Ronan Whelan My aim at the start of every season is to try and better my tally from last year and try to up the quality of horse I am riding and thankfully I’ve had a nice total of winners so far and got a few Group winner as well. Skitter Scatter was my big winner so far this season and her aim is for the Group 1 on Champions Weekend and that would really top it all off for me. She’s been rock solid all year and I look forward to riding her again. I rode her all wrong in Naas and she probably didn’t get the respect she deserved after that. Back at the Curragh then I was a bit too forceful on her and the step up to 7f on her has helped me relax on her and give her a chance and she has improved for that. Of the Irish fillies she looks the best but the English form looks solid so we’ll respect those fillies coming over. The significance of winning the Group 2 Debutante Stakes was unreal. It was a realyl big deal and I could only imagine what it would be like if you were to go and win a Group 1 on Irish Champions Weekend and how important that would be for your career. Patrick Prendergast has been very, very good to me since my apprentice days and he is as good as any trainer in Ireland. It’s great for him to have a filly like Skitter Scatter to be able to hold on to and show what he can do. To be able to repay him is the icing on the cake. He has had faith in me to throw me up on everything for the last few years. I’m in Jim Bolger’s every day apart from a Wednesday and I’ll be there 10 years in October so I’m part of the furniture, but there’s worse places you could be a part of the furniture. Mr Bolger is very good to me and very accommodating to let me off to ride work when I need to. He has fantastic staff down there and they are a huge help to me as well. If I’m riding work on the Curragh before I go on to Mr. Bolgers the staff would help me out and have my lots tacked up for me which is brilliant and I’m very thankful to them, and to the boss for letting me off. There is no doubt that there are plenty of lads working down there that would be well able to train in their own right — they are great people to learn the trade off. I’ve been riding for a nice spread of different trainers this season and that is important. The Fahey’s have always been very good to me though and riding Sea The Lion in the Ebor for a Jarlath was a great thrill as he is owned by my parents. Sea The Lion has been a breath of fresh air for me really. Skitter Scatter and horses like that are the business end of things whereas Sea The Lion has been a bit of fun. The weekend Mam and Dad had in York with the Fahey’s is something that they wouldn’t be used to and it has just given us nothing but good times. We decided after the Ebor that he’d finish up for the year and take it easy before having a couple of runs and going back for the Ebor again next year. It’s worth £1m next year so it would be rude not to go back! Last year I had 28 winners for the whole year and at this stage I’m on 33 already. If you had told me at the start of the year that I’d have 33 for the entire year I’d have taken both hands off you! The sportsman in you would always leave you thinking about the few that got away and you could always do better but that is just the nature of the beast. If you want to always be improving you’ve got to be a bit like that. I’m very thankful where I am now. I look around the weighroom and I see plenty of lads that are better riders than me and aren’t having half the success. I’m just appreciative of what I’ve got really. I’ve been very luck to experience a Royal Ascot winner on Jennies Jewel a couple of years ago. The timing of that winner in my career and the fact that it was for Jarlath Fahey means that it’ll be hard to match, even though it was a handicap. But if I was to get a winner on Irish Champions Weekend I think it would be a huge thing for my career going forward. Willie Supple and Gordon Power are a big help to me going through races with me and I feel I’m on the edge of getting to the next level. If I was to do it on a stage like Irish Champions Weekend it could be just what is needed. Skitter Scatter is obviously the one I’m most looking forward to but Mick Channon isn’t afraid to come over here and he could have a few runners. He’s never looked past me and you just wouldn’t know what might pop up in the handicaps. It’s a great weekend in Irish racing to be part of and hopefully it’ll cap off an already memorable season for me.
