NO-ONE is riding with more confidence right now than Shane Foley. That is saying something, for a man who has two Irish classics on his roll of honour and only ridden less than 50 winners once since recording a career-high 38 in 2011.

The run survived a shock split with long-time mentor Michael Halford in September 2017. That season was the one blip in the ‘Over 50’ record, but there aren’t many in the weigh room who would scoff at a tally of 44.

He has always been popular with outside trainers and his breakthrough Irish 1000 Guineas success arrived courtesy of Adrian Keatley and Jet Streaming in 2016. Indeed within three days of Halford’s announcement, Foley was riding a listed winner for Jessica Harrington.

There were a multitude of supporters in his first full season as a freelance, Johnny Murtagh principle among them. However, it was Ken Condon who supplied Romanised in ripe condition to garner the Irish 2000 Guineas last year, Foley having ridden Robert Ng’s colt in all bar one of his races.

Becoming Zhang Yuesheng’s retained rider provided some nice opportunities too, Platinum Warrior and Yulong Gold Fairy providing Group 3 successes for former boss Halford and Dermot Weld.

The past seven months have been the best of the Graiguenamanagh man’s life. In December, he married Lorraine, who owns a livery and teaching yard in Suncroft. In February, he was back on Platinum Warrior, now with John Sadler in America, to score in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita.

Gaining ground

Just 16 days later, he was officially announced as Jessica Harrington’s number one. Prior to racing in Bellewstown last evening, Foley was on 39 winners, level with champion jockey Donnacha O’Brien in pursuit of O’Brien’s predecessor, Colin Keane at the top of the table. Of those, 28 have been supplied by Harrington and Albigna is one of a crop of juveniles that really excites the 31-year-old.

Certainly, Foley was magnificent on the Niarchos family’s Zoffany filly, who didn’t look like being mapped two furlongs out. At no stage did her partner become impatient on a juvenile having just her second run and finding the six furlongs too sharp. It provided an illustration of Foley’s strength and horsemanship that he produced what for most of the contest looked an unlikely victory, without breaching the whip rules.

Indeed, there were no inquiries into overuse of the whip throughout the three-day Derby Festival, which suggests the jockeys are changing their habits.

“Beautiful ground, the horses were rolling down to the two poll at the Curragh ... It is the country tracks where you get racing a bit earlier where you get caught out,” notes Foley. “I got a day for the stick in Down Royal, in the (Ulster) Derby on Noel Meade’s Dandoozdart. I was off the bridle from the five. I actually thought I only hit him eight and I hit him nine.

“It is something we have to concentrate on. You just have to abide on the rules. There is no room for error. It is either that or you will be sitting on the sidelines.”

He is around long enough to understand that had he been beaten a short-head on Albigna, there would have been pilloried by plenty. He isn’t on Twitter and while he understands why many in the industry are, particularly trainers, it isn’t for him.

“I don’t find any benefit of it. I know if I have done wrong in the morning. I don’t need 10 stool jockeys letting me know. As a jockey you would know if you have done something wrong. You don’t need anybody else telling you.”

“The best horse on the day won”

Of course the blue bird went into overdrive after the Irish Derby when Pádraig Beggy set fair on Sovereign and having been given too much leeway, never looked like being reeled in.

“I don’t think Donnacha ever travelling in the race on Broome, he couldn’t have been any closer. Chris (Hayes on Madhmoon) followed Ryan (Moore on Anthony Van Dyck) but he couldn’t get by him in the end. He rode his race but he couldn’t even get up for third. It would be different if Chris had flew home and been a good second, he might have been kicking himself.

“The best horse on the day won. He galloped him into the ground. Pádraig wasn’t even hard on him. Maybe he got away early but he wasn’t stopping or tightening up. The horses that were ridden didn’t make too many inroads on him.

“The lads obviously spotted him a bit. But just the way he galloped from the two to the one, he was gone.”

The race shone a light on the absence of sectional timing at Irish race meetings, despite the promise by SIS in 2017 that they would implement it at every track in the land. Interestingly, Foley isn’t a fan of the prospect, arguing that what might be an average split might not be applicable at all to the horse in question.

“You know what you are comfortable doing. It is like Albigna. She wouldn’t have been able to go the pace that they were going early. If I hadn’t to get up the other day, from a hero to a villain. Just like I said after, you have to ride your horses to their ability. She wasn’t travelling early. I am a firm believer in giving them a chance.

“The easiest way to get a horse beat is go harder than you should go. That is when the jockeymanship comes in. It is easy to sit on the first two and say ‘it’s not my fault’ when it gets beat but it could be. You could be going a stride quicker than you should be going.”

