SHANE Foley is the product of a racing school. Make that two in fact.

RACE is the obvious one, the famed academy in Kildare town that provides training to a wide range of racing hopefuls, including jockeys.

However, Foley had been well indoctrinated by the time he enrolled there as a 16-year-old that had just completed his Junior Certificate in Good Counsel College, New Ross.

Having grown up in a house devoid of any equine interest, the path of his life took a massive turn when he started secondary school. Good Counsel is renowned as something of a GAA nursery but it has produced its fair share of people besotted by and making a living from racing too.

Record-breaking trainer, Aidan O’Brien went there. So too the likes of jockey Tom O’Brien, former jockey and current Jim Bolger-employee Tom Doyle, and Punchestown manager, Richie Galway. Pilots past and present, Matthew O’Connor, M.J. Doran and Seán Flanagan were contemporaries of Foley’s and he learned to ride on his friends’ ponies.

His interest was piqued but that he caught the bug completely is attributable to a teacher who shares a name with one of Good Counsel’s famous past pupils. He is a renowned football coach who managed Wexford for a couple of seasons but it was a love of racing he fostered in his students.

“The school was actually kind of a racing school - I know that might sound strange - but there was a teacher there, Aidan O’Brien was his name, and he’s the vice-principal now. He’s big into racing. We actually went to Aintree on a school tour. We got to visit Ballydoyle.”

It sure makes a change from Dublin Zoo.

There was hurling and soccer growing up too but racing took hold. RACE sent him to Michael Halford’s as a 17-year-old and he learned his trade, growing stronger all the while. Around this time he rode a bit of work for ‘Dusty’ Sheehy too and inherited the trainer’s nickname as a result.

When he was ready for the pony-racing circuit, he excelled, with Adrian Browne a key supporter. He signed on as an apprentice with Halford as a 19-year-old and has been a key member of the operation since.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t gone there,” states Foley of the fortune in being placed with the Doneany handler. “I worked hard and I always have done but I was lucky enough to get the breaks. The boss showed a lot of faith in me down the years when I went from apprentice to jockey. Thank God it’s worked out and it’s been good.”

He watched and learned from Johnny Murtagh and with Ciaran O’Toole as his agent, established relationships with other trainers. Tom Hogan provided him with the mount on Spinning Wings to win the Derrinstown Stud Apprentice Derby in 2009.

He formed an alliance with Jessica Harrington too. In 2010, the three-pound was on board as subsequent Group 1 victor, Pathfork won a maiden. He struck up a lucrative partnership too with another Commonstown Stables inmate Bob Le Beau, with the pair successful on four occasions.

A first group success followed in the Phoenix Stakes on board the Halford-trained Snaefell on August 8th and the graph was moving steadily upwards. But it all came to a shuddering halt when Foley fractured his ankle and collarbone 17 days later at Bellewstown.

“It was frustrating at the time. I was after being second in the apprentice title for two years in a row and it looked like I was going to be maybe champion apprentice that year. I was going all guns blazing for it but that put an end to that.

“Plus, I was supposed to ride (future Racing Post Trophy winner) Casamento first time out the following day (when he won in Tipperary). That was the bigger hit, if anything.

“I came back out of it and I’ve been lucky enough to stay injury-free since. That was the worst I had and touch wood, there hasn’t been anything since.”

SCARS

The return wasn’t as straightforward as all that though. While the ankle and collarbone mended, the scars remained. They were of a more mental variety but there was salvation in the form of Caroline Hutchinson.

The Monasterevin-based physical and emotional therapist is a former jockey and trainer herself and Foley had ridden winners for her in the past.

Hutchinson only handed in her trainer’s licence earlier that year to focus on her new occupation. It was a blessing for Foley that she did.

“A lot of the time your body can be right and your head doesn’t be; you haven’t ridden for a while and sometimes you can question yourself and doubt yourself. I found Caroline good and she was easy to talk to. She’s determined and she just drives a positive message into you.”

After only a second treatment at the end of October, Hutchinson told him he was ready to take the medical. He passed and was riding the following week at Dundalk. The winners came quickly and the all-weather has been a very happy, hunting ground since.

