Smithers on a high after 'unreal' strike rate in August

PETER SMITHERS is on cloud nine and so he should be. After all, his 50% strike rate from his first ten rides in August would've been well above any of his weighroom colleagues and is an achievement he says has him in dreamland.

"If you had said to me at the end of July that I'd ride five winners from my first ten rides the following month I wouldn't have believed you, unreal," the 26-year-old Monasterevin rider admits.

Having been brought up around horses Smithers' first taste of competitive action, like so many others currently riding in the professional ranks, came on the pony racing circuit when his rivals at the time included the likes of the Sheehy brothers, Mickey and Danny, and Rossa Ryan.

"I did a bit of hunting when I was younger and from there got into the pony racing."

Splashing Out (Eoin Griffin) got the ball rolling for Smithers last month at Wexford on August 7 before he went to Kilbeggan 24 hours later and played his part in the first treble of trainer Ciaran Murphy's career when scoring aboard Anodandawink.

That win saw his 7lb claim reduced to 5lb but it certainly didn't hold him back with a further three wins coming under his revised allowance.

Six days later at Tramore he found his way into the winners' enclosure courtesy of Simple Things (Philip Dempsey) before Kilbeggan yielded another winner a week later aboard Aidan Howard's Bhean Saibhre.

His fifth win of the month had favourite backers cheering him home at Ballinrobe on August 24th when Princess Felicia landed a handicap hurdle for Harry Kelly.

"If Harry ever brings horses to the Curragh I'd ride work for him and I'd school horses for the likes of Aidan (Howard) also and Jarlath Fahey and whoever else wants me to ride one at the Curragh as I'm usually around."

By his own admission, P.T. Smithers was a relative late starter to race riding but his exploits in August have him now just one behind his best seasonal tally registered last term.

With 28 winners in the bag now, things have started to motor in the right direction and Happy Jacky is a horse Smithers has a soft spot for and understandably why.

On the second start since joining Mark Fahey in June 2024 Smithers got the call up to ride the then 10yo gelding and, despite easing his mount down in the dying strides, just held on to score for the Monasterevin trainer.

"He was a lucky horse for me and I was lucky to get on him as they were looking for a claimer at the time. He got me going in 2024 and again last year. If he wasn't winning races he was getting placed most times."

Smithers managed to bag two wins on him in 2024 and added another brace the following year on the now 12yo, a ten-time winner who needed attention after his races.

"You always knew when you were riding him you went to the races with a chance. He doesn't go to the parade ring after his races and I usually jump off him when he pulls up as he needs a few buckets of water to be thrown over him due to overheating," added the conditional rider who also played his part with Cheltenham and Punchestown winner Saratoga last season.

"I ride Saratoga out every day. He's only back in a month or so and is only steady cantering away since he came back but he's in good old nick," revealed his regular work rider.

Saratoga followed his Cheltenham Festival handicap success last March with a career-best victory in the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle under Mark Walsh at Punchestown, a first Grade 1 success for his boss Padraig Roche.

"It was great for everyone working for Padraig and to get a Grade 1 winner in the yard was some training performance."

Smithers, older brother of conditional rider Conor, started working with Roche at just 18 and often gets help from his sibling who has bagged nine winners in the saddle this season.

"We get on very well with each other and will always be trying to help each other, chatting and giving advice about different races and horses and other things in races," says Smithers whose parents are both deceased.

Smithers who rode his first winner on Outside The Door for Padraig Roche in a handicap chase at Wexford in June 2022.

"We had a bit of luck on our side that day when left in front at the last but he was a good horse to me as I won another on him afterwards at Fairyhouse in 2024 and back in Wexford again last year."

Another man Smithers is indebted to is former seven-time champion jockey Christy Roche, father of Padraig, who spent 32 years in the saddle and enjoyed considerable success as a jumps trainer before handing the licence over to his son in 2018.

"Christy is out every morning and is a great help to me and the other riders, always giving you advice. He'd ring you most times after having a winner and would always be looking out for you. If you did something wrong, he'd let you know alright but his advice is always valuable."

Smithers had no intention of ending up a jump jockey as he initially set out on the flat and started his working life with Michael Halford until his weight started to rise.

"I worked with Michael after I left school and started riding thoroughbreds. He got me into racing but I was always going to be too heavy for the flat. I never really thought about jump racing until I went into Padraig's yard and it was only when I went in there and started schooling horses that I said I might as well give it a shot. I was late enough getting going, 22 in fact."

It hasn't all been plain sailing as is par for the course with jump jockeys and he spent time undergoing extensive physio with Gavin Ryan along with strength and conditioning coach Wayne Middleton after damaging vertebrae in his back 'a good while ago'.

"They were both very good to me after I damaged my back and do great work for injured jockeys in Ireland."

He knows the Curragh gallops like the back of his hand, facilities that have impressed Smithers since he started work riding there as a teenager. "They are second to none, the best around."

Not afraid to put himself out there coupled with his agent Gary Cribbin 'doing a great job', Smithers intends keeping his head down over the coming months to keep the winners flowing.

Peter Smithers was talking to Brian Fleming