M J Doran Being involved in a Melbourne Cup winner was an incredible experience, an experience of a lifetime, and one that I was quite literally very lucky to have. I’m working with Joseph O’Brien for about six months now and when I got the late call up to travel to Melbourne with Rekindling I said yes straight away to Joseph and despite getting a bit homesick after a few weeks down there, it couldn't have ended up being any better. Mickey Butler rides Rekindling out every day at home and looks after him seven days a week but unfortunately for Mickey he just had an issue with a visa and couldn't get down so I was just thrilled to get the opportunity. The horse settled into Melbourne perfect and didn't lose a lot of weight on the journey down so we were very happy with that. Mark Power would talk to Joseph on the phone every morning and Mark would tell me and Shay, who was riding US Army Ranger, what we were doing and it was all fairly simple really. The horse actually put on a bit of weight down there and we wondered if we were doing enough with him or not but it worked out in the end anyway. The owners, Lloyd and Nick Williams are obviously the biggest in Australia but are really nice people and looked after us so well, as did Racing Victoria who go above and beyond to look after us but it can get tough down there. The days are much longer than at home because you only have one horse to look after and although we went around Melbourne and looked at a few things in the first couple of weeks, by week three we were looking forward to getting home… although by Melbourne Cup night we didn't mind staying a bit longer! It was hard to believe how well things worked out for Rekindling in the Melbourne Cup. In fairness to Mickey Butler, he’d be sending snapchats when the horse was still at home and getting ready to leave and he’d be saying ‘The Melbourne Cup winner’ and things like that but you could never honestly think that you’d go down there and win but I suppose we definitely did think that if he brought his best form down there that he’d be at least a potential top four finisher. I watched the race with Christopher Geoghegan, who was down there with Aidan’s, and Mark, and Christopher would say to me look at Johannes Vermeer and how well he was going but I was just fixed to our lad and I said “look at Rekindling” and then when he turned into the straight I have to admit that myself and Mark probably lost it a bit and gave him a good cheer to the line but it was dream come true sort of stuff to be honest. I’ve never been at a race meeting with an atmosphere like it and the crowd was just extraordinary. It was some achievement by Joseph to get the horse there in such good form after a long enough season. Growing up there was always horses at home, my father would have horses and my sister, Martina, would have trained a few and we always had them here but after spending four or five years with Noel Meade and then moving to Paul Nolan, I ended up on the buildings with my father. It was something I was always going to give a go to but racing is what I know and love and the building just wasn't for me so Alan Dobbs was going to Joseph’s one morning to start and I said I’d go with him and I haven’t looked back since. When I was in Noel’s I was riding out with the likes of Nina, Paul Carberry, Slippers Madden, Jason McKeown, Denis O’Regan and you were riding some quality horses and I was lucky enough to win on a few for Noel as well but there was always good horses around and you’d learn so much and Joseph’s is very similar now. There’s a lot of horses in Piltown but Joseph has installed a great system and everyone knows what they are doing when they go in in the morning and it just goes like clockwork and good trainers will always make it look so simple. I really enjoyed my time with Noel and when I moved to Paul (Nolan) he had no amateur at the time and I just felt it was a good move to make and I’m delighted to be back in the game now with Joseph. A Galway Hurdle winner and a Melbourne Cup winner in a few months and he’s only 24. He’s a very easy man to work for and you would see a lot of similarities between himself and Noel although they would have very different gallops. When you rode a good horse in Noel’s you’d know he’d win a bumper and it’s the same in Joseph’s. Rekindling is enjoying his holiday in Australia now and he really thrived when he was down there getting ready for the Melbourne Cup so I’m sure with the sun on his back he’ll enjoy the break but we’ll look forward to seeing him back in the yard and how he does next year but we are back and well settled in again. It’s good to be back all the same and riding five or six lots on these cold mornings. There’s a lot to be said for it! I’m about an hour and a bit of a drive from Joseph’s in the morning but I don’t mind it at all, it’s what I love to do and you’ll always be learning in this game. Someday I might considering going training myself, it is something I’ve had at the back of my mind, but not for a while yet. Rekindling was one of the first big winners I ever led up and it was great to be apart of that history and hopefully there’s a lot more to come. Look at what Aidan has done this year and Joseph then and Irish racing in general, it is the best in the world and long may that continue.