While this season, his best strike-rate is at Leopardstown, where he’s five for nine, his 25% return from 16 rides at Dundalk is notable. In all, he has enjoyed victory on 90 occasions in the last five seasons at the Co Louth track.

“I don’t think there’s any knack as such. The boss’s horses excel up there and that’s what I would put it down to. It’s been a lucky track for me. We have a lot of good ground horses and when the soft ground comes in Ireland, the boss likes to send them there.”

It has been a lightning start to the current campaign with Foley in the vanguard of the race for second with Colin Keane, Kevin Manning, Wayne Lordan and Fran Berry, as Pat Smullen disappears into the sunset. The numbers are good but so is the quality. Raydara disappointed when fading in the 1000 Guineas on Sunday but it has emerged since that she was in season.

“It was her first run. We would have loved to have a run under our belt. She had a bad draw and was a bit keen early doors but she just didn’t finish as well as we thought. But we needed to get her out. It was her last chance of a classic but she’ll come on for it and we’ll see a different filly the next day hopefully.

“Toscanini was very good in Navan, he has a lot of potential. And Hasanour, who won the handicap the other day could be a horse that’s well enough treated. We had a couple of two-year-olds that ran well over the weekend. I know they’re in the Godolphin colours but James Doyle won’t always be over. We have some lovely horses to look forward to.

“There’s plenty of unraced horses there too. We have a couple of nice horses to fire but the ground hasn’t been right for us for the last six weeks but we’ll have a lot more runners over the next couple of weeks. I think anything that ran last weekend was in the first three apart from Raydara. They all ran well in competitive races.”

His most exciting prospect doesn’t reside in Copper Beech though. Success Days is trained not too far away by Ken Condon in Rathbride and with Foley in the plate, has lived up to his name with an unblemished record from three public appearances this term. Those wins include the Ballysax Stakes and Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial.

“It’s just about winning on horses, getting a bit of luck and getting your foot in the door. My first ride for Ken was Bold Thady Quill in Bellewstown (five years ago) and I won on him. I was claiming at the time and he used me quite a bit for my claim. We developed a partnership and get on well together.

“It’s like everything, it has to start somewhere, but you’re looking to get a foot in the door and if they take a liking to you then, you’re sorted. You have to take every opportunity with two hands. Sometimes it won’t come around again. It doesn’t always work out. Some trainers you’re lucky for and some trainers you’re not lucky for but that’s just the way it goes.”

The 27-year-old would love to beat his best tally of 61 winners set in 2012 but if he had a choice between that and bagging a first Group 1, he might plump for the latter. Needless to say, if that Group 1 was a classic, there would be no time wasted weighing up the two options.

“I had myself half-prepped to win a classic (last Sunday) but I was just thinking positive. That’s what it’s all about. They’re the races you want to be winning. We had a winner on the day and the horses are running well but the big races are the ones you want to be winning.

“So it was a bit disappointing after the Guineas but there are more disappointing days than good days in racing and you have to just take it on the chin and live to fight another day.”

CLASSIC DREAM

Success Days might be the one that helps him realise that classic dream.

“We don’t know how good he is. He’s a horse to look forward to. When you’re getting up riding out in winter, this is what it’s all about. I don’t know how ground-dependent he is but he seems to excel on soft ground.

“I’m not sure if he’d be as good on good ground but you’d never know. If it turns up soft at the Irish Derby, I wouldn’t swap him for anyone. He has improved and improved and improved and there’s no reason to say why he won’t keep doing so.”

Epsom remains a possibility.

“They might supplement and have a look. The Derby looks very open at the moment. If it looked a strong and hot race, you might look at it differently, but it’s so open, you might have a look. Ken and the owner will make up their minds but he’ll be prepped for the race anyway. He’s in good form. He came out of the race well. I rode him work last week. He only does what he’s asked to at home and Ken is very happy with him.”

He knows what it’s like to ride around Epsom, having done so earlier in the year and he has no doubt the experience will be helpful if making the trip next Saturday.

“Epsom is quite a unique track and I had five or six rides around it which will be a big factor if we are there on Derby Day… Television doesn’t do it any justice. It’s what they say it is. I only rode there when it wasn’t such a big day. I can only imagine what the Derby is like.”

He might not have to imagine much longer.