There has been negative commentary surrounding the attendance and the customer experience at the new Curragh but Foley has nothing but praise for the jockey experience.

“The Curragh for us was fantastic. The track was in absolutely super nick, the weigh room was brilliant. Obviously there’s been bad press. We don’t know what goes on outside the gate, in the stands and that. But from our point of view it was a major success. They couldn’t have been any better to us. The weigh room, the facilities and the ground were brilliant.”

Among some of the observations were that the Derby might be better returning to Sunday but trainer Ger Lyons highlighted the importance of the three-day break in terms of welfare for staff, trainers and riders and Foley concurs.

“It was nice to get that couple of days off. There was a show in Kildare on Saturday night. It was a bit of craic, camaraderie, where all of the jockeys were together. It was nice because at the end of the day we do have a bit of a life as well.

“During the year you have that eight months of a span where you are in lockdown. You have to mind yourself. Obviously it’s nice to let the hair down for a while on Saturday.”

Understanding

The revs are back up again and there is so much to look forward to beyond last weekend’s eye-catching duo. But they were very eye-catching.

“It couldn’t have worked out any better since going freelance and then obviously getting the Jessie job. Loads of nice horses. Hopefully there will be one or two more lurking in there. The fillies were impressive on the weekend, two fine big fillies.

“Anything they do this year is only going to be a bonus. They won’t have too many more races. Albigna could go for the Debutante and the Moyglare and Windracer could go down a different route. I am not sure. We will have to just see. Try not to make them clash as much as we can. We might have to travel to England.

“Windracer has always pleased. She is just a big monster at home. She just does what she has to do. She has a high cruising speed. She actually does all of her homework in front so it didn’t bother me to be in front. You have high expectations for her but it is never easy to go and win a maiden first time out at the Curragh on Derby weekend. Hopefully she can live up to the bill.

“With Albigna, I was a bit worried about the six furlongs. I didn’t think she would be as outpaced as she was through the middle half of the race. It was her pure class that got her through at the end. She is going to be a lovely filly going seven, even a mile. If it was a mile race it wouldn’t bother me either. I could see her going further next year.”

Critically, while Harrington will always tell him if he’s stuffed up – and he welcomes the feedback of the likes of Murtagh and Mick Kinane too – she gives him free rein.

“Obviously things don’t always go to plan. It is grand when you know that you have someone here that can see and understand that. We just have the horse’s best interests at heart. I want to ride winners and she wants to train winners.

“The plan the other day was sit on the first two or three on Albigna. I was second last after going a furlong. That is where your jockeymanship comes into play. I could have rushed her and kept trying to sit where I wanted to be for the sake of it. But I knew she was uncomfortable so I gave her chance.

“It is nice when you are riding for people who understand that. They put confidence in you and once they have confidence in you, you will have confidence in yourself. Ger Lyons and Colin is a prime example of that as well. You hear how highly Ger speaks of Colin. It just fills him full of confidence. Jockeys need confidence as well.”

If there might have been a time when his confidence was shaken, it was when Halford ended their decade-long association but in truth, his belief never wavered.

“It was a bit of a shock. It is hard to explain it. There were no hard feelings. I have ridden two or three group winners for him since. He doesn’t look too far by me once Ronan (Whelan) or Niall (McCullagh) can’t ride for him.

“He is always on the end of the phone. He was a big part of my career. I was with him since I was a kid. He taught me a lot and gave me good grounding. He is very professional. He brings you along slowly, teaches you to deal with owners and people, being able to talk.

“That is a big part of being a jockey, it is not just riding. There is so much more that is part of the package. Michael was a big help that way. He made me into a man.

“It was a bit scary. Ireland with no job is never easy. People talk. I got the bit between my teeth and I always work hard but I worked extra hard.

“I rode work for every Tom, Dick or Harry. I rode winners for maybe 20 different trainers last year. Ciaran O’Toole is my agent and he was a big help.

“In this game you only get what you put into it. It’s a short career so you need to get what you can. I just love riding winners. I love doing what we do. It helps when it is like that. But I slotted in with Johnny last year and I still ride work for him.

“He is a good man to go to, to speak to or anything. He is always looking at you riding. I used to look him to him because he was a savage rider.”

Given his commitments to Harrington, he understood that Condon couldn’t take the chance that he would not be available when required for Romanised, but again, has ridden three winners for the new master of Osborne Lodge this year.

That tells you a lot about Shane Foley. Business is business but there are no hissy fits, no temper tantrums. Michael Halford taught him well.

Ability and hard work looks after the rest.