HARRY’S father is a former trainer and now breaks and pre-trains horses at their home in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.

Riding out from an early age came naturally to the only boy of the family of four and, to this day, he still rides out and helps out at home as much as possible. He does this while working around his full-time job as a yard foreman at the Irish National Stud where he has been working for the past four years.

A business graduate of WIT, Harry spent some time riding out with Henry de Bromhead during his time at college and enjoyed travelling to Cheltenham, on a couple of occasions, with the horses, which was quite special.

Also during his college years, Harry spent a summer working in the USA working for David Carroll at Churchill Downs, Noel O’Callaghan at Mountarmstrong Stud, and completed a work placement at Derrinstown Stud, while also riding out at home and with Willie McCreery’s.

After college, Harry spent a year in Australia where his focus moved to the breeding side of the industry and he spent some time at a small stud farm and training yard in Victoria before returning home to complete the Irish National Stud course in 2013.

On completion of that, he spent the following season at Darley Japan, working with stallions, before coming back to the Irish National Stud, where he currently works. His role involves all stud duties as well as prepping yearlings for the sales. He is very lucky to have the support of the stud and all the team there behind him, in so many ways.

Harry rode a little on the pony racing scene before progressing to ride in a couple of bumpers for his father when he was 16 or so and the desire to get back in the saddle never left him.

For the last few years Harry noted the Corinthian Challenge and like many of our riders thought ‘one day I’ll do that’.

When it came up in work one day and they were all so supportive of his ambition to ride in the Charity Race Series for Irish Injured Jockeys, he was delighted to put his name down and line up as one of the contenders this year.

As someone who has grown up in the industry and has so many friends involved as both amateur and professional jockeys, Harry really appreciates all the work they do and the risks they take on a daily basis for our sport and that was one of the main motivations in taking part in this unique fundraising event and raising money for Irish Injured Jockeys.

PREPARATION

In preparation for the challenge, Harry has been riding out as much as possible, around work, at Willie McCreery’s and has also ridden out at Jarlath Fahey’s and Joseph O’Brien’s in preparation for the series.

When speaking of his experience of the first leg of the challenge at the Curragh, Harry was very keen to thank trainer Gavin Cromwell and owner Turlough Blessing, who let him ride A Place Apart. It was a super ride and he really appreciates their support.

Harry will be hosting a race night complete with an auction and a raffle at The Croft Inn, Suncroft on Friday, September 7th, and details will be put on social media over the coming weeks.

Stay tuned up to date on all the Corinthian Challenge news and updates by following Irish Injured Jockeys at @CorinthianChall on Twitter and @CorinthianChallenge on Facebook.

Harry also has a target of €10,000 to raise between now and the end of the fundraising period so anyone who would like to support him in his endeavour to raise these much-needed funds for Irish Injured Jockeys can donate online at https://the-corinthian-challenge-charity-race-series-2018.everydayhero.com/ie/harry-shearman