Nuggy© Photo Healy Racing
The positive reaction to my announcement that I would be conducting my duties as a jockeys’ valet for the last time at the Curragh on Friday has taken me by great surprise. It has been very humbling and lovely and has come from all different parts of racing. I appreciate it so much.
After 45 years and at 66 years of age, I think the time is right. But I will be finishing up with so many happy memories and while there were some tough days, when jockeys got badly injured or worse still in the most tragic of cases, I have enjoyed spending almost all of my adult life in this job.
Although I was born and raised in Kildare town, where I still live, I had no interest in or knowledge of racing. And to be absolutely truthful, even now, I still don’t. I don’t get into the racing itself. It’s the jockeys I work for and making sure they have what they need to do their jobs.
In those days when I started, a lot of lads used to just stand outside the track and wait to be called for work. It wasn’t something I was even thinking about when Tony McAuliffe asked me would I work for him in March of 1974. I was delighted. I needed a job and Wexford was the first meeting I did.
I had no idea what was involved though. I thought I would have to polish the jockeys’ boots. But there is a lot more to it than that! Who knew then I would get a whole career out of it though.
I started out with Dave Fox a few years later.
Wherever we have to travel to, we would be there approximately three hours before racing. Depending on where racing is, that can make it a very long day, but you have to be there early to unpack all the gear and be ready because the jockeys start coming in about an hour and a half before racing. Some come in because they may need the sauna, some are just early birds.
There are so many different aspects to it, different saddles and different boots. Flat jockeys mostly use the patent boots while the jump lads are mostly leather boots. If the jump lad is struggling to make the weight, he will go with the light patent boots.
When a jockey comes into me now, I have a fair idea of his weight. But they can be funny. Just because they have weight to play with, they might not want to use that all up with a saddle. They might go with something a little lighter and slip a lead cloth on. That way they’re giving the message that they have no issues with weight, even though that would still be the case if they went with a bigger saddle. But they want to make the right impression.
The winter is tough because it takes longer after racing to clean up all the tack. And you have to get up the next day to polish it before you leave for the next meeting. That’s where the festivals are handy, somewhere like Galway where you’re in the one place for a week.
I have done so many of the greats, like Mick Kinane, Frankie Dettori and Pat Smullen. We missed Pat in the weight room but it’s great to see him racing and in good health. I also did Aidan O’Brien in his point-to-point days. I did Ruby Walsh, Barry Geraghty. I did Lester Piggott, Steve Cauthen and Willie Shoemaker.
Willie Shoemaker had a size three foot and when he was in the old Curragh, he used to have to hop on the seat to put his jacket up on the peg.
Mick Kinane was one of the true greats. He was a professional. He just sat there, got his saddle, no messing. He was terrible easy to look after.
We had some great craic over the years and I love that. Liam O’Donnell was a great character in the old days. So was Gabriel Curran. Danny Mullins is one of the jokers in the pack now. You’d know he was Tony’s son. We are always slagging each other.
And Rory Cleary is another. He gives me a terrible time! I love it all the same.
I remember when Rory’s brother Seán died after a fall in Galway. That was only a few months after Kieran Kelly’s death from his injuries after a fall at Kilbeggan. They were horrible days, the worst. They were too lovely lads. Kieran used to call me Chicken Nuggy.
Mostly though, the memories are very positive. We had great days on the road. Well known photographer Pat Healy was a prankster from a young age. Myself, Brendan Keating and Aido Heffernan used to mind him for his father Liam and he would do a few odd jobs for us. One night I woke up and he was after putting traffic cones all around the bed. He was only 14 then.
Another time I went to go to bed in Galway after having a few scoops and there were two cement blocks at the bottom of the bed. Neville Ring put them in there.
I finish off in the Curragh tonight (June 7th) and it will be emotional but the work was just getting harder.
Getting a lifetime achievement award a few months ago and a variety of other presentations from various racecourses has been great. I didn’t expect that and it really does mean a lot.
I am grateful to them and to everyone who helped me over the years. Most of all I am grateful to the jockeys. Most of them were very easy to work with and we had some great laughs over the years. I will miss that and it will be emotional finishing up, but there are no regrets. We had a great time.
