Watching Killarney on the TV last week had me reminiscing about the twenty plus years I spent on the racing circuit, travelling up and down the country reporting on the action.

The Travelling Circus of Irish Racing

I'm from Ballynoe, Co Cork and I rode plenty of ponies when I was younger. I had plenty of success pony racing and partnered 50 winners. I did two full seasons pony racing and plenty of lads that I rode winners for are now training on the track like Maurice Ahern and Aidan Melia, and they are doing very well at the moment which is great to see. I was champion jockey in Dingle in 2024, and I rode five winners for Maurice then. It was then nice to ride winners for him on the track. I rode a nice winner for him in Galway (Perry Mason, last October) and I rode a winner on one of the first days at the Curragh this season (Perry Mason, March).