WATCH a re-run of the JT McNamara National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last March and remind yourself that Lisa O’Neill was only six months removed from her first triumph over the larger obstacles.

Just as her first ever win in Ireland came in the Ladies Derby at the Curragh, O’Neill chose a big stage for that maiden success over fences, navigating Wrath Of Titans to glory in the Kerry National at Listowel.

This was no callow rookie however. The Dubliner knew the game, had done the hard yards. It was evident as Tiger Roll, a Triumph Hurdle winner with an unhealthy disrespect for fences, no pedigree over the stamina-sapping four miles and poor recent form, thoroughly enjoyed himself and buoyed by his rider’s confidence, took scruffy jump in his stride and bounded up the hill for an unforgettable win.

The announcements by fellow Cheltenham Festival-winning riders Mikey Fogarty and Steven Clements this week that they were retiring from the saddle are just the latest reminders of how uncertain and unsympathetic a sport racing is.

Now 30, O’Neill knows all about that, having resigned herself to not making it. So she takes nothing for granted. That is why she rides a finish all the way to the line, even as her mount is streaking clear of the opposition. She has no interest in being showy, sitting in the proverbial Baby Bentley, bedecked in bling and smoking a cigar. She likes to keep it low key.

When Defi Bleu gave the Garristown native her 10th winner of the current season last Saturday at Navan, she was equalling her previous best tally set last term. It also marked the reduction of her claim from 5 to 3lbs. In the meantime, she has booted home five winners on the flat in 2017 too, including a second Ladies Derby and a successful trip to Ayr.

Yet it took more than six years to break her duck and that was on board the Nigel Hawke-trained Vintage Fabric in an Ireland v Britain lady riders’ hurdle at Newton Abbot in June, 2010. The following month, she guided Pat Flynn’s Mon Campion to that memorable Ladies Derby victory.

That did not herald a new dawn. At the commencement of the 2016-2017 jumps season, O’Neill had ridden just nine winners under National Hunt rules and two on the level. After spells with Eddie Kenneally in Churchill Downs and a year with Jonjo O’Neill, it looked like she was going nowhere but Richard Pugh suggested that she get in touch with Elliott and he took her on in 2013.

IMPRESSION

She had to prove herself and it was a signal of the impression she had made that Elliott, and Gigginstown House Stud, were willing to put her up on Wrath Of Titans in the 2016 Kerry National. While she had ridden winners in point-to-points, she had yet to do so over fences on the track. Fortunately, the trainer didn’t know that.

“I went into Gordon’s, kept my head down and I worked away. He gave me a few opportunities early on and then a few more opportunities came. It was a slow process. It’s more about getting on the right horse. That’s the hardest part of it. Anyone can ride them when they get the chance. It’s just getting on the right kind of horses,” O’Neill explains.

“I suppose when I got the opportunity to ride Wrath Of Titans in the Kerry National, it probably all kind of went on from there. The horse had a nice, light weight and I was able to do it. Gordon had the faith in me and Gigginstown were happy to let me ride. When he won, that was the starting point of many more opportunities.

“I knew he was fancied but I’m not the type to big up my hopes. I’m a bit of a pessimist to be honest so I always think of the things that can go wrong before I think of the things that can go right. I knew he had a chance and had a light-weight but it’s such a big handicap and you need everything to go your way. Anything can come out and win it. I was optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. I always say the less you expect the less disappointed you’ll be. That’s the way I tend to live my life.

“Gordon gave out to me afterwards. He didn’t realise it was my first winner over fences. But I’d plenty experience over fences, I just hadn’t notched up a winner over fences. I’d ridden plenty of point-to-point winners. It was nice to do it that way.”

By the time she was back for another crack, everybody knew who she was.

“I was driving into the races that day and I remember sitting there thinking in the car, ‘Well I won it last year, that was my year and hopefully we get a safe journey around and run okay.’ You never expect to do it again 12 months later. He (Potters Point) just travelled so well and jumped so well and took me into the race a lot earlier than I wanted to be in it but I couldn’t disappoint him either. It was phenomenal to think that I’d done it again.”

“I’d one coming either side of me (up the finishing straight). I just remember thinking ‘Come on! Come on! Come on!’”

The decision not to disappoint her mount, even though the plan was to arrive on the scene later, is the type of split-second call that defines jockeys.

“Every race can be different and you just have to take each race as it comes and how each horse feels. All you can do is try hold onto them and keep the lid on them for as long as you can. I knew turning in that we had a chance and from the second last I thought: ‘Right, we’ll go on now.’ He dug deep.”

CHELTENHAM

Between those great days came the best.

“I’d ridden at Cheltenham the previous November but it was my first time to ride at the festival and to get in the winner’s enclosure… Yeah, I still feel the tingle down my back when I talk about it. The whole day just went so quickly. I’ll never forget it.”

He’s the type you need to be particularly vigilant on over the obstacles, you venture. She laughs.

“He’s economical. That is the word you could use. He gets from A to B. And that was it at Cheltenham. He was really on song. I think he ran away with me for half the race. I think someone was looking down on me that kept me on board and kept him upright, although there was nothing where I was at the point of thinking ‘Oh shit!’ I think he helped himself by travelling so well. He had the momentum to keep going even when he did make a mistake. He didn’t drop too far. That was a good day.”

