The domination of Wexford yards within the four-year-old division nationwide may well be grabbing plenty of headlines this season, however steadily working away beneath the mainstream attention, two promising riders have marked themselves out as ones to watch for the future, and whilst Wexford may hold the key to those future equine starts at present, Cork is proving to be the breeding ground for this season’s up-and-coming riding stars.

JOHNNY HURLEY

Johnny Hurley (21) from Conna in the east of the county may well have been forced to endure a frustrating wait to record his first winner in the saddle, however that wait has done little to quench his thirst for success in a sport that he was always destined to be involved in.

The Hurley name is one synonymous with the local Conna Harriers - father Tommy has been the huntsman for over 30 years, an honour which was passed on from his father Johnny, and that hunt connection crossed over to the closely aligned point-to-point world with his father riding nine winners between the flags, while uncle Martin has trained pointers for over two decades.

With that deep family connection to the hunt and point-to-pointing, it was no surprise that Hurley’s attention soon became focused on all things equestrian.

“I was always aboard ponies from a very young age and as a family we were very involved with the hunt hounds. I fell in love more with the horses and always wanted to be a jockey, so when I was 12 I went to Ken Budds who is only 10 minutes over the road.”

After a number of summers riding out for local yards while in school, a first competitive ride followed aboard Batt O’Connell’s Nevada Knight in a novice riders open lightweight in January 2012, however there was to be no fairytale first outing success as the pair came to grief six fences from home.

Once completing the Leaving Certificate, Hurley left his school education behind, swapping books for the greatest of all jockeys’ academy at Jim Bolger’s, where he remained for a year and a half before spending two seasons with Pat Doyle in Tipperary.

“Davy Russell who rode ponies for my dad back in the day and Ken Budds were a great help getting me into Jim Bolger’s yard. He has a serious operation and you learn so much from everything that he does.”

VALUABLE EDUCATION

The time at Doyle’s yard certainly also proved to be a valuable education riding young horses, with a small number of rides in ultra-competitive four-year-old maidens following for both Doyle and John Halley in just his second season of race riding, a worthy recognition of the early promising signs Hurley was already beginning to show those around him.

All the while, that elusive initial success had thus far alluded his grasps, however the decision to return home was one that would reap dividends.

“Since I came home things have really kicked off for me. I didn’t know as many of the handlers in Tipperary but there are so many trainers nearby here in Conna which has been a huge help to me.

“I ride out for Jimmy Mangan in the mornings and Denis Ahern in the afternoons but I have Boulta schooling grounds nearby, so I school for plenty of people too and that is a great way of getting rides as you are sitting on plenty of horses for different people which helps make connections.”

Within a number of months of his return home, that elusive first success which all young riders are chasing arrived aboard Mangan’s Gabrielleamee at Knockanard in his first season with the Conna trainer, as the pair prevailed by a single length in an older mares’ maiden.

WILLING PARTNER

The Cloudings mare proved to be a more than willing partner for the then 20-year-old, accounting for two of his first three winners which came in a two-month period at the end of last season, gaining him plenty of praise from many quarters.

Those confident rides certainly caught the eye of many shrewd judges, with the Cork and Waterford Injured Jockeys committee presenting him with the Bill Twomey Memorial Trophy, an award won previously by subsequent two-time champion jockey Davy Russell.

As she had done nine months earlier at Knockanard when getting Hurley off the mark for his career, the ever-reliable Gabrielleamee once again carried him into the winner enclosure, this time at Glenbane in November, kick-starting this season which has quickly developed into Hurley’s break-through year.

Having entered last season still searching for that breakthrough winner, the old saying that you wait for one winner and that opens the floodgates has certainly rung through for Hurley as a hugely successful current campaign sees him presently sit on the nine-winner mark for the season which has positioned him on the cusp of the top 10 riders nationally.

This season has also marked his first double which proved to be a red-letter day for the young Conna rider at Dromahane late last month and a special moment in his burgeoning career.

