WINNING the Irish Racing Excellence Award at last month’s Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards was a great honour.

Having earlier won the Leadership Award for stable employees, I never for one minute expected to be named the overall winner. As someone who has been employed within the racing industry all my life, I couldn’t be happier with where I find myself right now.

As head girl to Johnny Murtagh, I am fortunate enough to work with some high-class, well-bred horses. It is where everyone involved in this sport wants to be; working with the very best, be they horses, trainers, jockeys or stable staff.

My mother was actually terrified of horses but my father kept every sort of animal on our small farm. We didn’t have horses ourselves but dad allowed a neighbour to keep a couple on our land.

My interest really stemmed from there and went further after convincing my parents to buy me a pony. I never competed in any shows, just messed around in the fields at home. After third year in school, I went to work for Sue Doyle for a summer.

I loved it there working with horses, so naturally when it came to going back for fourth year I was having none of it! I stayed with Sue for a further year, before moving on to Green Island Stud.

Although owned by Italians at the time, the stud was managed by Jackie Norris. She was a great boss to work for and was very good to me. I used to divide the time between the stud and Jackie’s husband’s place, depending on the time of year.

The horses were extremely well looked after, with farriers and vets always on hand. I was eager to learn all I could, so would often stay behind after I finished, just to watch from those professionals.

New chapter

One day I was asked to take a horse to the stables of trainer, David Hanley, beginning a new chapter in my working life.

I ended up going to work for David, staying with him until he left Ireland to start up training in America. He was a great boss to work for and had plenty of success during the short time he held a licence.

I did most of the traveling for the yard, something I really enjoyed. Having pre-trained and broken horses for a number of years, I took the plunge and obtained a trainer’s licence after David left.

I trained four or five winners and had a number of placed horses over a six-year period but after the recession hit I was left with debts which made it impossible to continue.

I rang up Johnny Murtagh, who had just started training and asked for a job. I was very nervous as it had been years since I had to go find a job like that.

Johnny couldn’t have been nicer; he told me to leave it with him a few days and he would get back to me. Sure enough, a few days later, he rang up and told me to come in. That was nearly nine years ago and I have been here ever since.

New job

At the start, I was somewhat of a jack of all trades; riding out, going racing, basically everything and anything. Then one afternoon, Johnny came to me and asked would I be interested in the job of head girl. I didn’t need to be asked twice as it was a great opportunity for me.

I get on very well with Johnny as he works with you and listens to feedback. He has a fantastic team of people in the yard and we all get along and work well together. Johnny is an amazing horseman and cops everything around the yard. Even with 70-plus horses in his care, he spots the tiniest little details – that’s the mark of a great trainer.

As head girl, I oversee the horses in the yard, checking their legs, bandaging them, washing and seeing to any cuts or nicks. I used to ride out up until about a year ago but after suffering a bad fall on the gallops Johnny insists that I now keep both feet on the ground!

I have to admit I do miss it terribly but I know it’s the right decision. I consider myself fortunate to be doing what I love at this stage in my life and both Johnny and Orla are great people to work for.

Travel

I do a lot of the overseas travelling with the horses, enjoying some memorable days all over the world. Royal Diamond winning under Johnny as Ascot remains a personal highlight.

It was one of the very early successes and I used to ride the horse out at home every morning. He was a wonderful horse, who I got to travel to Dubai and Australia with over the years. More recently, Champers Elysees gave the stable our first Group 1 win last season and we have some really exciting horses to look forward to over the coming months.

Johnny has attracted some of the biggest owners in the sport, which in turn gives us access to the best of bloodlines, meaning we have every chance of being successful at the top level.

Personally, it’s a great thrill to work with such amazing horses; you work all your life to get the opportunity to be involved with those. I hope to stay here for the rest of my working life, as the yard is firmly on the up and can only get bigger.

Not every great jockey makes it as a trainer but Johnny has already shown that he is more than capable of doing so.

Hopefully over the coming years he can take it to the next level and I will be there to play my part.

Valerie Keatley was in conversation with John O’Riordan.