“You see something and you just know it’s there. That’s the only way I can describe it. He came into the yard, the quietest kid you’d ever meet, totally unassuming, but just a natural. I knew very quickly: I said it to the lads in the yard. ‘This man’s my jockey’.”

Ger Lyons

IT WAS a case of business as usual this week for Colin Keane, who doesn’t seem to have missed a beat since having his first racecourse ride on King Of Kilberry at Dundalk on October 15th, 2010.

His first victory arrived at the Co Louth track two months later on No Trimmings, who like King Of Kilberry, was trained by his father Gerard. Keane clearly took a shine to Dundalk and is electric on the all-weather but then that description is applicable to any track in Ireland now, established as he is among the cream of our crop of flat racing jockeys.

From Tuesday to Thursday Keane recorded five winners, with doubles at Gowran Park and Bellewstown bookending the Group 3 Brownstown Stakes success at Fairyhouse courtesy of the Roger Varian-trained Realtra.

It says something that a British-based handler of Varian’s standing would seek him out for such a valuable contest and before Bellewstown on Friday evening, the 22-year-old was on top of the jockeys’ table with 35 winners.

Realtra provided Keane with his ninth group triumph, a tally that has been accumulated while also managing to increase his individual tally every single year since taking out his licence as a 16-year-old.

ENGLISH HORSES

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, the Trim native was delighted to have landed another important prize on a mount secured by agent Ruaidhri Tierney.

“It’s nice to get on them English horses when they come over here,” said Keane. “They wouldn’t be sending them over for the good of their health.”

Not having laid eyes on the five-year-old in the flesh before, he quickly set about doing his homework. That included quizzing Andrea Atzeni, who had ridden the filly on a number of occasions.

“I just looked up her form and looked at her last few runs. To be fair, when Andrea was over the weekend he filled me in about her as well. Roger told me how he wants her ridden and we went from there.

“We were hemmed in for most of the way around but when the gap appeared she quickened up smartly and the further she was going, the better she was going. It was a nice performance.”

There have been plenty of those with Keane in the saddle this term. Normally, Ger Lyons’ charges, while showing well early, tend to improve for their runs but a lot of them hit the ground running in 2017.

“We had two winners the first day which is unusual for Ger’s. Even since then they’ve been running consistently and as you say, if they’re not drawing the first day, they’re drawing on their second run, some of them anyway and especially the two-year-olds. The horses are in great form and long may it continue.”

Sea Wolf and Tony The Gent were Premier Handicap winners at the Curragh, while Song Of Namibia and Lightening Fast (whose dam Lightening Pearl provided Lyons with his first Group 1 victory in the Cheveley Park at Newmarket in 2011) have also claimed decent pots.

Elegant Rose was unraced as a two-year-old but has caught the eye with two smooth successes and is clearly progressive. Among the juveniles, Lethal Steps, Camelback and Black Sails have stood out. According to Keane, there is more to come.

“We’ve a lot of nice handicappers and some nice two-year-olds but our two-year-olds this year seem more of a backward bunch and from now on, we’ll have plenty two-year-olds for the back end of the season. It’s just the type they were this season. He’s giving them plenty of time and hopefully they can reward him for his patience.”

One wonders if this is by accident or design. Lyons’ business model do date has been centred on getting results quickly, finding buyers for many of his juveniles to keep the operation running and facilitate reinvestment. Annually, the quality has increased and he is now a regular at the top end of the trainers’ table. Knowing his ambition, unearthing a horse of real Group 1 quality and regularly dining at the top table is a clear target.

So is this the next step in that process, to ensure that the horses have more to find at three? Or is that just the way it worked out?

“I’d say it’s probably a bit of both. Obviously he’s trying to improve every year in the quality that he buys and I suppose it’s just the way it happened this year as well. It’s probably 50-50.”

Keane is not alone in his admiration of how the gaffer has established himself, by dint of backing his own judgement. His pilot highlights the role of another man who like Lyons, is a former jump jockey, and is a key contributor.

“Roger Marley is a big help to him. He goes around with him and picks out all the yearlings and they have a final say together, pick and choose. They’ve come a long way from what they’ve started with and are very successful at what they do.

“The Group 1 horses are very hard to come about. Hopefully, it’ll come around sooner rather than later.”

Lyons put his assessment skills on the line once more when appointing the then 19-year-old Keane stable jockey. The faith has been repaid and the duo represent as formidable a partnership as there is in Irish racing.

Speaking in the Irish Racing Yearbook 2017, Lyons revealed that he made his mind up on his fellow Meath man immediately. Probably even more significant is the fact that despite his youth, the trainer had no concerns about showering him with praise. Comparing him with another son of the royal county – the man who rode Lightening Pearl in Newmarket and was Keane’s idol growing up – was as high a compliment as could be paid.

JOHNNY MURTAGH

“It’s just so easy with him,” said Lyons. “I remember back in the day when Johnny (Murtagh) was riding for me: I’d just leg Johnny up and I’d go to the stands without a worried bone in my body. Whatever other worries I had – and there are plenty in this job – I knew with Johnny it was just a case of ‘over to you Ted’.

