AT the beginning of the season, I never even thought about having a chance in the apprentice championship. Even now, although I am up there in the standings [Third, four behind the leader], I won’t be worrying about it for another while at least.

There is still over two and a half months left in the season, so for the moment, I am only taking it day by day. Hopefully, I can continue to ride as many winners as possible and stay free of injury and suspension.

The interest in horses all comes from my uncle John (Nallen). He is a well-known owner/breeder/trainer and business man (Hotel Minella) I started off on a pony when I was three, then went on to do pony club, eventing, show jumping and hunting. I sat on my first racehorse when I was eight, a point-to-pointer trained by my uncle. I was 14 when I started pony racing.

I think it’s a great opportunity to get your head in the game, getting used to riding finishes in races and that. I rode about 10 winners during my time pony racing. Brandon Wilkie, Danny Gilligan, Jake Coen and Conor Stone- Walsh would all have been riding around that same time.

It was only when I took out my apprentice licence at 16 that I started going in to ride out for Denis Hogan, he gave my every opportunity on horses he trained.

Experience

John got the few flat horses more to give me experience than anything else. He probably ended up doing a lot better with them than he thought he would do.

I rode my first winner (under rules) on just my fifth ride, on Ajax Tavern trained by my boss Denis, owned by the Premier Racing Syndicate at Dundalk. He had been working well at home but I can’t say that I was expecting it. He was having his first run for Denis so we didn’t really know what he would do.

It all happened so quick; I didn’t even realise it until after. I was still in school, so I only got in to ride out for Denis at the weekends. I rode a couple of lots for John in the mornings before school.

Getting that first winner definitely helped in getting my name out there. Other trainers started to ring up looking for me. I found that every time I had another winner, I would pick up more outside rides.

I was very lucky to come across three horses that really kicked off my career. Cristal Clere was one that John purchased unraced from Mr Haggas. We didn’t know much about him but he just kept progressing with every run, ending up being the highest rated horse in the yard. I won four times on him.

Philip Byrne trains close to Denis, I would ride work for him when I could. I built up a good contact with Philip, which saw me ride Out On Friday to win three races.

Simply Sideways was more luck than anything else. I picked up a spare in an apprentice race at Naas, then Tim Doyle kindly let me keep the ride. I won three on that mare as well.

James Carroll, assistant trainer to John, is a big help with my career as he goes through races highlighting the errors and gives advice for improvement.

Missed call

I was in school, sitting an exam when I had a missed call from my agent, Ruaidhri Tierney. He texted me saying that it was urgent.

When I rang back, Ruaidhri asked if I would go over to Epsom to ride for Ian Williams in the (Epsom) Dash as they couldn’t get a jockey light enough to do the weight. After that, I came over to ride for Ian two-three times a week, building up a good contact with the trainer and his owners.

I rode a winner for Deva Racing at Wetherby one day, then followed it up with another at Chester. The Racing Manager of Deva Racing, Ryan Tongue, rang me up to ride one of their horses Destinado, the stable star, trained by James Owen on the opening day of the flat season at Doncaster.

I won that race on Destinado, which saw me build a strong connection with James. I was still based in Ireland at the time but the outside rides were getting more difficult to pick up as there is so much competition amongst the apprentices. I thought I’d come over to England and give it a go.

Moved over

At the start of May, I moved over full-time, to base myself with James Owen. He is a young, up and coming trainer based in Newmarket, so it’s an exciting expanding yard to be involved with varying between National Hunt, flat and Arab horses.

James has only been training for a few years and has already built up a good reputation. He has given me plenty of opportunities since I started. I am lucky in that I can claim off bottom weight right now.

My biggest win to date came on Elnajmm for Mr Haggas, owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, in a Class 2 handicap at Newcastle in June. It was great to get the opportunity to ride for the Newmarket-based leading trainer.

I never actually thought about riding on the flat at all - I always wanted to be a jump jockey riding out the point-to-point horses everyday and watching National Hunt racing.

To be honest, I was never into the flat racing when I was young. Everyone kept telling me I was mad, as my weight was so low I was more suited to the flat.

Right now, I am really enjoying it. Maybe someday, if my weight ever becomes a problem, I will switch to jumps but things are going great at the moment. If I am still in contention for the apprentice championship in a couple of months, I’ll definitely give it everything I have.

I have so many people to thank for helping me get to where I am today. My parents for driving me across the country racing everyday over the years, my brothers Rhys and Conor for the support and encouragement.

My uncle John fom everything from the very start, Denis Hogan, Ian Williams, Deva Racing and James Owen and plenty others.

Sean was in conversation with John O’Riordan