ON Tuesday afternoon, Chris Hayes is sitting in his living room, looking at a portrait of his Irish St Leger win on Voleuse De Coeurs. A time for reflection. The painting was gifted to him by Lady Chryss O’Reilly, whose black and white silks and white-starred blue cap Hayes wore on the daughter of Teofilo. In 12 days’ time, it will be 10 years to the day of that success, Hayes’ first classic; but as fate would have it, the 36-year-old has been reflecting over the memory for the last few days, due to the untimely and tragic passing of the influential and popular owner/breeder.

You always remember the people that helped you on your way. Lady O’Reilly was instrumental in the career of Chris Hayes and he has never lost sight of that.

She gave him his first retainer as a jockey, when he still had 12 winners to ride out his claim. It was a unique arrangement and when it came to an end in 2011, it provided Hayes with a key life experience.

Then came Voleuse De Coeurs and the Irish St Leger. With Pat Smullen likely to choose to ride the better-fancied Pale Mimosa, Lady O’Reilly and her racing manager James Kelly were adamant Hayes would ride their filly. They went on to bolt up by six lengths and it was the first classic success for both – a momentous achievement.

“She was just one of the nicest people to ride for,” Hayes recalls. “She was a great judge, but she was so understanding. She looked after me. I got to ride some very nice horses for her on the biggest stages, but she protected me in many ways, as I didn’t ride every single one of them.

“Maybe I was thinking I should be riding all of them, but she knew the ones I suited, and I think that could have been the making of me; that I couldn’t get everything handed to me, that I’d have to work for it, I had to prove myself to get the opportunities.

“Winning the Irish St Leger on Voleuse De Coeurs was a great day for both of us. I was shocked to hear of her passing. Only the other day I rode work for her in Kevin Prendergast’s – she had a filly there.

“It’s desperately sad for her family and friends, but also for the breeding and racing industries – she had a hugely positive influence.”

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Voleuse De Coeurs was Chris Hayes’ first ever ride for Dermot Weld. The rivers of many lives have twisted, turned and flown through bridge after bridge since, and now here we are today, looking ahead to a season culmination of Group 1 races and the two men, now aligned closer together, are looking forward again to combining with another class act of a filly.

Tahiyra is a clear choice to adorn the cover ofa book that tells the story of Hayes’ season, but perhaps more importantly, the theme of that story is one of consolidation. His bond with Weld has grown stronger and that is hugely significant.

Hayes’ first consistent spell with Weld was in 2019. He had 148 rides for him that year, which included marquee successes on Tarnawa in the Blandford Stakes and Search For A Song in the Irish St Leger. However, in the following two seasons, Hayes would have just 51 rides for Weld, as the trainer preferred to use Oisin Orr and Colin Keane.

Last season, he was first choice again. He rode 253 times for Weld and that has continued through this term, with the pair combining 131 times already.

“Maybe in 2019, I wasn’t mature enough,” Hayes reflects. “Maybe I didn’t have the understanding of how the boss likes his horses ridden. I feel like I have that understanding now. We have never spoken about it, but I feel like I understand him and I know what he likes to see, in the mornings and at the track, and I’d like to think that I’m delivering anyway.

“I suppose the boss is meticulous in his approach to training and placing of his horses. I’ve really only understood that in the last two seasons. Nothing is done off the cuff, everything is planned. He sticks to a plan and nine times out of 10 it works out.

“Your information is asked for and it’s respected. That, in turn, gives you confidence that your opinion is worth something. It helps you to ride with the shackles off a little bit, because you feel a part of the process. Tactically, we’d speak about every race – be it Tahiyra in the 1000 Guineas, a maiden, or a 47-65.

“I’ve learned through time how he likes his horses ridden and I’d like to think I’m able to do it now, or do my best to do it, but look, it’s not easy to follow in after the people who have been there.

“I don’t know how long Mick Kinane was here, but Pat Smullen was here for nearly 20 years. The boss likes it done a certain way and they were obviously well able to do it and are two of the best ever. They were big boots to be walking into and I suppose I felt that at the start as well. There is a huge difference from riding a spare for a trainer every so often, to riding for them seven days a week.

“When you’re riding for someone seven days a week, it’s easier to adapt when things go wrong. You have to be able to go to plan B or plan C, and I’d like to think that I have that understanding now. Look, maybe I don’t have it fully, but it will continue to develop. It’s patience on both sides. He has been patient with me.”

Win big

It helps when you win, and win big. Tahiyra has won at the highest level three times now for Hayes and Weld, and yet the general feeling inside Rosewell House is that she can soar much higher.

Her two Group 1 wins this term were most impressive through the circumstances of the race. There could be a monster performance in there and could we see it in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown next weekend?

“Her best performance was in the Moyglare last year,” Hayes asserts. “That was on nice ground, they went a good gallop and she showed a ferocious turn of foot. She hasn’t got that this year. They went a good gallop at Newmarket, but the ground was a little bit tacky and the race was probably coming two to three weeks sooner than the boss would have liked.

