Colum Polly

I'm a Downpatrick man born and bred and have lived here all my life. My first encounter with horses was through my late father Willie Polly taking me out to my uncle Frank Fitzsimon's stableyard in Vianstown which was actually in the middle of Downpatrick Racecourse. That was the place where my mother was born and reared. Frank, who was a brother of my mother, trained horses out there and we used to go out on a Sunday morning to see the horses and would have gone into what was called the home house for tea. My father bought a horse in the late 70s called Mountain Gale who Frank pre-trained and then sent him on to Noel Meade. He had a few wins, but I remember he wasn't a particularly good jumper! That's where my father first encountered Noel Meade. My dad also had a few point-to-pointers of no real note, and he had a horse with Jeremy Maxwell in his time and with Bunny Cox and with John Oxx to name but a few.

In 1989/90, my father got Noel Meade to purchase two half-decent horses for him for a bit of fun. And fun they were because Novello Allegro won 12 races and Lear Fantastique won six races. I remember those horses well as I would have been around 30 at that time. I regularly went to the races to watch them. They mainly ran in the south of Ireland around the likes of Leopardstown, Punchestown and Galway. They brought a lot of pride and joy to my late father at that time, and myself as well. As such, I've always held an interest in racing throughout my life.

Just after Covid-19, in 2020, I was approached by Richard Lyttle (Racecourse Manager at Downpatrick) to see if I would be interested in working in the jockeys' kitchen at the track. The role involved serving food to the jockeys, the officials, the stewards and the press etc. That's sort of how it came about and I did my first shift in March 2021, and I've been in Downpatrick ever since. I thoroughly enjoy the role, and I have a good rapport with all the jockeys, stewards and officials. I've got to know them all through the years. The likes of jockeys Sam Ewing, Sean Flanagan, Donagh Meyler and Darragh O'Keeffe among many others have a bit of banter with me. The one that keeps me going the most in the weigh room is Ricky Doyle. It is a very busy kitchen in Downpatrick. Wrap & Roll provide the food that is served to the jockeys. Over the years we have worked very closely with the jockeys and Jennifer Pugh (Chief Medical Officer, IHRB) has made recommendations in relation to nutrition for the jockeys. Catriona Kielty, who is the owner of Wrap & Roll, and I have worked over the last few years to try and provide what the jockeys should be eating. They are athletes and are on strict diets. Danny Mullins is very particular on what he eats, and he always keep me right! He's very welcoming. Pat Healy the racing photographer nicknamed me Dudley years ago after the actor Dudley Moore. He thought I was a Dudley Moore lookalike, so now all the jockeys call me Dudley this and Dudley that!

My nephew Philip Polly got involved in horses with Noel Meade and it is funny how the wheel turns full circle from my father's time to the present time. One of the first horses he bought with him was Pinkerton and you couldn't ask for a better start with winning the Galway Plate (in 2024). I get a great kick out of Philip's ownership, and he would class me as his 'racing manager'! I enjoy nothing more than he and I occasionally going down to Noel Meade's on a Tuesday or a Wednesday morning to see the horses and the staff and the work that goes on behind the scenes. Noel and Derville Meade, and Emma Connolly are lovely people. Helen Mooney, Noel's secretary in the office, is always very hospitable. We see the horses working first hand, we get a bit of breakfast, and we are up the road again by lunchtime. I love that craic. I watched Pinkerton winning the Galway Plate on television and I couldn't believe that he won. It was a huge thrill for Philip and his family and his mother who was present. I wasn't in Leopardstown when Affordale Fury won the Savills Steeplechase and when The Mourne Rambler won his bumper there last Christmas due to family commitments. I would have been the first person to congratulate Philip.

I was in Cheltenham this year to see The Mourne Rambler win the Champion Bumper, though. It wasn't my first time there as Novello Allegro took me to Cheltenham all those years ago. He went off second favourite for the Daily Express Triumph Hurdle in 1992 (finished 12th). I've been to Cheltenham quite a few times since then, but this was the first time I led in a Cheltenham Festival winner.

I flew over on the morning of the race and hired a car from Birmingham Airport to take me down to Cheltenham. I met Philip and the rest of his entourage in the enclosures. We were made aware about a fortnight prior that Noel had pulled off a coup to have Colin Keane ride the horse which was obviously mindboggling. Philip and his friends and I watched the race on the big screen in the parade ring. I can distinctly remember the celebrations and the roar when he hit the front. He won it very nicely and whenever he came back up the chute wee Emma Murray was leading him up on one side and Emma Connolly was on the other side.

Philip grabbed me and he said to me 'you and I are leading him in'. It was just a thrill and an honour to do such a thing. I took him into the winner's enclosure late on that afternoon and I was really very, very emotional as it brought back so many memories. To have a runner at Cheltenham is unbelievable, but to have a winner is just putting the icing on the cake. Someone threw Colin Keane an Ireland flag, and I just saw the smile on Colin's face. Riding that winner was maybe something on his bucket list that he wanted to do. Philip involves me a lot. He rang me yesterday and said I'm going down to watch The Mourne Rambler in Punchestown next Wednesday in the Champion Bumper all being well. I'm looking forward to that. He runs in colours similar to my father's old colours and Deccy Lavery, another Downpatrick connection, is due to ride him.

I'm only a very small cog in a big Irish racing wheel, but racing has given me a whole new lease of life, and I really enjoy what I do. I think racing is in a good place at the moment. If I go to meetings in the south of Ireland, I always try to go into the weigh room to see what the caterers are doing in some of the bigger establishments. Catriona and I would talk about that from time to time to see if there are areas we can improve upon. I know Richard was very much into distributing questionnaires for the jockeys to see if there was something that we should be doing that we weren't doing. Richard and Ruth Morrison (Racecourse Manager in Downpatrick) have done a marvellous job in Downpatrick, and they are always looking for new ideas. They are always putting packages together to try and improve things. I'd be very proud of the improvements in Downpatrick including to the track itself. Downpatrick is a unique track, I believe.

Colum was in conversation with Michael Graham.

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About Michael Graham

Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.

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