THE latest leg of the Longines Fegentri Series for gentlemen riders took place in the USA at the end of July.

I was very fortunate to take part in the event as I was not actually sent out by Ireland to take part in the series. I also had only two career rides on the track when I set out stateside, so I was unusually inexperienced for a rider taking part. The event organisers in America had a lot of American riders and just a handful of European riders, so were open to more taking part.

I owe a lot of thanks to my brother, Gerard, now an established steeplechase jockey in the USA, as he happened to know the main event organiser and made a very good case for me competing and thankfully it paid off!

I was especially excited to be taking part in the series. I arrived in the USA a few days before my races as I was staying with Gerard and he organised for me to ride out for his boss, Katherine Neilson, (Kathy).

Gerard is now one of the leading steeplechase riders in the USA having gone out there in the autumn of 2013, after riding three winners over jumps and two on the flat in England. He hasn’t looked back since and his ridden 22 winners and won over $650,000 in prize money under rules and a host of point-to-point winners, which is no mean feat considering the lack of steeplechase racing in the USA.

He is based with Kathy and is also her assistant trainer but also rides for Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard. Kathy is a Grade 1-winning steeplechase trainer and trains on a farm about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia City.

It is the norm for most American steeplechase trainers to train on a farm without the luxury of gallops. Everyday, we rode round Kathy’s paddocks and acres of grassland by her farm, up and down hills; across ditches, timber rails and logs, and streams. This was an amazing experience but very unique for someone who has ridden horses up a railed woodchip or sand gallop everyday for the last six years.

My first ride took place at Laurel Park on Sunday, July 23rd. All of the Fegentri riders walked the track before racing.

It was finally time to pop on the tri-colour silks and do a last bit of studying of the form. I was riding Awesome Adrian, a lovely big four-year-old who had done most of his running at steeplechase meets. He was running over a mile in a maiden claimer, claiming $12,500 to $16,000, worth $22,000, but he was not short of pace and fully deserved his place in the line-up.

I was very excited to be riding on the flat as when my ambition was to be a flat jockey before my weight took a turn for the worst! The American stalls have a bell that rings as the gates open just to alert the horses, which really gets the adrenaline pumping.

As instructed, I dropped the horse out early about seven lengths off the leaders. We were a 40/1 shot but Gerard had told me if I take the shortest route and ride him to get home, he could go very close. Being a National Hunt horse running on a very fast track over a mile, it was no surprise that my horse wasn’t travelling strongly early on.

On leaving the back-straight, he was starting to come alive with three horses behind us in the 11-runner field.

But just on the last bend, two horses directly in front of me were starting to go backwards and I had nowhere to go. It cost the horse a lot of momentum. I then had to switch back inside and a gap appeared. My horse spotted it as quick as I did and he was through it like a light.

When we turned for home we were only four lengths down. He really picked up but the line just came 50 yards too soon. We came fourth but were only beaten half a length by the winner and just a nose for third.

INTERFERENCE

I was gutted we didn’t win as I knew the bit of interference had cost me the race. But when I came back to the unsaddling enclosure Kathy and the owners soon put a smile on my face. They were delighted with my ride and were so happy their horse had run so well.

I was thrilled to come so close to winning and the buzz I got out of it was a totally indescribable feeling. After been beaten 32 lengths and 21 lengths, respectively, in bumpers it was a welcome experience to ride one with a nice turn of foot and accelerate down a home straight!

The race organisers treated all of the riders to lunch in the restaurant in the grandstand after the race. I got to know all of the lads a bit more and they were all a really nice bunch of people.

Funnily enough, I was sitting beside the lad that rode the winner, Elliot Ohgren from Sweden, and I decided to get my own back as he was doing light for the next day so was faced with a salad while the rest of us were tucking into burgers, ribs and steaks and I made sure to let him know how good my steak tasted!

