LAST Wednesday week, Wrath Of Titans gave me my biggest success as a jockey, taking the Kerry National, the feature event of the Listowel festival. As a female rider I joined a select club, as prior to Katie Walsh’s win in the race two years ago, no lady jockey had ever been victorious.

I was born into racing, as my father Tommy [O’Neill] trains a few at home and I was surrounded by horses from a young age.

Like others before me, I rode ponies at first, but once you get that adrenaline rush after sitting on a thoroughbred there is no going back! Every chance I got, I was out in the yard or racing with dad, and my teachers weren’t too impressed when I regularly missed double English on a Wednesday!

I remember Dad went over to the Grand National one year and I watched the race live on TV; later that evening I built my own little replica fence out the back and jumped my pony over it.

Little did I realise back then that one day I would win a national as a jockey.

After finishing secondary school I did a European Studies and Languages course for a year, then went on and completed the Irish National Stud programme.

I then spent an invaluable three months in the US where I rode trackwork at Churchill Downs.

Next I spent a season at Jackdaws Castle with Jonjo O’Neill – a great place to work and so many wonderful people. When I came back to Ireland I firmly set my sights on becoming a jockey. I was under no illusions as to how difficult the career would be, but had been inspired by both Nina [Carberry] and Katie [Walsh] who were a couple of years ahead of me. My dad gave me a few rides on the track and I spent some time with Jim Dreaper, who is a great man to train jumpers.

FIRST WINNER

My first winner on the racecourse came at the most unlikely of venues, Newton Abbot. I was invited over as part of an Irish girls team in a challenge against our British counterparts and won the contest on a horse named Vintage Fabric, trained by Nigel Hawke.

At that stage, I had had upwards of 95 rides without a win and was beginning to question if I could make it as a jockey. Two weeks later I won the Ladies Derby at the Curragh, on Mon Champion for Pat Flynn, and that really set the ball rolling for me.

By 2013, despite enjoying success in the saddle, I found myself at a crossroads and was unsure what lay ahead career wise. After speaking to Richard Pugh he advised me to go and ask Gordon Elliott for a job and I can honestly say that was the best decision I ever made. The latter has a huge training operation and great staff and I love being part of the team. I ride out every morning and also help Zoe Winston in the office. Aside from those two roles, I also pre-train some of the stables horses when they come in off grass, before they return to training.

It was such a fantastic feeling to be able to give something back by riding such a high profile winner in Listowel. Wrath Of Titans was one of the leading fancies for the race and I felt so confident after both Gordon and Mr. O’Leary put their faith in me.

The closer we got to the race, the more people appeared to fancy his chances, possibly being a lightweight on very heavy ground. Gordon was very upbeat and positive and that in turn made me believe we had a real possibility of winning.

Fortunately, everything went to plan during the race itself and I joined Katie in that elite club.

Shortly after the race I was on the phone to my dad – always the first person I call no matter what the outcome. He is very straight talking and tells me exactly how I did. I usually have to listen to what I did wrong and how things could have been different, but this time he was full of praise! My whole family have always been very supportive of me and that definitely makes a difficult job so much easier. You need a lot of support behind you in such a tough game and Liz Doyle, who was a top class lady rider herself, has also been very good to me over the years.

Female jockeys are reaching new heights at the present time, especially in national hunt racing where Rachel Blackmore has set the bar higher than ever before. Hopefully her success since turning professional and the big race wins of Nina, Katie and myself last week will inspire a new generation of female riders.

Lisa O’Neill was in conversation with John O’Riordan.