ON my debut in the saddle at Navan in April I ended up on the wrong end of a photo-finish, beaten a nose on the mare Lady Ranger.

It is somewhat ironic then that I recorded my first winner, when Lady Ranger was successful by a similar margin at Roscommon on Monday evening. I suppose in racing, as in life, most things eventually balance out.

Although I come from a racing background, I was a relative late-comer to the sport. My father Bobby (Dolan) has worked in Dermot Weld’s for over 25 years and my uncle, Anthony rode an Irish National winner in his time.

Peadar Matthews, my grandfather, was a Group 1 winning jockey, who has recorded winners in an Irish St Leger and 2000 Guineas. Despite this pedigree, I grew up in a housing estate in Kildare, and had never sat on a horse until I was in secondary school.

However, I often went into Rosewell House with my father and attended all the Curragh meetings, so racing was never far from my thoughts.

I think I always thought that I would end up in an office job, so it was not until a teacher mentioned RACE to me that I set about becoming a jockey.

Having done some research and attended the Open Day, I decided that I wanted to enrol in RACE, if they would take me.

Fortunately I was given the opportunity to attend the academy and I haven’t looked back since - I spent nine months training, learning almost from scratch how to sit on a horse, pull my reins through, hack and canter.

It was all a new experience to me, while some of my fellow students had previous exposure to horses and riding. After seven months I was sent on a work placement with Paul Deegan, before switching to Adrian Keatley, a close family friend.

I had known Adrian all my life, as he is best mates with my brother Barry and they have worked together at various stages of their careers.

I started working for Adrian in January of this year and I have to credit him for the massive help he has been. He was a very good rider himself and I learn so much just watching him in action at home; he is a great teacher and has helped me hone my style and become tidier in the saddle.

I have also been very fortunate in that the boss allows me ride work on the Curragh with leading riders like Pat Smullen, Leigh Roche, Rory Cleary and Michael Hussey.

My weight has never been an issue and Adrian is constantly encouraging me to do weights, sit-ups and press-ups. I take every opportunity to work on the simulator at RACE and have to thank Michael Hussey for the hours he has put in helping me.

Lady Ranger almost provided me with a fairy-tale start to my career, when she was just touched off at Navan in April. I was gutted at the time as it appeared a case of so near and yet so far. A nose is the shortest possible margin of defeat and is particularly hard to take. However, I knew I had done my best on the day and as the mare was a big price, I wasn’t under too much pressure. Adrian is always trying to instil the twin factors of composure and determination in me and those words are always ringing in my ears.

On Monday evening last, I was on the right side of another photo-finish, with Lady Ranger getting me off the mark, on what was only my fifth ride in public.

It was a relief to get that one in the bag, as when you ring up a trainer looking for a ride, one of the first things they ask is have you ridden a winner - at least I can now answer in the affirmative!

Now that I have ridden a winner, I have to put it behind me, move on and focus on the next one. In every sport you are only ever as good as your last performance and I am conscious of that.

In my youth I was a keen amateur boxer and was an All-Ireland finalist on two occasions. The sport equips you well, as you do so much in terms of overall fitness - I was constantly running and doing heart-rate training.

Although I turned my attention to racing relatively late in life, I am hoping I can make up for lost time and am giving it everything I have. Hopefully the success I achieved this week will lead to bigger things and I can go on and carve a successful career as a jockey.

Robbie Dolan was in conversation with John O’Rirodan