WITH the busy Christmas racing festivals just over a week away, it was perfect timing to ride a graded winner at Navan last weekend on Futurum Regem. That winner, my first over jumps, will hopefully have brought me to the attention of a wider audience.

As I can claim off bottom weight in handicaps, I am hopeful of picking up a ride or two in some of the feature races over the festive period. With no background in horses, I rather fell into the sport quite by chance.

One summer, with nothing much to do, I attended a local pony camp and it just went from there. From that very first day, I loved the thrill of riding horses but as I reached by early teens, GAA and soccer took up much of my time. I played football and hurling with my local club, Confey, through the grades and this year, I was a member of the Kildare Under 20 hurling panel.

The racing had yet to really get going for me up until very recently, so I am not sure how it will work going forward. I have been very fortunate in that any GAA manager I have had up to now has been very accommodating when it came to the riding.

On a personal level, I also felt that playing hurling kept me fit over the winter when I wasn’t previously getting that many opportunities on the racecourse.

My dad’s cousin is a well-known vet, Patrick McGrath, who works for some of the leading trainers. During my second year in school, I helped him out during holidays and a conversation with John Oxx first made me aware of RACE. From then on, I knew that the jockey academy was where I wanted to be once I was the requisite age. So, after finishing my Junior Certificate, I left school and went to study at RACE.

Curragh

As part of my placement, I was sent out to Kevin Prendergast on the Curragh. It was a fantastic yard to gain an education, as aside from the boss, the likes of Chris Hayes, Gary Halpin, Dylan Hogan, Stephen Craine and Jeremy Harley were all very helpful.

I rode as an apprentice from 2018 to 2020 but being short and stocky, weight was always going to present a problem. With no GAA during lockdown, my weight rose further, so I was forced to make a decision.

I knew for some time that my future lay as a jump jockey and in September of this year, I made the switch to Noel Meade.

Jeremy Harley is friendly with the latter and put the wheels in motion for me to make the move.

Meade’s yard

At the time I started with Noel (Meade), I had handed in my apprentice licence so only held a conditional one over jumps. However, as my weight had settled, he suggested I take out a professional flat licence as I could ride a few off bigger weights.

In October, I rode my very first career winner, aboard Crassus in a one-mile, two-furlong handicap at the Curragh.

It was a special moment, as the Curragh is synonymous with flat racing in Ireland so I couldn’t have asked for a better way to get off the mark.

Unfortunately for me, it was at the very end of the season, so I had no time to build on that win and pick up further rides.

National Hunt

Now I am in a better position, as Futurum Regem came at the ideal point to give me a real chance this National Hunt season. I had schooled horses for trainer Hugh Finegan in the past and his nephew, Eoghan, works with me in Noel Meade’s yard, so it was a great day for all of us.

The horse had been an impressive winner on his previous visit to Navan, so I knew that off such a light weight he had a serious chance.

The drying ground was very much in his favour as well as he is much better on a quicker surface. To ride my first winner on what was the biggest opportunity of my career to date, has been incredible.

Noel Meade has been very good to me over the last few months; giving me so many opportunities both on the track and in terms of galloping and schooling horses.

Sean Flanagan and Denis O’Regan are great men to learn from, and Johnny Moore and fellow conditional Eoin Walsh have also been brilliant. Johnny rode out at Noel’s during the summer, and Eoin had ridden Futurum Regem previously and gave me great advice.

Injury free

My aim for the remainder of the season is to put my head down, work hard and stay injury free.

Hopefully, I can add to last weekend’s success over the coming months and improve further as a jockey.

Neil Ryan was in conversation with John O’Riordan