Jamie Powell

I'm from Kildare Town, just outside the Curragh and I turned 20 in September. I have a family background in racing - my dad and both my grandads were jockeys. My grandfather, Peadar Matthews, won a couple of Classics and my dad, Anthony Powell, won the Irish Grand National on Maid Of Money in 1989. I got into racing through the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE), actually. I had no racing background, as in riding, as I had never ridden racehorses or anything like that as a child. I sat on ponies a bit at a riding school as a child, but I had never sat on a thoroughbred or been in a racing yard and ridden racehorses until I was 16 or 17.

When I was really young, I always watched racing on the TV and then, once I started making a few friends, it was all about football and I lost interest in the horses completely. I kind of stopped watching racing as well. Jockey Robbie Dolan is my cousin and he went to RACE and then, when I started getting into horses, that's how I did it as well. He's having a great run in Australia now. Without RACE I would have had to have gone into a yard on my own with no experience to try and learn from there. It definitely would have been a slower process than it was. The people in RACE are very good and have plenty of experience. When you go into RACE, you are coming out of there ready to go and ready to work in a yard. I couldn't recommend it enough. When I went to RACE, I couldn't even tack up a horse so it was really from the bottom I was starting in there. If you had any question at all, anyone in there would know the answer. I learned plenty and it put me in good stead for when I was ready to go out to a yard then.

I got sent out to Patrick Prendergast from RACE and he and John Oxx had joined forces. Patrick thought it was better that I went to John Oxx's with a few of the horses because he was going to have limited numbers. I was in John Oxx's throughout my time in RACE and I took my apprenticeship out with him when I graduated. John Oxx is definitely one of the most influential men I've ever met. When I went in there, it was the first time I was riding proper racehorses as the ones in RACE were retired racehorses and a bit quieter. If I made a mistake, he was always there to tell you what you could have done differently, but at the same time not get onto you. He was great and he would build your confidence. Aside from that, he's an absolute gentleman as well. Outside of work, he was always there to give you a hand no matter what. He was definitely a really big influence on my career.

I was with John for a year, a year and a half, and then when he retired, he and (jockey) Niall McCullagh decided that it would be best for me to go to Johnny Murtagh's.

I had a few options for where I could have gone, but I remember Niall telling me that if you want to be a jockey Johnny Murtagh's is the place to be and that he would mould you into a good little rider.

A two-year-old (Threebagsfull) won his maiden for Johnny at Bellewstown (July 2021) and it was my first winner. I think I had 70/75 rides up until then so it took me a long time to ride a winner, but I was just delighted to get the first one. It was more relief than anything because it took so long. It just gives you the confidence to try and make a career out of it. At times you would doubt yourself when you haven't ridden a winner in that many rides. When you get the first one, then you know you can do it. It is about building on that. When you pass that line, it is the best feeling in the world. When you get that feeling the first time, all you want to do is get it again.

Johnny has ridden in all the big races on all the big days, so he knows what you could have done differently and he would tell you what he would have done. He knows riding inside out and he can read a race very well. If you come back in and ask him to watch a video with you, he will. Every time you ride for him you come out learning something new which is great when you are young and starting off. I've been in full-time with Johnny for a year and a half.

I've had a great year and plenty of outside winners, I think most of my winners have come from outside trainers. John Feane has been a great man for me as well. He has given me plenty of rides and I've ridden some nice big winners for him as well. The double at the Curragh in June (on Ano Syra in the Rockingham for Feane and Coumshingaun for Kevin Coleman) was absolutely great. I think that was kind of the springboard for the season. I had a quiet year up until then. That was my first double, so to do it on a weekend like that was great. It gets your name out there when you are riding winners on weekends like that. That was a really good day in my career. The best day of my career, by far, was when I had a treble in August. To do it up the Curragh is even better. It's a local track and that's when I really started to get into the swing of things. That was the highlight of the year so far.

It was a goal of mine coming into the year to try and get as close as I could down to the 5lb claim. Champion apprentice wasn't really on the cards with Dylan Browne (McMonagle), but getting the claim down (from 7lb) was kind of the goal and to get down to the 5lb claim is a great achievement. To ride 24 winners this year is great, I couldn't have asked for a better season and four or five premier handicaps adds the cherry on top. Hopefully next year we can build on that.

You always have to be striving to improve especially in this game. I'm going out to work for trainer Mark Newnham in Sydney. I'm going to ride a bit, but not plenty. I'm going to try and mind my claim a bit for next year. It's just mainly for the track work. I'll stay with Robbie (Dolan) for maybe the first week, Mark has an apartment for me out there. I'm going to ride in Ireland until the last day of the season. I fly out to Australia on the 7th (November), the day after the season ends. I should be back in early February in time to give the new season a crack. I think when I come back, I'm going to try and give the champion apprentice a go - there are so many good riders that are claiming so it will be hard, but I'll do my best.