DELAWARE

We got ferocious monsoon rain that night. I was due to ride another of Kathy’s steeplechasers, Malibu Preacher, the next day at Delaware Park in another maiden claimer. We learned that the race was taken off the turf and placed on the dirt. This was very unusual for an Irishman having seen racing take place on turf with literally, standing water.

Once the ground turns just a bit soft on the US flat tracks, they take them off the turf as they don’t want the ground getting cut up. This was quite frustrating as my horse, being a jumps horse, was strictly a turf horse.

When I got to Kathy’s barn on Monday morning she told me and Gerard to plan for going racing as normal because there was a chance that there would be a lot of non-runners due to the track change. There was prize money down to fifth.

To my delight, when we arrived at Delaware Park there were five scratches making it just a five-runner race. Despite knowing my horse wouldn’t handle the surface, it was great to get the opportunity to ride on the dirt.

This was a totally different experience. Gerard warned me that the dirt was going to sting and to just ride through it. I had a very nice valet from Belfast, who has been over there for 25 years, helping me out and he gave me great advice about the surface and how many pairs of goggles to wear!

I was really able to take in the atmosphere of the preliminaries and enjoy the ride.

He broke quite well out of the gates and going into the first turn in front of the grandstand we were just behind the three leaders. But on approaching the back-straight, he decided he wasn’t a fan of the brown stuff and started to become very lazy.

By the time we turned for home, there was no chance of us winning but I spotted one stopping and coming back to me. I was tired but it was worth it in the end as with 100 yards to go, I passed the horse that was tiring.

SUPER RIDE

I was shocked when I jumped down off the horse after the race, as Kathy hugged me and thanked me for giving the horse a “super ride”. Gerard also congratulated me on the ride and assured me that if any of the professionals had ridden him, they would stood up in the irons once the horse stopped trying.

I got almost the same buzz out of that ride as I did the previous day when I almost won, as it was a great experience riding on the dirt.

I had another few days before I left for the Emerald Isle so I kept riding out for Kathy. I got to school one of Kathy’s horses over hurdles upsides Gerard, which was great fun. We did a warm up crossing logs in a forest before jumping the hurdles so that was a new experience for me!

I flew out of a small airport in New York State. There was a Grade 1 jumps race in Saratoga that day, so Gerard brought me up there for the day out.

That was the perfect way to end an amazing trip. It was thoroughly enjoyable and just a fantastic experience for me that I will never forget. I am so grateful to Kathy and her owners for giving me the opportunities, and of course to my brother Gerard, who got me the rides.

BACKGROUND

I am a 21-year-old Irish amateur jockey from Newbridge, Co Kildare. I started in racing when I was 14 years old, with Arthur Moore. He lived just a 10-minute drive from me so I cycled my bike to his yard every Saturday morning and when I had a break from school. My brother Gerard had driven me to a small pony club for a couple of months before this, and when he thought I was ready, he called Mr. Moore and asked him would he take on and just give me some experience.

Mr. Moore was an unbelievable mentor to me and taught me just about everything I know about horses and how to ride them. He didn’t let me canter a horse for three months, but had me riding work within 10. He was so good to me and I could always ask him for advice, an absolute gentleman.

I spent five years there and when I left, I had my amateur licence, was one of the main workriders and he had got me schooling.

In my lunchtimes, while riding out for Mr. Moore, I would cycle another mile up the road to Homer Scott. I rode three lots out for him everyday and in July 2014, two days before my 18th birthday, he gave me my first ride in Roscommon.

I spent last year working for Tom Taaffe. He taught me a lot and got me schooling properly and gave me a lot of confidence.

Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough opportunities to get rides so in February of this year I moved across the pond. I started working for Henry Daly in Ludlow, Shropshire. I got my first ride for Mr. Daly in another bumper on an unraced four-year-old in Worcester in June. I am back working there now and things are going well and Mr. Daly has been very good to me so far.

I am hopeful that if I keep my head down for him and work hard that he will repay me with rides this season and I can start to try and make a name for myself.