Barry Browne

I didn’t ride a winner at Leopardstown over the Dublin Racing Festival but I got two great spins, finishing third in the Grade 1 ERSG Arkle Novice Chase on Gallant John Joe and second in the €100,000 William Fry Handicap Hurdle on The Jam Man.

That kept the good feeling going from a great run of four winners from five rides in eight days. It was very important to get that because things had gone very quiet after doing so well last season. I ended it with 14 but only had three until that last week in January.

It was actually a schooling accident in March last year where it started going wrong. I dislocated my shoulder and did a lot of ligament damage but it turned out I also pinched a nerve as well. I got the shoulder back in and thought I would get going in a couple of weeks after. But I had a constant dead arm for about three months. It took a long time to get full movement back in it. All the muscle and everything went off it. It took a long time to get it right and get the movement and strength back into it.

It was so frustrating as I had winners three Sundays in a row before that, including by biggest winner, when Gallant John Joe won the Listed Whitesfurze Novice Hurdle at Naas. But that was all forgotten when I finally got back and the rides dried up.

Oliver McKiernan has been a great support but his horses are always a bit slow to come to hand. They need a run or two because he isn’t that hard on them at home. So that all contributed to it. But they are fit and healthy now and hopefully they can continue running well.

It was great to get an outside winner as well, for Liam Burke. That was very important. Things are tight, there are a lot of jockeys and there are lads in every yard. So to get an outside one was brilliant. You have to let people know you’re available and that you can do the job and Gary Cribbin, who has been my agent since the start, is working hard for me.

Gallant John Joe ran a cracker in Leopardstown and I am really looking forward to seeing him stepping up in trip. He loves good ground so hopefully there will be a nice race in him during the spring.

I couldn’t go any quicker early on. I rode him in his comfort zone. He stayed going the whole way but was never really getting to the front two, Notebook and Cash Back. They just had that extra gear. He is a big staying chaser really and you would imagine he will be stepped up to two-and-a-half or two-six the next day. Next year he will be a proper three-mile chaser.

I wouldn’t see him going to Cheltenham. He is quirky in his own ways. Travelling and big crowds might just get the better of him. So I would imagine Oliver will stay put. It took a long time to get his head right. He was a bit mad as a young horse. But he is looking good now.

He has given my win as a conditional. Swamp Fox in Galway was my biggest winner as an amateur in the Connacht Hotel Handicap for Joe Murphy. I turned conditional after that. Oliver had plenty of horses for the track and I was delighted to have signed on with him.

I am based with Oliver every morning. Oliver’s is only 20 or 25 minutes from the Curragh. I try to ride work and school for anyone I can. There is plenty of other smaller trainers there as well.

The Jam Man was my first ride for Ronan McNally. He is usually Sean Flanagan’s ride but Sean had to stick with Noel Meade. It was a good spare ride to get. He ran a cracker. I thought I was going to put it up to the winner, Treacysenniscorthy coming to the last but he just pulled out again. Ronan has a small string of horses that he does really well with.

Originally I just went to Oliver’s for a job riding out. I had an amateur licence at the time. He started throwing me up. My first ride for Oliver was actually a winner so I haven’t really looked back since then. But if I can pick up more outside rides to go with that, it would be great.

I am 28 now and I think that helps deal with whatever racing throws at you. I have been through it all a couple of times at this stage so I know how to manage it to a certain extent.

Meanwhile, Oliver is a big supporter of the local tracks, the likes of Naas and Punchestown. Hopefully we will be able to get a couple of more nice winners.