CAPTAIN Midnight may well prove to be the horse that saved my riding career, as prior to his Navan success on the 22nd of April, I had found myself at somewhat of a crossroads.

I hadn’t ridden a winner since last June and was beginning to doubt where the next one was going to come from. His victory gave me the boost I needed; the get up and go required to succeed as a jockey.

It had all been somewhat of a dream start in racing; riding a winner at the Curragh on my very first outing in public.

Christy Roche, with whom I was based at the time, didn’t tell me the horse had a chance until we were leaving the parade ring. At that moment, he just said “don’t touch this horse with the whip, he will win for you”.

Sure enough, I followed his instructions to the letter and minutes later I was celebrating my first success. It was a great occasion as all my friends and family had travelled up from Listowel for the day. At that point it probably all seemed so easy but I soon discovered that winners like that don’t come along too often.

I had cut my teeth on the pony racing circuit, after my cousin Christina got me into horses. I rode on the southern circuit for men such as Pat Sullivan, Jack Sullivan, Dessie Sullivan and Ernest Tyner.

Thomas O’Connor got me into racehorses and I rode out for him in my early teens. He put me forward for a trial at RACE and filled out all the documentation. Thomas has been a huge influence on my career and is a brilliant man.

PLACEMENT

I was very fortunate to be sent out to Christy Roche for my placement as I learned from the very best. I also had Alan Crowe and Jody McGarvey to call upon for help and advice.

After two years with Christy, I made the switch to Jim Gorman, where I won twice on a horse called Conans Rock. By 2015, it had gone a bit quiet at Maddenstown Lodge so I moved on to Michael O’Callaghan’s yard.

It was always my intention to just stay for six months and ride out, as I had planned to go to England. However, Michael encouraged me to reapply for my licence and actually put me up on a winner, Fastidious. Despite my unexpected success in O’Callaghan’s I had a job lined up with Brian Ellison in England, so headed over to give that a go.

I can honestly say that it was the best place I ever went and Brian was very good to me. I rode a winner, Art World at Thirsk, on just my second ride for the stable and later rode a double at Catterick.

The boss wasn’t afraid to use me and I rode most of the horses in the yard. Although I rode five winners in my year in Britain, my personal highlight was finishing third in the Cesarewitch Trial at Newmarket – the biggest race I had ridden in.

After my missus found out she was pregnant, we sat down and discussed the future, both agreeing that a move home was the best option. I then gave up race-riding for a time and went riding out for Tom Cooper in Tralee. He has been a major influence on my career and still rings me to the present day to make sure I am staying on the right track! A friend of mine, Martin “Rasher” Walsh rang me one afternoon to suggest I move back up to Kildare. I went out to Darren Bunyan for a time, then moved to James Nash. The latter gave me a welcome winner in the form of Our Manekineko at Dundalk last January [2017].

Shane Duffy has been my most loyal and consistent supporter, always prepared to use me, even when things got very quiet. For that reason, I was thrilled to ride a winner for him, Society Ranger at Wolverhampton in June [2017]. I didn’t realise it at the time but that was to be my last winner until Captain Midnight.

I am currently based at Charles O’Brien’s - a great place to work. I went there not expecting to get too many rides but saw it as a good base from which to work.

I know I have been through a good few yards in my career already but it’s hard to stay in one indefinitely when you aren’t getting the opportunities.

To be fair, the boss has put me up on some nice horses, including Above Us Only Sky, on whom I was second at Dundalk. My agent, Ruaidhri Tierney, has worked hard to keep me going and I am very grateful to him for his efforts.

In the longer term, I haven’t ruled out giving England another shot but my immediate aim is to get down to a 5Ibs claim.

Gearoid was in conversation with John O’Riordan.