If Tiger Roll is a character, so too is Apple’s Jade. Unlike Tiger Roll, who made his cross-country debut at Cheltenham yesterday, she will never see a bank. O’Neill has been riding her regularly in work since the mare arrived from Willie Mullins’. Elliott has described her as a “bit of a bull” who wants her own way but yet she wouldn’t take your eye out with her homework.

“She’s temperamental” says O’Neill, smiling. “This morning it was minus whatever degrees and I was dripping with sweat. She’s a bit of a rogue. That’s why you love her. You put up with her because she’s so talented. Every talented athlete has their quirks as well. She doesn’t show a lot in her work at home.

“But when you’re just trying to have a hack canter around the gallop… She’s a law of her own. I ride her out in front most of the time because it just makes life easier for her and me. When she’s in behind she’s constantly pulling and gnawing away at you.

“She was brilliant in Fairyhouse (in the Hatton’s Grace). I think it was one of her best runs. She looks a lot stronger and has improved this year.

“It is a thrill seeing the horses you have such a role in producing on the track, even when you’re not on their backs.

“I get a great kick out of it. I used to ride out Beckford all the time before he went to the Breeders’ Cup. I went over with him to Del Mar and I remember watching him going down to the start. You get nervous. It’s another part of the job and a great part of the job.”

Being sent over with Mary Nugent to oversee Beckford’s preparation for Del Mar was another indication of the trust Elliott places in O’Neill. In truth she was bred for this, as daughter to former jockey and trainer Tommy, and long-time Tattersalls employee Margaret. She was clambering up on racehorses very early on and after watching the Grand National one year, went outside and built a replica fence to fire her pony over.

Yet it took a while to decide she wanted to be a jockey. She did a European Studies and Language course for a year and then took the Irish National Stud course. It was only when she returned from Jackdaws Castle that she really focussed on becoming a rider, with her father and Jim Dreaper putting her up when they could. Most of the time, she remained stoic in the face of adversity but O’Neill admits to thinking it might not happen for her, in the 90-odd rides she had before finally making it first past the post.

“I’d definitely say there was a point when I thought ‘I don’t know if this is for me’ but the fact that I did ride in a lot of races before I rode my first winner, I think when I actually did ride that winner, I appreciated it a bit more whereas I had to work so hard for it. And the fact I’m a bit older as well.

“I think you always have to pinch yourself when you’re getting good opportunities and when you’ve ridden some good winners in recent times, but I suppose you’re always only as good as your last winner. In racing you have to appreciate what you’re getting but you do realise as well that it could all end tomorrow. You just take it one day at a time.”

STRIVE

She continues to strive to improve, being a regular on the simulator in RACE. Tommy is her sounding board, the one she rings on the trip home after racing for feedback. He always encouraged her, even in the dark days, but he is honest in his appraisal. His daughter likes that.

In keeping with her holistic approach to racing, she works three afternoons a week in the office at Cullentra, finding the view from that side of the operation interesting. And with her mother in Tattersalls for the last 20 years, she quickly gravitated towards helping out there during sales and continues to do so.

It will prove useful when planning for life after racing but she hasn’t thought that far ahead. It’s all about making the most of the chances she is getting now, often on very valuable individuals.

“I don’t like to think about what price they are to be honest because it always puts pressure on it and there’s enough pressure on it without that. Between Gordon and Gigginstown, all credit to them, to have the faith in putting me up on such expensive horses and leaving it in my hands.

“I’ve been lucky to get on some great horses and I’ve been lucky for them to come out and win. It’s an experience in itself riding those quality kind of horses because I know the 90 rides before I had a winner, wouldn’t have been in any way as valuable as the ones I’m riding today.

“Gordon does a great job with them and they know their job when they’re going to the racetrack. They’re fit and prepped well. It makes my job a bit easier when I know what I’m getting on and that it’s well educated already. So the main aim is to go out and win.”

She jokes that she will probably have to hang up her boots now that she is only claiming three. It was a milestone that went largely unnoticed – typical of her preference to “go home and hide under a rock for a while” to appearing on the likes of the Ray D’Arcy Show, as she did after Cheltenham.

“I didn’t tell many people. I thought I’d have the 7lb engraved on the headstone… No-one will want me now!”

Little fear of that.

Lisa on ...

Gordon Elliott

“I definitely think he’s a genius. He knows exactly what he’s doing. For the quality of horses that are in the yard, for the amount of horses that’s in the yard, he knows exactly what’s going on.

“He’s just so well in tune with everything. It’s hard to put a finger on it but he is brilliant at what he’s doing.”

Working for Jonjo O’Neill

“It was a really good experience. I met some great people over there and Jonjo is a gentleman to work for. I don’t know if he ever gives bollockings but I never experienced one anyway. He’s not related but I used to tell people he was as they were nicer to me then!”

The best horse she’s ridden

“I have to say Samcro… it’s just the acceleration and the feel he gives you. It’s electric.”