I RODE my first winner on Friday night last, when Master Melody won at Dundalk. It was brilliant to get off the mark on the track and hopefully it will prove to be just the first of many, over the coming months and years.

We always had ponies at home, when I was growing up in Newmarket On Fergus. I sat on my first pony at the age of three, and apart from a short break in my early teens, I have always worked with horses. Initially, I learned how to ride from my father at home and in later years I went to Morgan O’Brien’s Riding School, where I honed the skills that I had been taught from a young age. My father bought and sold ponies and I helped him out whenever I had the opportunity. Sadly, he passed away when I was 13 and I found myself taking a step back from horses for a time. However, the break proved short-lived and in my mid-teens I began to ride out for Lorna Casey and Fachtna Twomey, as well as having around 10 rides for Alan Kelly on the pony circuit. At 16 years old, I left school and enrolled in RACE determined to fulfil my ambition to become a jockey.