I ONLY ride a couple of times a month, so recording my first winner on Final Endeavour at the Curragh was unbelievable. Trainer Harry Rogers and his late wife, Mary, have been ardent supporters of mine, thus making the win all the more poignant. I know that without their constant support and encouragement I wouldn’t even be riding in races, let alone winning.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I always had a love of horses. No one in my family had any involvement and my home county of Cavan wouldn’t be a recognised racing stronghold. Despite all that, I was fascinated by the animals themselves, watching countless different programmes on television. However, with opportunities limited with regard to obtaining first-hand experience, it wasn’t until I turned 12 that I finally got to sit on a horse. At that point, my mam brought me to Ross House, a renowned equestrian centre.

In my early teens I was lucky enough to meet Linzi Dowdall, who introduced me to show jumping and hunter trials. Through her, I started to hunt with the Louth Hunt, going most weekends and during school holidays. Coincidentally, Linzi actually won the corresponding Curragh race on Khezanna last year.

Game of Thrones

My first job after leaving school was on the Game of Thrones set, with The Devil’s Horsemen. The latter are a Milton Keynes based family-run company who provide stunt horses to the entertainment industry. I spent two months in a role which involved riding the horses out and working with them on set.

In 2016, Linzi got me a job working for trainer Leslie Young and husband, Paddy, in Pennsylvania. The latter, who is from Northern Ireland, used to look after triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate during his time with Henrietta Knight.

Aside from riding out and schooling horses, I got to go racing at some of the major American tracks such as Saratoga, Nashville and Far Hills. Once the season tailed off towards the end of the summer, I came home and spent six months working for Noel Meade. I used to ride out a good horse named Joey Sasa, who won two bumpers. Later that summer, I went back over to Pennsylvania; a journey I would repeat for the few years.

Pennsylvania Hunt Cup

In 2018, upon my return to Ireland, I started work with Harry and Mary Rogers. Pre Covid-19, I would spend my summers with Leslie Young in America, then come back to the Rogers each winter.

I actually had my first ever ride in the US, at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup meeting, on a horse named Thakka, who Leslie trained. Later that year (2020), Harry Rogers gave me my first Irish ride on Alio Forte in a bumper at Bellewstown.

Since then, I have had a further 10 rides - three under National Hunt rules and seven on the flat. As Harry (Rogers) doesn’t have any point-to-point horses in training, I only get to ride a limited number on the track every year. To be fair, despite only having a small string, any time there is a race open to me, he will try to run a horse in it.

Not enough races

Benkei, a horse I ride out at home all the time, is a case in point. I have ridden that horse three times this year, twice over hurdles and once on the flat. Having finished third over hurdles at Punchestown in May, it wasn’t until last month that I was able to ride that same horse over flights again. We did, however, reunite for one run on the flat at Leopardstown in the interim. The late Gerry Nolan, who formerly owned both Lord Erskine and Benkei sadly passed away last year. He was very supportive of me, as was Mary Rogers who subsequently owned the latter. At the present time there are not enough races for Lady Qualified Riders, so hopefully that’s something that can be addressed. There are loads of women working in racing now and there should be more opportunities for them.

Equine massage therapy

Due to travel restrictions, I haven’t been over to America the last two summers. Instead, I started an equine massage therapy programme with Equi-Ed down in Wexford. Now based full-time with Harry Rogers, I also made a conscious decision to improve my race-riding by enlisting the help of jockey coach Warren O’Connor.

Over the past year, I have been up and down to the Curragh, working on the simulator and chatting through my rides. Earlier this month, the hard work paid off when Final Endeavour won the Ladies QR Handicap at the Curragh.

Going into the race, I expected him to go well, as he was in great form at home and had his favoured ground. The plan was to either make the running or ride him handy if something went off too hard in front.

As it turned out, I got a dream ride the whole way around, disputing the lead before going on at halfway and staying on strongly to win nicely. I kept thinking something would come and nab us close to home but thankfully that wasn’t the case. I was delighted for the owners, Susan and Kevin Bury, who were good enough to allow me ride their horse.

Looking to the future, my hope would be to pick up more race-riding experience, especially over jumps. Now that I have ridden a winner, it may well open up more doors for me, as understandably, trainers tend to use jockeys that have done so.

Meryem Walsh was in conversation with John O’Riordan