WEXFORD native J.J. Slevin is on course for his best-ever season and, with two Festival successes aboard Champagne Classic in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Hurdle and Band Of Outlaws in the Fred Winter under his belt, he looks to have is hopeful of picking up a couple more mounts this time around.

Being attached to the Joseph O’Brien yard, which has been enjoying a good run this season and earning plaudits for his handling of Home By The Lee in the Grade 1 Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown, has undoubtedly helped elevate his profile.

However, competition for mounts in the O’Brien yard is no different to any other and the fact that the trainer and jockey are first cousins doesn’t entitle J.J. to any special treatment, nor would he expect any.

As he remarked: “I’m the same as them all and they’re a great bunch of lads who ride over jumps or on the flat. It’s a great place to work and I enjoy going in there every morning.”

He and Joseph were born only six months apart and they go back a long way, said J.J: “We were good pals growing up, originally riding ponies and then, when we were old enough, riding out. We had ponies at home, me in Wexford and Joseph in Ballydoyle, in the summer that were sold on at Goresbridge and one day, when I was 12, I got injured on the first day of the summer holidays and Joseph took over riding them when they were being sold.

Grown up

“Obviously we had both grown up around horses and, when we got together, that’s what we talked about - horses and dogs. Every year we go to Clonmel for the coursing and Joseph still has four or five lurchers at home. Trevor Horgan’s son Hugh is big into it as well.”

Both sons of trainers, racing became their bond as they graduated from ponies to the wider world of racing. Joseph’s parents Aidan and Annemarie need little introduction but J.J.’s are less well-known.

His father Shay, who is married to Aidan’s sister Elizabeth, trains a few point-to-pointers just outside Enniscorthy and English-based rider Tom O’Brien is yet another cousin.

All in all, it is no surprise that becoming a jockey was the only career J.J. ever contemplated and his mother, who sent off for all the forms that needed to be signed to take him down that path, never tried to talk him out of it.

He recalls her saying: “You’re never going to be happy doing anything else!” Later on she was also the one who advised him it was time to turn professional.

J.J.’s older brother Mark is a vet who notched up between 40 and 50 winners in the saddle between point-to-points and the racecourse and he remembers Mark and Tom (O’Brien), who were at home with his father then “Dragging me along when they went racing – they were a big help to me.”

Growing up, Charlie Swan was his idol - “Istabraq is the first horse I remember” - and then Michael Kinane who was riding in Ballydoyle at the time. As the years rolled by, Timmy Murphy and Tony McCoy were further inspirations but Slevin admits: “I watch a lot of riders and take something from them all in an effort to improve.

Making mistakes

“I watch a lot of racing in the evening time and realise I make a lot of mistakes myself from that. It annoys me because this game is too important to be making mistakes. At the same time, it’s not a game where you want to be thinking too far ahead but, riding for Joseph is the same as for any other trainer.

“The big thing for me is that I know the horses so well from riding them at home and then you learn a lot from riding them in a race. Having ridden himself, Joseph has such a high understanding of how races go that you can change things if it’s not going right and he can understand why you did it.

“Sometimes when you’re riding well, you do things differently to what you had planned because you have to change.”

J.J., who had about 30 rides on the pony racing circuit, has been based in Owning with Joseph since he started training in 2016, spending a year in Ballydoyle with Aidan before that and a further 12 months in the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard as an amateur during The New One era.

Good fun

He said: “The English system is different to the Irish one but Nigel was very approachable and it was a good fun environment. The Irish tend to have a strong hand in every race at Cheltenham but I suppose it’s all about having a chance.

“I rode there as an amateur for Nigel in 2016 and have been back every year since. There’s always a buzz leading up to the Festival with the build-up and anticipation and Lingstown point-to-point was usually on the Sunday before and we’d go over the next day.

“The fact that we are used to riding in big fields in handicaps in Ireland – we get that every day - helps us, whereas in England they’re more used to riding against eight to 10 horses.”

J.J. also has a degree in journalism as a ‘back-up plan,’ rather than going down the more obvious route of equine science but for him the decision was easily made.

He explained: “I’ve always loved reading. English and history were my best subjects at school but I wasn’t much good at maths and science!”

Hopefully it will stand to him in the years ahead but he can’t see himself rivalling Ruby Walsh, Gary O’Brien, Kevin O’Ryan or Jane Mangan just yet.

For the moment Slevin is perfectly happy to be a jockey and divides up his week between riding out and schooling for three different trainers in O’Brien, Martin Brassil and Stuart Crawford. It’s a good spread and he recognises their strengths.

Joseph, of course, provided him with another high-profile success aboard Busselton in last year’s Guinness Kerry National while he describes Brassil, for whom he rides out two days a week, as “Someone who will always find a big day for a horse.”

Successful raids

The Crawford clan, meanwhile, use their eventing background to give their horses the edge, particularly on their successful raids on some of the smaller tracks in England and Scotland.

“They’re fair operators,” said J.J. “And their horses are so fit because of all the jumping they do.”

Ken Whelan is his agent. “He came to me before I turned pro and asked would I go to him,” the jockey said.

“I knew him from his riding days and he has a few good riders on his books which helps him pass the rides between them. I can say anything to him and he’s more a friend than an agent.

“It’s all about getting better and, if you’ve given a horse a bad ride, he’ll tell you.

“Getting on better horses (in the major races) makes you a better rider and the more riding you do every day, you’re working at getting better. The more racing you do, the sharper you get and you have to be at it every day to improve. My aim every year is to ride more winners and try to stay injury free.”

The La Touche is a race close to his heart and one he still wants to win. “I need to tick that one off. I was beaten a head by Uncle Junior and Paddy Mullins in 2012 and missed out through injury another year but Peter Maher is in regular contact with me and I’d like to think he’s the trainer who will give me that winner.

Great year

“Joseph is probably down on previous numbers but up in terms of quality,. He is having a great year, so hopefully I’ll get close to my best ever season winners-wise this season but, in Ireland it’s very hard to get on to the good horses. They don’t just pop up but I’ve been lucky with Home By The Lee winning his Grade 1 at Christmas.

“I find it fascinating how these horses keep improving. I’d love to be able to put my finger on it but, maybe it’s down to unbelievable training.”

Like everyone, J.J. is full of admiration for O’Brien and what he has achieved as a trainer, saying: “It’s unbelievable what he has done in such a short period of time but he still has ambitions to win a few other big races. He’s getting a kick out of the jumpers this year and I’d say the English National is one of them.

“He has a fair hunger for the game and always thinks ahead a few months in advance. I didn’t know his grandfather Joe Crowley that well but, from the stories I’ve heard about him, I can see a lot of Joe in him. He’s pretty grounded.” Obviously, it’s all in the blood.