Last weekend’s racing action was a real shot in the arm for the sport following the previous week’s drugs raid. Performances like A Plus Tard, Bob Olinger, Bravemansgame, Buzz and Hollow Games - 11/1 the accum for the after-timers - show why horse racing, and in particular National Hunt racing, is such a wonderful sport and spectacle.

I’m from Ballyboughal in north Co Dublin and, although my own family weren’t into horses, just a mile up the road a man called Tommy Stafford had ponies and that was the starting point for me. I used to regularly go up to Stafford’s after school and it became like a second home to me. I began riding horses and point-to-pointers there and started to go out hunting with the Ward Union and the Fingal Harriers. Tommy’s son Paul is a trainer and I’ve ridden plenty of winners for him over the years.