LAST season was a personal best for me, both in terms of winners ridden and overall mounts.

Since moving to Newmarket two years ago, I have enjoyed a new lease of life, so much so, that I am really looking forward to the upcoming flat campaign.

Prior to the stoppage, I had already reached 20 winners, so granted some luck in the second half of the year, I should be on course to post a career high.

Hailing from Kildare town and a family steeped in racing, I was probably always destined to become a jockey. There are six boys and one girl in all, with three of the lads having paved the path before me.

My oldest brother David, who rode as an apprentice in Britain for Paul Cole, is the one who had the biggest influence on me early on. As I am the youngest, there is quite a gap between us, so I was around 12 or 13 by the time he really got going. I used to watch him on TV all the time.

Whether it was alone or with friends, I never missed a local meeting at the Curragh. My father was in the army but he rode out for John Oxx snr in his youth, while two of my brothers were based in the UK with Stan Moore and Mick Channon respectively. It is somewhat surprising that I never even sat on a racehorse until I was 16.

The older I got, the more of an interest I took in horses, so after completing my Junior Certificate, I left school. My best friend and myself decided to apply to RACE, with both of us accepted for the 2003/04 year.

Hard work

I was sent out to Declan Gillespie for my placement - hard work but a steep learning curve. When I arrived in the yard I couldn’t even ride a horse so Declan had his work cut out.

At the time, I felt he was quite hard on me giving me regular bollockings but in hindsight he was right. Coming from the Jim Bolger academy, he was real old school in that respect and what I learned in that time has stood to me since.

I had three rides for the stable towards the backend of 2004, more for the experience than anything else. Declan called me into the office one morning to tell me he was retiring from training so I moved on to a new role as an apprentice with Paul Deegan. He hadn’t held a licence very long but had made a bright start to his career so needed more jockeys.

Although Chris Hayes and Willie Supple also rode for Paul, I had plenty of success, including an Irish Lincoln win on Big Robert [2010]. However, the operation got very big almost overnight going from 30 to nearly a 100 horses.

Paul moved to a new base in Frances Crowley’s old yard and I wasn’t getting as many rides as Gary Carroll was also an apprentice there.

In 2009, I left in order to further my career and Willie McCreery asked me to come work for him. I really put my head down and grafted that 2010 season, going racing and leading horses up when I wasn’t riding. For his part, Willie was very good to me, giving me plenty of opportunities as acknowledgement of the effort I was putting in. He, too, was only getting going as a trainer but he showed tremendous faith in putting me up on some really nice horses.

At the end of the season, I was approached by Mouse O’Ryan and Tony Gorman about the prospect of going over to Richard Hannon as an apprentice. To be honest, I didn’t have to think twice about it, I had my bags packed the following day.

Too good

From reading the racing press, I was aware that Richard had winners almost every day, so the chance to ride for the yard was too good to turn down. Willie wasn’t too pleased with me leaving as he felt I was just getting going in Ireland and had a realistic shot at the apprentices’ title in 2011.

I think we fell out for about a week but soon made up and have remained close friends ever since! I go in and ride out in his yard whenever I am home and have ridden for Willie in Britain when Billy Lee wasn’t available.

While I never had a moment’s hesitation about linking up with Richard Hannon, it actually went better than I could ever have imagined. On just my second ride for the yard he put me up on a horse for the Queen, a real statement of intent in supporting the new kid in his care.

From then on, he continued to leg me up on some real nice horses, always supportive of me as a rider. I can honestly say he never once shouted at me during all the time we worked together. From my arrival in 2011 until 2015, Richard Senior was the boss, then his son Richard took over the licence.

After the highs of 2011, backed up by solid returns in subsequent seasons, I only rode eight winners in 2014. Feeling I had to prove myself all over again, I changed my agent to Nicky Adams, a man who has since done tireless work on my behalf.

I continued to ride for the Hannon stable up until 2018 when I took the decision to move to Newmarket. During a seven-year stay at East Everleigh Stables I rode some brilliant horses like Olympic Glory, Sir Prancealot, Lilbourne Lad and Sky Lantern coing to mind. A fresh challenge can often reinvigorate a jockey, so when the opportunity to ride for John Gosden came about I jumped at the chance.

Operation

I am based full-time with John Gosden now, riding out in the yard every day. The scale of the operation is like nothing I have seen before, with incredibly well-bred animals that are in a different league.

John is an absolute gentleman to work for; real old school. He served his time with Vincent O’Brien and is unquestionably one of the leading trainers in the world at the present time. Talking of which, I also got to ride for Aidan O’Brien last year, something I was very proud of.

In my first season in Newmarket I rode 69 winners, a personal best at the time; I beat that by two [71] in 2019, so this year I am hoping to continue the improvement.

Working in such a big yard there are plenty of opportunities so if I can stay injury free I should have very chance of reaching 70 plus. With three or four meetings most days in Britain, Frankie and Rab [Havlin] have to pick and choose where they ride, so we will all get chances.

Last season I rode the subsequent Oaks [Anapurna] and St Leger [Logician] winners to their maiden successes. It is a real privilege to be tasked with riding such high class horses on the track as well as riding work on those at home.

Roaring Lion was one of the best horses I sat on and while I never had the opportunity to ride him in a race, he was an amazing talent.

Having the chance to ride in some big high-profile races has been incredible; even if it is mostly on pacemakers. We have seen in recent years that on the odd occasion such horses have gone on to win at the highest level so it’s certainly a dream going forward. I had over 750 rides in 2019, so touch wood everything is going well.

My mom Anne has to get a special mention as without her I wouldn’t be where I am today. It was her that got me up out of bed as a teenager to drive me into Declan Gillespie’s in the mornings for work.

In some ways, I do this for her, as she has been a real inspiration pushing me forward at times when I didn’t see the end of the journey. Hopefully over the coming years I can continue to do both her and the rest of my family proud by riding plenty more winners and maybe tasting success at the highest level.

Kieran O’Neill was in converstation with John O’Riordan