I AM very much looking forward to the upcoming jumps campaign, where I will ride as stable jockey to trainer, Ben Pauling.

With the latter due to move into his new yard in the coming weeks, it is an exciting time for us all. With some really nice young bumper horses coming through and promising novices set to go hurdling/chasing, it is a great time to be involved.

Growing up in Athlone, I used to pal around with the Cleary family; so, my interest developed from there. Sean and Rory always had ponies around at home and I was fascinated from the very beginning.

After learning how to ride at Gerry Moran’s local riding school, I moved on to pony racing in my early teens. I enjoyed some good success during those years, riding plenty of winners along the way.

From there, I moved on to RACE where I was part of the class of 2008. As part of my work placement, I was sent out to Caroline Hutchinson on the Curragh. She was a great woman to work for, teaching me plenty during the time I was based in her yard. After she retired from training, I moved down to Paul Flynn, another big influence on my career.

Opportunities

One Friday morning, while in the lorry on our way to the Curragh, Paul asked if I wanted to go to the UK. He said that I would get far more opportunities over there and he could get me a job with Philip Hobbs if I was interested.

After riding work, we got back in the lorry and Paul turned to me saying “you start with Philip on Monday morning”.

Later that evening, he came to me and told me there had been a change – I was going to Charlie Longsdon instead. So, a week before Christmas, I got a lift over with a transport company and was dropped at Charlie’s yard!

As my licence had just expired in Ireland, I had to wait until January for my first ride because there were no courses run in Britain over the holidays. In the end, the wait proved worthwhile as I won on my very first ride in Britain; Be My Light at Huntingdon on January 26th, 2011.

In all, I rode six winners during my first season in Britain. The following campaign (2011/12), saw me hit 23 winners as I began to get noticed and pick up some outside rides.

After a slower third year, things really picked up again the following season with trainers such as Pam Sly using me more. The latter is a very shrewd, well-respected trainer, so her seal of approval prompted others like Alex Hales and Ben Case to use me as well.

Freelance

In 2015, I decided to go freelance although I continued to ride for Charlie whenever he wanted me. One summer, while living quite close to Graeme McPherson’s yard, I went in to ride out a morning a week. He then gave me a couple of rides on the track and after a few won he asked if I would ride all the stable horses.

I continued to ride for Graeme right up until he handed in his licence to join up with Fergal O’Brien in the new O’Brien-McPherson Racing partnership. Hopefully we will have plenty more great days together, as I am still very much a part of the new regime.

My association with Ben Pauling came about quite by chance, after I picked up a spare ride on Le Breuil at Kelso last year. The horse ran very well, so the trainer decided to leave me on him for the rest of the campaign.

Chris Broad, my recently retired agent and his successor, Gordy Clarkson, have been a huge help to me and they got me on a few more spares for Ben towards the end of the season.

After riding a few winners for the yard, I started riding out there one morning a week. During the summer, asked me if I would commit to riding all of his horses for the coming year.

Nice novices

It is a fantastic opportunity as we have plenty of nice novices from last year to go hurdling and chasing, as well as some unraced newcomers that have been pleasing us on the gallops. With the trainer set to move yards shortly it is a new chapter that we are all very much looking forward to.

The undoubted career highlight so far is Croco Bay winning the Grand Annual at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival. For every jump jockey, that meeting is the one you want to ride at; ride winners at. I’d love to get back into that winner’s enclosure in the coming years and hopefully have plenty more rides.

Last year, I rode over 400 horses and had 30 winners; the goal this season would be to increase the numbers and maybe even reach the 50-winner mark.

Aside from that, like every jump jockey, I just want to stay free from injury and enjoy a good campaign.

Kielan Woods was in conversation with John O’Riordan