AFTER spending the winter at home, I travelled back over to America at the end of February. Since I returned, things have been very good. I’ve eight winners ridden and I’m leading jockey at the moment. The season doesn’t end for another six months, so it will be very hard to hold onto the lead but, you never know. I will try my best anyway.

My father Billy used to ride in point-to-points. He had retired by the time I was born but he still rode out in John Halley’s. We never had horses at home but my grandparents lived up the road from Pat Doyle’s yard. We used to gallop greyhounds on his gallops. I was around 14 or 15 when I started going in to ride out in the yard. Before that, I had learned the basics in the Tipperary Equestrian Centre.