DARREN NAGLE remembers it like it was yesterday.

“When you go from riding those ponies and big old cobs and then you sit on a racehorse…” Nagle said. “I’ll never forget galloping my first racehorse, this was different, it was racing from then on in.”

After 16 years galloping that horse for Eugene O’Sullivan, Nagle earned his first championship. The 30-year-old who grew up in Cork earned his first title in 2017, riding 19 winners from 78 mounts, securing the races-won title over fellow Irishmen Sean McDermott, Ross Geraghty, Jack Doyle and Kieran Norris.

Winners flowed early with a win at Camden and a double at Atlanta to late with a double at Montpelier and a Pennsylvania Hunt Cup victory the following day. Nagle stayed healthy during a scarred year for many of his comrades; Paddy Young went out with a fractured skull in May, 2016 champion Norris fractured his occipital bone and lost the entire summer, 2015 champion Willie McCarthy missed the rest of the season after a fall in July.

“The falls and the injuries are part and parcel of it,” Nagle said. “It’s a tough game, all right.”

Nagle has toughed it out since taking a call from his old friend, David Hackett, who said there was a job in America. The Corkman arrived in 2005, landing a spot with trainer Tom Foley. The oldest of six kids, Nagle didn’t know anything about roots, he and his family had moved 10 times already. He was nothing more than an 18-year-old kid without a plan. America? Why not?

“Jeez, I don’t know what my thinking was,” Nagle said. “I didn’t have any plans, really, I wasn’t doing anything else, so I came over and rode a few races.”

Far from an instant success, Nagle went winless in five races in 2005, won three of 27 in 2006, rode just two races in 2007, then won three the following season. Things sparked in 2009, when Nagle started attracting solid rides for big stables, winning seven races that year. In 2010, Nagle won 10 races, including the Grade 1 Iroquois with Tax Ruling. In 2011, Nagle won seven races, winning the Iroquois again on Tax Ruling.

Nagle won 14 races in 2012 and nearly pulled off a title run in 2013, when Paddy Young broke a tie in the final race of the season. The ascent stalled in 2014 as Nagle rode just 24 races, winning five. Resilient, he posted decent seasons of nine and 10 wins in 2015-16.

Nagle replaced decent with dynamic in 2017.

In his 13th season, Nagle flourished, ticking off three important milestones. In addition to the championship, he won his first Grade 1 stakes at the major tracks when he deftly guided All The Way Jose to win the Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park in September, it was the ride of the year. Ebanour, a pick-up ride in the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup, accounted for Nagle’s 100th career win, a milestone accomplished by only a few in American steeplechasing.

“I remember saying, ‘Jeez, I’m on 90 some winners, I think it would be cool to get to 100.’ That happened. I had never won a Grade 1 at the flat track which was disappointing me, that came around,” Nagle said. “And I got a jockey championship, just everything clicked and rolled together into one big thing.”

Nagle helped roll it. Riding consistently and proficiently throughout the year, he won races across the board. There were big wins at Saratoga and Belmont Park and little wins at Charleston and Shawan Downs. Most of all, he showed a maturity level that had been missing. Over 12 seasons of riding, he had lost rides and hurt his business because of an indifferent attitude. He’s no polished coin, but he’s softened his edges.

“I was probably spoiled when I came here first, I went from thinking I was never going to get an opportunity to coming over here and getting loads of opportunities, I had a lot of good winners, big winners. Instead of appreciating it, I just thought it would stay going,” Nagle said. “I don’t know, sure, look, I’m a lot different at 30 than I was at 20, there’s a lot of water under the bridge. I had a couple of quiet spells there, into it and then not into it, then you make a few changes and things just click together.”

Nagle doesn’t shy away from the bumps in his road.

“I don’t regret them, no, I never had any help or guidance doing anything. I think it was better for me to get through all that, learn from it and get it all out of my system,” Nagle said.

“I probably needed it, it’s probably going to help me for my future, get those mistakes out of the way. I’ve been very lucky, I’ve had a lot more than one second chance.”

Whether it was Nagle’s second chance or his 100th second chance, he silenced his critics and rewarded his supporters with a championship season in 2017.

“I wouldn’t say I’m proud of the past, but I’m not going to let it hold me back,” Nagle said. “You’ll have people saying you’re never going to make it, you’re no good. You have two ways to go, you can prove them right or prove them wrong.”