SINCE finishing my Leaving Cert in June, I have been able to devote my full attention to establishing a successful career in the saddle.

Over the course of the last four months I have ridden seven winners, the latest coming courtesy of Caridadi at Limerick on Monday afternoon.

My brother Eddie [Linehan] rode as an apprentice for Willie Mullins when I was growing up. By the time I started in first year in secondary school he had moved to the UK where he competed over jumps.

Dad always pre-trained the odd point-to-pointer at home, so there were always horses around.

Our family regularly attended the races at nearby Cork racecourse and even then I had it in my head to become a jockey one day.

By the age of 10, I was racing on the Southern pony circuit where I enjoyed plenty of success, riding over 100 winners in all. I struck up a particularly good partnership with a horse called Che Guevara, winning 15 races on him in just over two years.

He was almost unbeatable on that circuit and would just turn up and win every weekend.

Jack Kennedy and myself were very close friends at that time and we still are to the present day. I am delighted to see him make such an incredible start to his career.

I first went up to Johnny Murtagh’s when I was just 14, while on my summer holidays from school.

After that I was up and down at every opportunity and last year I spent most weekends in the yard.

It was difficult trying to combine race riding with study but somehow I managed to get the balance right.

SEVEN WINNERS

I rode seven winners in my first season and all in all I was quite happy with how it turned out. Aussie Guest, trained by our close friend and neighbour Eugene O’Sullivan, was my very first winner, aptly at Cork, in April 2015.

Later in August, I won twice in two days on Aurelia Cotta, who was trained by my brother Eddie. Those wins were particularly special as it was a real family success.

The current season was slow to get going for me as I was in full time study for the first five months. However, recently I have been delighted with my progress and realise I am very fortunate to be in the position I am in.

INFLUENCES

Johnny Murtagh has been a very good mentor to me and I can’t thank him enough for his support. No matter which trainer I am riding for, the boss will always offer me advice on race day and the following morning he will go through the replay.

It is brilliant to ride out with him at home and learn from him first hand. I would have grown up watching Johnny compete in all the big Group 1 races and he was actually still riding when I first began coming into the yard.

Along with my father and brother, I would credit him as being the biggest influence on my career. My agent Ruaidhri Tierney has been very good to me and gets me plenty of nice rides for some great people. The staff and other jockeys at home have also been very giving of their time and general advice.

There are any number of high class riders here on a work morning and I can only benefit from being in their company.

I wouldn’t be one for setting any long-term goals, other than to keep improving day by day and ride as many winners as possible.

It isn’t easy make a career here in Ireland where you have to compete against the best in the world, be they horses, trainers or jockeys.

Hopefully I can stay injury free over the coming months and continue to give a good account of myself, thus bringing my name to the attention of a wider audience.

Denis Linehan was in conversation with John O’Riordan