EVERY young jockey starting out needs a flagship horse to get them noticed and bring them to the attention of a wider audience.

Since I took out my licence in May of this year, I have been extremely fortunate to come across two such horses, As De Pique and St Maxime, who have both won three times.

Although I come from a non-racing background I wanted to be a jockey from as early as I can remember. I sat on my first pony at the Laytown meeting when I was just four years old, and for the next three years I hounded my parents for riding lessons - until they eventually gave in!

At 11, I was helping out at the local riding school, Bachelors Lodge, working there at weekends and during school holidays. I spent two years there before moving on to follow Martina O’Hanlon, who left to start up on her own.

In my new job I helped with the breakers and also bought and sold a few horses. As you can imagine, with all this going on, school held little interest for me and I left after completing my Junior Certificate. Prior to the exams, I had begun working for trainer Liam McAteer and now that school was out of the way, I went full-time. After a year and a half with Liam, I moved to Pat Martin in 2010.

Having decided against going down the point-to-point route, I rode in a handful of pony races (riding a couple of winners), as I felt I needed the experience, if I was to take out a licence.

While I was with Pat I gained plenty of experience working with horses: riding breakers, yearlings and two-year-olds and going racing with the stable runners.

However, despite taking out a jumps licence, I knew my options were limited as Pat was predominantly a flat trainer. Over a two-year period from 2012 to 2014, I rode in no more than 10 races, so I felt I needed to move on if I was to make it as a rider.

In February 2014 I went to Adelaide in South Australia to work for John O’Connor, a jumps trainer.

Although he only had 10 horses in his care, I got to race every weekend and while I didn’t ride a winner, I had five seconds and a number of third-placed finishes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the seven months I spent in Australia, but I knew I had to return to Ireland at that point, if I was going to continue a career in the saddle.

On my return home I was in two minds as to whether to give race riding one final shot or not as I was aware how difficult it is to be successful and was uncertain as to what the future would hold. Initially I worked at Juddmonte Farms for a couple of months but then I got a call from Gavin Cromwell who asked me to go and work for him. I have known Gavin for many years: he was and still is Pat Martin’s farrier and I had schooled horses for him on a number of occasions.

Gavin told me that his training operation was expanding and that there would be plenty of opportunities for me to ride his horses, if I decided to renew my licence. I decided to reapply and to be fair to Gavin, he has been true to his word.

I had my first ride for him in May of this year and two weeks later I rode my first winner on the track when As De Pique won at Down Royal.

Since then, I have won two further races on As De Pique, while St Maxime, who provided me with a winner on my first ride in Britain, has also gone on to complete a treble.

I can’t thank Gavin enough, as he has been very loyal to me and I have learned a great deal since joining his stable. I also have to mention Andrew Thornton, a close friend and colleague, who has always been on hand to provide advice and guidance. My first ride on track was on a horse owned by Andrew’s girlfriend, Claire Simpson.

The success I have enjoyed over the past three months has left me in little doubt that I made the right decision in deciding to continue as a jockey.

Hopefully I have also shown owners and trainers alike that I am capable of doing the job and it may lead to further opportunities. My immediate goal is to pick up as many outside rides as possible and hopefully establish myself as a permanent fixture in the weigh-room.

Brien Kane was in conversation with John O’Riordan