MANY congratulations to former Waterford Pony Club member Conor Cusack who rode his first winner on the track last Saturday at Limerick, where the Henry de Bromhead-trained Stepdance justified favouritism by half a length in the apprentice handicap.

None of the 17-year-old’s immediate family were at the meeting as they were on holiday in Spain, as was he until Wednesday evening when he flew back to Cork.

He then spent a relaxing night at the airport hotel, got one bus into Cork city on Thursday morning and another out to Kilmeaden. Laden down with a saddle and his bag and wearing his riding out gear, he made his way to de Bromhead’s on Friday morning on an e-scooter!

Conor didn’t take long notching up his second success, doing so on Wednesday at Killarney where he landed the opening mile claiming race on the 2/1 favourite Catena Zapata who is trained by Henry de Bromhead for his wife Heather.

Interviewed by Racing TV’s Fran Berry after Saturday’s win, which came on his seventh ride, Conor related how he had gone to school with the late Jack de Bromhead who introduced him to riding out at his family’s Knockeen yard. Of course, all the while, Conor was competing in other equestrian sports - he won the Connolly’s Red Mills junior individual title at the 2022 Irish Pony Club eventing championships.

“I went to the RDS a couple of times,” Conor told Berry but, according to the rider’s mother Cheryl, when he competes there next month it will be his ninth consecutive year to do so. Conor qualified Cheryl’s six-year-old Rathcoona Cove gelding Carramore Boy for the young riders’ flat Connemara class.

Conor is apprenticed to Henry de Bromhead but also rides out twice a week for David Marnane while he has also ridden out for Dermot Weld and Joseph O’Brien. Amazingly - though it could be down to the great help he receives from his mother and his father Jack - Conor has time for other sports including golf.

Former Killinick Pony Club member Josh Berry rode his first winner on the track at Sligo on Sunday. This was just a second racecourse ride for Josh, but he has 11 point-to-point wins to his credit. At Sligo, he landed the mares’ bumper on Richieandsams Lady who is owned by his uncle Darragh and is trained by Benny Walsh who many will remember being on the very successful Killinick hunt chase team.