Beginning with success aboard One More Hero for Denis Ahern in the five-year-old geldings’ maiden, that first double was completed by the success of Truckin All Night, trained by Batt O’Connell who had provided him with his first ride at Dungarvan over four years earlier.

It was a real local success for the local Conna area, as that 10-year-old Snurge gelding, who has proved to be a true ally of Hurley’s this season providing him with three winners alone including a treasured winner at local venue Ballynoe earlier in the month, is owned by the Conna Enclosure Syndicate who are all connected with the aptly named pub in Conna, the Winners’ Enclosure.

With the support of the local community of trainers and owners behind him, the future certainly looks bright for Johnny Hurley.

CHRIS O’DONOVAN

Like Hurley, it was clear from an early age that Shanballymore native Chris O’Donovan was destined to forge a career as a jockey, as he hails from a family steeped in all areas of the equestrian discipline. His grandfather Jack O’Keeffe was a trainer, while both parents are heavily involved within the sector, as his father transports horses and his mother has always had ponies.

Following an early riding education with the Duhallow Pony Club for eight years from the age of seven to 15, the switch to a race yard was made with valuable early experience gained with local handler David Finn from the neighbouring parish of Castletownroche.

An eagerness to begin his competitive racing career saw O’Donovan enjoy his first competitive experience just four weeks after his 17th birthday aboard the Finn-trained Rog in an open lightweight at Ballynoe in 2013.

INTRODUCTION

The 15-year-old Rog, just two years the junior of his rider, carried the colours of O’Donovan’s father John and provided his young rider with four safe spins, the perfect introduction for what would become a rapidly developing career.

With Rog retired that summer having fulfilled his schoolmaster role, a more competitive charge was sourced for the young rider from the Adrian Maguire yard in Optimus Prime.

A real family enterprise, the then 12-year-old son of Anshan was trained and owned by elder sister Kate and the pair were instantly more competitive finishing a creditable fourth behind that season’s Cheltenham Foxhunters victor Tammys Hill at Ballindenisk on their seasonal re-appearance.

It would be that same family horse who would provide O’Donovan with his first career success at Dromahane later that season, almost a year to the week of his first ride.

“It was a great day! Dromahane would be one of my local tracks, as it’s only half-an-hour away from home so there were big celebrations afterwards. He is trained from home and we take him to Mick Winters’ and other local gallops - so it is a real family effort.”

The alliance that he has built up with Winters has been a formidable one in furthering his riding career with the Kanturk handler the single largest supplier of his mounts to date, and while Optimus Prime will forever be associated with providing him with that first success, the Winters-trained Theatre Princess has formed a significant part of the O’Donovan story to date.

PARTNERSHIP

A brace of successes late last season for the pair at Dromahane and Kinsale marked a successful beginning to the partnership, which has gone from strength to strength building to a first track success for O’Donovan in a mares’ hunter chase at Cork over Easter recorded with an emphatic 20 lengths success.

“Mick has been a tremendous help in every way possible. He has found me rides for other trainers and he would even give me advice after rides aboard outside horses. He has been a fierce mentor.”

However, Winters is not alone in spotting the talents of O’Donovan, as the likes of Tom Keating, Debbie Hartnett, Eamon Courtney, and Louis Archdeacon are just four names of an ever expanding number of handlers who have drawn upon his services this season.

Shane Hassett came calling to secure O’Donovan for the opening four-year-old weekend of 2016 aboard his father Martin’s Dingo Dollar at Belharbour, with the pair returning victorious, on just his second ever ride in in a four-year-old maiden and the associated pressures of these valuable races.

Those nine winners for the current campaign, including a first career double at Belclare in mid-March, sees him perched at the top of the novice riders leader board, with almost double the number of winners of his nearest challengers, fellow Cork riders John O’Connor and Eoin O’Sullivan. H

e looks set to follow in the footsteps of Adrian Maguire, Paul Moloney, Davy Russell and Derek O’Connor to have been crowned champion novice rider, and there is certainly every indication that the name Chris O’Donovan is one we will be hearing plenty of in the future.