Darragh O'Keeffe I was absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to ride my first winner for Enda Bolger on William Du Berlais at Killarney last week and then to follow it up again on him at Tipperary was brilliant. Enda, Frank Berry and Mr McManus were very good to give me that chance and I’m very grateful as opportunities like that are important because after that winner I started to pick up a few spare rides and that led to my first outside winner for Norman Lee on Doctor P’s Getaway on Tuesday. It is always a privilege to ride in the green and gold colours, for any young jockey to walk into a weighroom and know you are going to put on those colours is unbelievable really and a huge honour. Those colours would also draw the attention of other trainers to you as well which is obviously a help when you are trying to get going. I began in Enda’s on the 1st of October last year full time. I did a good bit of pony racing before that and my father and grandfather both rode in point-to-points so I was brought up around horses. I did a good bit of pony racing and my parents were a huge help to me driving me up and down the entire country and thankfully I got a good bit of experience and a good few winners doing that. When I was 17 then I took out my apprentice licence to ride on the flat with Johnny Feane on the Curragh but after about six or seven rides I just struggled with my weight so I decided to go jumping. It was a no-brainer then to join Enda. Enda was close enough to home and you just have to look at the jockeys that have passed through his gates and what they have gone on to do and it was the only place I wanted to go. The beauty about going to work every morning in Enda’s is that you don’t know what the day is going to bring. Every morning in Enda’s is different, you don’t know where you’ll go or do in terms of jumping the horses. Enda has a lot of seasoned handicappers and horses for the banks races but it is a real help having the young horses there too because anyone can ride the handicappers and as much as you are teaching the young horses they’ll teach you as well so it’s a great mix. Enda watching you is a big help and he won’t let you do too many things wrong and he has been exceptionally good to me since I started there. I went there to get experience and then when I got my licence I just wanted a few spins and it just took off from there. I’ve another ride at Limerick on Thursday on Jolly Maker so it’s great to get another chance in those colours and to have the right people behind me to tell me where I’m going right or wrong. I have only spoken to Frank Berry briefly at the races or when we take horses away for a morning's work but he was a top class jockey as well and you would obviously listen very carefully to any advice he would give you. I remember the morning I saw the declarations and that I was jocked up on Blue Templar in a banks race at Punchestown and I ran around the corner to pinch myself, I just couldn’t believe I was going to have my first ride for Mr McManus in a banks race there. I went up and walked the track and I wondered to myself would I even get around but thankfully we did and I had a willing partner in Blue Templar and he finished third so that was a great thrill. Donie McInerney does be in Enda’s a lot and he’d be good with advice and so would Mark Walsh when you’d look for it in the weighroom or when we are away riding work. It has been a good week or so now and hopefully we can just build on that. Garry Cribbin is helping me out there as well as my agent and Garry is a fierce nice fella and a top man at his job with a lot of the top lads so I’ve good people around me and hopefully I can keep taking the chance as they come my way.
