Jody Townend What unfolded in Galway on Monday evening, when I won the Connacht Hotel Handicap on Great White Shark, still hasn’t sunk in properly yet. I don’t think it will hit me until I get home and sit on my own bed to think about it, and meet the rest of the family. None of them were there. As everyone knows now because of my interview straight after, my brother Paul had already gone home. He got some slagging for that. The photographer, Liam Healy rang him straight away and said, ‘Paul, your sister is after doing a great interview here and she’s after hanging you out to dry!’ They were all in the Curragh nine days earlier when I was riding Royal Illusion, who was the favourite in the Ladies Derby. We finished fourth but they lost faith in me after that! I am joking about the family not having faith in me of course but it is something else for someone like Willie Mullins to put the faith in you to leg you up on a horse that has a chance, especially in a big race like that at Galway. Of course when they’re trained by Willie, they always have a chance. He doesn’t run them for the craic. He’s a great man to be riding for. Great White Shark had a wicked light weight and she was doing a fair bit of good work at home so we were definitely hoping for a good run. It was only my fourth ride back after my adventure that led to being on the sidelines for nine months. We were schooling in October and the horse stepped at a hurdle. She didn’t even land on me but when I got up to get out of the way of the horses coming behind, as soon as I moved I knew I was in trouble. I went to Kilkenny for x-rays and they showed I was after wedging one of my vertebrae into my spinal cord. So they sent me to Waterford for an MRI. From there, I was transferred to Dublin for an operation. The fall happened on a Wednesday and I’d the operation on the Friday, where they put in six screws and two rods to stabilise it. I was grand then until February, when I went back riding out. I was getting awful pains down my right leg. My back started weeping and a little stitch came out. So they had to open it up and wash it all out in March. I rode out one lot after that and I was in terrible pain for a week. At this stage, where they operated blew up. It burst when I went to the hospital. It was rotten! It had gotten completely infected and antibiotics weren’t working because the infection was on the metalwork. So they took that all out. The problem then though was that because the infection was on the metal, it had passed into the bone so it was in my spine. So I was on a drip of antibiotics for six weeks. There were a few long days and long nights in that I can tell you, but we came out the other side. And the metal had been in there long enough to do the job it was intended for — that was always going to come out anyway and I have been fine since. To be back riding pain free after all that was great. To win what is such an important race for amateur jockeys is just unbelievable. It is amazing to think that Paddy (Mullins) has never won it and he’s won everything, including Grade 1s over fences and hurdles. Willie was giving him a bit of a slagging. “Was that the GPT trophy that Jody was holding the other day in that picture?” And Paddy turns around and says, “Sure how would I know what it looks like?” You have to have the banter, don’t ya? There was no plan. Willie just said, “See how you jump out of the stalls and go from there.” We went a fair gallop down to the dip, with everyone wanting a position but then it slowed up completely. When we jumped she wasn’t travelling that great but I didn’t want to give her a squeeze and set her alight because she can be quite free. So I sat and took my time and thank God it worked out. There were only three or four behind me going into the dip the last time but we were all in a bunch anyway so I wasn’t that far behind the leader. Once she felt herself passing one or two at all, she took off. She hit the hill to be fair to her. All I remember after we passed the line was looking down and saying, “Did that actually just happen?” I am in Willie’s from Monday to Thursday. You have Ruby Walsh, Paul, and Danny and David Mullins — riding out with them is unreal and you’d have to learn. I just watch them but they wouldn’t be long telling you either! It has been great watching Paul do so well over the years and I was delighted when he won the Gold Cup and his second champion jockeys’ title. Having him just next door in the weigh room was great too when I was starting out. Not everyone has that. As he said on Tuesday, he gets more nervous watching me ride than any race he’d be involved in himself. Maybe that’s why he left early on Monday! There were always horses at home in Lisgoold. My dad Tim is a trainer. My uncle Bob was a jockey and so was my first cousin Davy Condon before he got injured. He now works for Gordon Elliott. But Paul was the obvious role model. I’m 21 now and am fully committed to pursuing this as a career. It’s working out alright so far anyway. I rode my first winner on my first ride in a point-to-point in Grennan four years ago, when I was 17 and rode my first winner on the track for my dad, Tim last year. That was a great thrill. I was obviously hoping Paul would win the jockeys’ title last season but it was something else seeing Rachael Blackmore pushing him so hard and riding so many winners at the very highest level. That is something else for girls coming through, to see that there are opportunities and that it’s about whether you can ride or not, not whether you’re a girl or a boy. She has set the bar so high, she is exceptional but it makes me think, if Rachael can do, why can’t I?
