I’M sure punters all over the country were consulting their racing papers last Friday week, querying the name “Georgios Pakidis”. While Togoville’s win in the rated race at Dundalk has been my first success in Ireland, I am no stranger to the winner’s enclosure.

As many will have guessed, I am Greek by origin, born in Athens in 1973. Despite having no family background in racing, at the age of 12 I enrolled into the jockey school with the encouragement of my father and uncle, where I spent the next two years.