The job of a racecourse ‘clerk of the course’ should be relatively straightforward. A simplified version of their job spec is to ensure the provision of suitable ground conditions, check all rails and jumps are correctly aligned and presented and then sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the racing. But increasingly the first part of that job description has become something of a nightmare.

Take Fairyhouse last week, the ground was too firm a week out from the tracks’ biggest three days of racing of the year, so the clerk of the course sanctioned artificial watering to commence. That decision was taken after consulting with the available weather forecasts, but unfortunately the course received twice as much rain as had been forecast and we ended up with a situation where Saturday’s fixture had to be abandoned at short notice because parts of the track were waterlogged.

I'm from Kildare Town right on the Curragh. I was basically into boxing and I won a silver medal in the All-Ireland finals. I was always into fitness. At 14 years of age, I got suspended from school for saying something I shouldn't have to the vice principal. Dad came home early for lunch and told me I was going out to work with him in Kevin Prendergast's while I was suspended. My dad was Travelling Head Man for Kevin for 20-odd years. I would have preferred to be in work than school. A 14-year-old 40 years ago is like a 30-year-old now! I never went back to school and six months later Audrey O'Neill, Slim O'Neill's wife, came into the tack room out in Rossmore and said there's jobs for three guys in New Jersey working for a guy called Joe Imbesi. I put my hand up, 100 per cent, even though I had only been riding for four months. Audrey said to me that my father wasn't going to let me go at 14 in 1985. I got my passport and daddy said he wasn't holding me back as I was no good in school.