“Johnny knew what to do and it’s the same with Colin. I like to keep things simple when it comes to race-riding and he epitomises that. I can eulogise about him because I know it’s not going to go to his head. We’re very different people. But we just fit, and it works, and it’s very easy with him.”

“I suppose opposites attract, isn’t that what they say?” says Keane with a smile when asked how two apparently disparate characters gelled so seamlessly. “From day one I’ve gotten on very well with him. He’s very straightforward. Whatever it is, he won’t beat around the bush which is a good thing. It’s just worked.”

It was Tierney who got him in with Lyons after Keane snr opted to cut back on his training commitments and told his son he would need to get a job. The youngster had been considering England so it was a big call, and a good one.

There have been many fine days since. Brendan Brackan supplied the initial group success in the Solonaway Stakes at HQ in 2013 but it is the pair’s Topaz Mile victory in Galway seven weeks earlier that stands out, not least because Keane bought a car as a result.

“That was the start of it and it was very enjoyable. I suppose riding my first Group 2 winners last year on Ardhoomey, and Medicine Jack in the Railway, were good as well. Medicine Jack had only just won his maiden and we’d always thought he was a lot better than that so it was nice that he proved us right and did the job on the day.”

Brendan Brackan appears to retain all his old enthusiasm. The eight-year-old got his campaign off to a stunning start by winning the Irish Lincolnshire at Naas before finishing third behind Minding in the Mooresbridge Stakes. He has since landed the Listed Glencairn Stakes at Leopardstown and is slated for a return to Stillorgan for the Group 3 Meld Stakes on July 20th. Gary Carroll was in the plate for the two wins this year but Keane’s love of the Big Bad Bob gelding is obvious.

YARD LEGEND

“Brendan is a legend of the yard and is part of the place now. I don’t think he’s going anywhere. He’ll have a retirement home there if he wants to. He’s a brilliant horse and leads a lot of the work for the young horses. You know when a young horse can get near him you’re doing alright.”

Ardhoomey found the going tough behind Lady Aurelia in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot but is more than likely to add to his haul of five wins back down in grade.

“I’d say he’s just not at that level to be honest. It was another step-up, a different class. To be fair to him I don’t think he’s ever gone as quick. But sure you go there and you learn these things. That’s part of the sport. He’s still gonna win plenty of races for his owner and is a good horse in his own right.”

Keane has never made a secret of his desire to be champion jockey. He was champion apprentice in 2014, his 54 victories leaving him 22 clear of Leigh Roche. That was after finishing with a wet sail the year before to get within three of Connor King.

Before racing on Friday, there were just two winners between Keane at the top of the table and Billy Lee in third, with Kevin Manning in between. Chris Hayes, nine-time and current kingpin Pat Smullen and Shane Foley are all in the vicinity too. Smullen is normally 20 clear by this juncture so one senses that the rest of the weigh room smells an opportunity.

CHAMPION JOCKEY

“It’s strange alright. But you know Dermot Weld’s horses could kick into form in the next few weeks and Pat wouldn’t be long going 20 ahead! It’s very early days yet but it’s nice to be in the position we are on the table and hopefully we can keep kicking in the winners. We have a good few backward two-year-olds that haven’t ran yet and a few three-year-olds that haven’t ran yet or are still maidens. We’d have a nice batch of horses still to run. It’s a help and you’d need them when you’re trying to be winning a championship.”

At the same time Tierney is sourcing rides like Realtra, while closer to home, John Murphy, Tom McCourt, John Feane, Adrian McGuinness and Murtagh provide a vital steady stream of outside conveyances.

And of course, there is his father. For some reason, that Colin himself cannot explain, the surname is pronounced in the west of Ireland style of Kane when referred to his father. But Colin goes by the phonetical spelling.

There were always horses at home and having come through pony racing, where Ronan Whelan was a contemporary, Keane signed his papers and became an apprentice at home as soon as he was eligible. He derived tremendous joy from riding two winners for his old man earlier this year, thanks to Piazzini at Tipperary and Jeremy’s Girl at Roscommon.

FATHER

“He’s after helping me a little bit,” Keane says laughing. “He mainly does pre-training and breaking now but he still has a few to run. It’s nice to ride a winner for him. I hadn’t ridden for him in a long time so it was great to get two. It was a good kick definitely.”

To finish top of the pile, quantity is important, but a top-flight pilot thrives on quality. Glenburnie Stables provides him with both.

“The likes of Camelback is a nice colt, owned by an American owner and he’s his first horse with Ger. (Runs at Naas today.) Lethal Steps, who won his maiden first-time out in Leopardstown will be a nice horse when he steps up in trip. Come the end of the year, when he’s the finished article, I think he could be a proper horse.

“Black Sails probably disappointed a bit at Ascot but I think she’d be a filly, come the end of the year, when she steps up to the mile and has a bit more juice in the ground, you’ll see the best of her. There’s a few nice three-year-olds as well and a few two-year-olds that have still to run.

“I start every year saying I’ll try to beat my tally from the previous one. Last year I’d 77 winners so if I can get to that and hopefully beat that, that’ll be a help. Obviously I’m trying to win the championship. I know we’re a long way off it yet but that’d be the main ambition.”