mile National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham.

There had been whispers around the yard that I might be riding him. Gordon had a couple in it and Gigginstown had a couple in it.

To be honest, I’m a bit of a pessimist. I just said to myself ‘the less I expect the less disappointed I’ll be’. So I waited until the morning of declarations and took a look – I was jocked up. I was very excited!

Going into the race, I knew Tiger Roll wasn’t the most fluent over his fences.

He’s economical at best, he’s not too big. He won a Triumph Hurdle, he was bred for the flat. Little did I know then he would go on to win an Aintree National.

My main aim that day was to go out and just to get around. I wanted to come up the hill, never mind coming up the hill by myself in front!

It’s brilliant to ride in those Gigginstown House Stud silks. You know you’re going out on the calibre of horse that has been bought and primed for these kind of days.

Whether it’s Downpatrick or Tramore or Cheltenham, the horses are ready.

Especially riding for Gordon, he’s a master at his job. I’m on a horse that’s fit and ready for the day in question.

It makes the jockey’s job a lot easier when you’re on a horse that has been primed for the day.

This was my first ride at the Festival and all I wanted to do was enjoy the experience, come back together and hopefully do what I was told.

I suppose I probably was a little bit nervous, just because it is the one time of the year that everyone wants to be riding. All eyes are on Cheltenham that week. I just wanted it to go well, I didn’t want anything to go wrong.

It was an amazing day. I hadn’t a clue what was ahead of me when I walked the track that morning. I was looking at the fences thinking all I wanted to do was get around.

SUPERSTITIOUS

I’m a little bit superstitious. I have to walk the track, whether it be Cheltenham or Ballinrobe. I could have been around it 10 or 20 times but I’ll still walk the track. My dad drilled it into me from an early age, so it’s always stuck with me.

Tiger Roll is a horse with a great character and you can always see that at home- you can see when he’s in good form, you can see when he’s buzzing and enjoying himself. He’d nearly tell you himself. He was on his toes down at the start.

It was either a case of he was going to be on song or he wouldn’t perform at all.

When we jumped off he grabbed a hold of the bridle with me. I was like, ‘Oh God, he’s really in good form today’.

He was actually quiet keen with me for about three of the four miles!

Even though he blundered at a couple of the fences and hit another fence, he lost no momentum.

He was enjoying it so much, and because he was loving what he was doing, he could have knocked the top of it and he wouldn’t have lost a length.

It probably wasn’t until I landed over the last and was halfway up the hill that I kind of thought, ‘I could win this’.

Even after jumping the last, I felt something was going to come and do me, I’m going to get caught, because he’d been so keen. I just thought he’d get tired going up the hill.

I would have been happy to finish second as well, to be completely honest.

BLUR

Coming up the hill is a bit of a blur, to be honest. When nothing came to me I was just like, is this really happening?

I get shivers down my spine thinking about it. It’s hard to put it into words, it’s something that I would give anything to relive.

Gordon has such a big team at Cheltenham and I was getting congratulations from all sides. But I just wanted to see my sister, Siobhán.

She travelled over to Cheltenham for a few days and it was her first time at the festival. I was coming back in and she appeared running down the chute in six-inch heels! It meant so much to me that she was there.

My parents weren’t there but a video of them watching the race soon went viral on social media. I saw it that night myself and thought ‘Oh my God!’

It shows what it means to us, as a small family back home who would have always sat down and followed Cheltenham and watched all the action from home.

For me, to be there and be a part of it and get to the winner’s enclosure, meant so much to my family.

It was extra special that the four-miler that year was named after the late J.T. McNamara. J.T was an amazing pilot. He was so successful in my era and I looked up to him a lot, and will always hold him in the highest of regard.

By coincidence, Tiger Roll had earlier claimed the Munster National at Limerick whicj is named after J.T.

It took me a long time to get to where I am. I think I was 24 when I rode my first winner so it all took a while but it was all worth the hard graft.

I was older than most people are when they have their first Cheltenham winner, and I think I appreciate it so much more.

It makes you realise what it is when you get there.

A Cheltenham winner is the greatest achievement, after all the work you put in.

Tiger Roll’s Cheltenham win threw me into the limelight. It was something I wasn’t used to and I suppose I’m still not used to it.

I keep myself to myself, I don’t really like publicity too much, but it’s something you have to deal with at some stage.

You can be going about your daily business when the phone rings and it’s someone you don’t know, asking you to attend this or do that, wanting to interview you.

You probably have to just enjoy it because it doesn’t last forever.

Even the likes of The Late Late Show. I didn’t want to go on that, to be honest. My mum got all the attention, so it was grand.

I just wouldn’t be overly comfortable with things like that. I tend to talk a lot of rubbish and just repeat myself.

They probably found me very boring!

Looking ahead, it’s great to be still busy. I’m looking forward to the year ahead and hopefully getting to ride some nice horses and landing a few winners. I’d love to ride another Cheltenham Festival winner, that’s the dream.

It’d be great just to have a ride. We’ll take what comes.

Lisa O’Neill was in conversation with Katie Gorman.