Nina Carberry© Photo Healy Racing
When I drove into Ballinrobe last week I knew it was good to be back but the winner certainly made it even better and to have three winners from my first four rides back is great and I’m just very grateful to Noel Meade, who has always been very good to me, and to Gordon who is also going to support me.
Coming back I wasn't sure what way it was going to go, to be honest. Noel has been good to me all the way along and provided me with a couple of nice horses to come back with and that makes it a lot easier.
I suppose my longest lay off for injury would have been five or six weeks so when I stopped back in November it was a bit more challenging! When I stopped racing I stopped everything, so I wasn’t riding out or racing and at first I didn't really know what to do with myself.
I started to do a little bit of work for the Coolmore National Hunt Sires and that side of things was really interesting and that was good for me. I got to know the Coolmore stallions inside out and got to go to a lot of point-to-pointing but obviously it was a drastic stop to what I was used to and it did take a little while to adapt.
Returning to racing wasn’t something I was certain would happen when I stopped - I hadn’t or couldn't really make my mind up - but once Rosie came along and everything went well, it was a quick four months between Rosie arriving and getting back to riding out and my Mum has been a fantastic help to me in all of that. It’s still all coming to hand a bit but Rosie is happy and that’s the main thing. It’s nice to be back but everything will be done to suit Rosie not to suit me, that’s for sure!
One thing I didn't really think about before I came back was where I’d be going racing! I rang Noel for a horse last Saturday and he just said; “Do you want to go to Ballinrobe?” and I said I would. But trips to Ballinrobe, Downpatrick and Roscommon wouldn’t be the handiest to get to now from Tipperary but I’m certainly not complaining.
Noel actually asked me to ride a horse in Roscommon three weeks ago but I just wasn't ready, it was a bit early, but at least it worked out well.
Even when I made the decision a couple of years ago to leave Noel’s to move to Ballydoyle, Noel was very supportive of me and totally backed the decision. It was a difficult one for me because I really enjoyed working with Noel but he thought it was a good move for me because I needed to learn more about the flat and I’m in the right place for that now.
Ballydoyle is an unbelievable place to work, you can be on the most expensive horses in the world one lot and then another one similar comes along next lot. It’s incredible. And then every year you have a new bunch coming along and it’s very exciting to be apart of that. Obviously that is very different to the National Hunt game where you grow so fond of the old favourites whereas these horses move on quite quickly but it’s refreshing and totally different and I enjoy it.
It is amazing to learn off Aidan as well. He’s an unbelievable manager. How he manages both people and horses is great to watch, he has everything so organised and I’ve learnt a lot off him that way. His work ethic is just non-stop and it’s great to be there and to be able to witness all of that happening on a daily basis and that’s why I came back I suppose.
One thing I didn't do before I decided to come back was look at the fixture list for handiness to home because I’ve been to Ballinrobe, Downpatrick and Roscommon and they are not exactly local! I’m just joking really, it’s great and I wouldn’t swap it.
I returned to Ballydoyle two weeks ago and my fitness isn’t too bad - I’m getting there, slowly but surely! It is a very exciting time of year at Ballydoyle too and Saxon Warrior was a very impressive winner at Naas on Sunday and it’ll be fascinating to watch him progress through the winter into a three-year-old next year. It’s a great learning curve down there.
It was hard missing racing in general but Cheltenham was one meeting you’d miss. Being over there and not able to take part on our biggest stage and missing out on the action wasn't easy but I certainly wasn’t complaining, I was very lucky to have a good reason to be missing out for. Punchestown was another, they are two tracks and Festival’s that I love, but I’m back now so hopefully I don’t have to worry about that anymore!
Noel has a nice bunch of young horses to run and obviously Gordon has Jamie Codd and Lisa O’Neill there as well but he said there should be a few opportunities so hopefully we’ll be able to pick up a few more winners with a bit of luck.