“She hasn’t really got her conditions and she has been winning in spite of that. I honestly feel the filly will be better when she gets a fast pace to run at, but will she get that in the Matron? I don’t know. But I do know she will be able to adapt.

“History says that the boss’ horses improve for the second half of the year and that is the way he trains them. She has been out in Gilltown and she has come back and strengthened up. Dean Sinnott rides her canters and I do anything faster than that. She feels great, but she always feels great and I don’t want to be giving you a silly answer, but she does.

“She does her business, canters up, pulls up, walks home, she’s just a pleasure to ride and a real professional. It’s exciting to see what she can do now.”

Hayes is 20 years riding now. It doesn’t feel so long ago that, as a 10lb claimer having just his 10th ride, he sliced his way through a packed field at Galway to win the McNamara Handicap (now Ahonoora) on the Ger Lyons-trained Amourallis.

He is a product of both pony racing and the Racing Academy, the latter coming into the news for negative reasons this week, but he is a big advocate for both. After that he came under the tutelage of Kevin Prendergast, signing on as an apprentice. In 20 years, that relationship is a truly unique one now.

“I love him to bits,” he asserts. “Legend is a word thrown around too often, but he deserves it because he is a legend. I rode work for him last Monday morning, bright and early, 91 years of age, fresh as paint on the top of Walsh’s Hill, he’s just a remarkable man.

“The relationship is still master and apprentice to me, because he’d have no problem ringing me up and telling me if I gave one of Dermot’s a bad ride, absolutely no problem ringing me and telling me what I should have done. At the same time, he’d have no problem ringing me up and telling me I gave one a good ride.

“But what I have always loved about him is there is no dramatics and nothing is prolonged, good or bad. You move on. He showed me that from the start and I think that is really important for a jockey, to be able to put a victory or loss on the shelf and move on, because you always have that duty to the connections of each horse. Racing is unique, we have half hour slots between races.

“If you gave one a bad ride and you got your bollicking off Kevin, he would always have known if it was playing on your mind. Say you came out with your bottom lip dropped or you were tapping the whip off your boot, he’d crack a joke or tell a funny story or put his hand around your shoulder on the way over to leg you up, and you knew then, right it’s done, we move on, next race.

“I always liked his way of doing that, the way he treated each race. If you won, you got a pat on the back, a ‘well done’, and it was move on again. I found that a big help. I don’t think I ever really struggled with the psychology as such – maybe when I was a 7lb claimer and something bad happened, you’d think it was the end of the world, but you just get better with age.

“I think you can apply that to a larger scale as well. Sometimes trainers or owners won’t want to use you for a little bit, but if you’re good enough at your job and you get that experience, invariably nine times out of 10 I’ve found they will come back, provided you conduct yourself in the right manner.”

1,000 winners

Hayes has just gone by 900 winners in Ireland and he is well above 1,000 when you account for his wins abroad, the bulk of which have come in India and the UAE. He jokes that he’ll give it all up by the time he hits 1,000 in Ireland, but that would be too soon the way things are going, and actually, if anything, it’s a home project that will have him retired quicker.

“I suppose Covid put an end to Dubai really. I got married last year (to Rachel) and I just got comfortable at home and we have a couple of broodmares now. I got into the breeding side of things six years ago. I bought a house and a bit of land and I’ve been developing it over the last few years, and got very lucky, landing a few good pedigrees. I have the half-sister to Mostahdaf.

“I bought her out of a horses-in-training sale from Shadwell – she was the first foal out of the mare. We covered her and she bred a winner for us and obviously Mostahdaf is after really enhancing the page so that’s exciting. It’s huge, we’ve only got two broodmares.

“We’re toying with the idea of putting her in the sales, she’s in foal. If we sell her, maybe we will put in an extension, or get somewhere bigger, I don’t know. It’s exciting. I got into it by just studying pedigrees from a riding point of view, trying to get some sort of edge. But you quickly get bitten by it.

“We love doing it. It’s a different winter now from playing golf in Dubai, to mucking out broodmares in December, but I love it. Even coming home from a bad day at the races – it’s lovely to walk down through the field, check on the mares and see their foals run around.”

In the saddle, there is so much more to play for. Tahiyra is front and centre, but the progressive stayer Shamida looks readymade for the Group 1 Prix Royallieu at ParisLongchamp, while Harbour Wind could also be a player at the Irish Champions Festival. Don’t forget about Homeless Songs, who may meet Tahiyra at Leopardstown, and may well have more options thereafter.

“We have a lovely bunch of two-year-olds as well,” Hayes adds. “It’s been a good year. It could have been better. I’ve had a lot of seconds, hit the crossbar a good few times, but overall it’s been a good year.

“The horses have been running consistently well. I’d like to think that I contribute something towards that. It’s a lovely position to be in.”