TADHG O’Shea has 10 rides at the Japan Derby meeting this weekend. It’s been a whirlwind year for the 42-year-old jockey from Dromahane, Co Cork. Just a few weeks ago he was crowned champion jockey of the United Arab Emirates for the 12th time and he achieved worldwide recognition when steering Laurel River to success in the $12 million Dubai World Cup.

Taking time out from his commitments to speak to The Irish Field, O’Shea reflected on that incredible moment at Meydan. “My late mother Ann was my biggest fan and biggest supporter. She would have been immensely proud,” he said.

“I waited a lifetime to win my first Group 1 at Meydan in 2022 at the age of 40. Sadly, Mum passed away in early 2023, so for me to win two Group 1 races on the same day in March (he also won the Dubai Golden Shaheen on Tuz), she must have been looking out for me.”

That first Group 1 win on Switzerland was long overdue for the Corkman – he’s had close to 800 winners in the UAE since that first one in 2001. Another 50 winners this season ensured he retained his champion jockey title just before he left for a two-month stint in Japan. “I’d ridden a lot of winners in Dubai but never had a ride in the World Cup until 2022. That was on Remorse who finished sixth. The following year he was ninth.”

Juddmonte support

Remorse was trained by Bhupat Seemar, as is Laurel River. Seemar has only been training in Dubai for three seasons, taking over from his uncle Satish, and he has been champion too since he started. Getting to train and ride Laurel River represented a huge step-up for both Seemar and O’Shea, as the horse is owned by Juddmonte Farms, one of the world’s top owner-breeder operations.

“I am forever indebted to the Abdullah family for giving me the ride,” O’Shea says. “They could have used anyone in the world. They showed class and left it up to Bhupat and me. He is such a high-class horse.”

Tadhg with trainer Bhupat Seemar at Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale \ Healy Racing

Dubai is a long way from Cork, but O’Shea will never forget his roots. “I was born and bred in a housing estate in Dromahane and had no direct connection to horses as a child. I was the second youngest of seven. My father, known as ‘D O’Shea’, worked in agriculture but was a great follower of racing, and still is.

“My cousins Declan and Liam O’Shea were jockeys, but I didn’t have much contact with them. I was around 11 or 12 years old when, every Friday evening, I used tell my mother I was taking our dog for a walk, but it was down to the yard of two guys named Kevin Willis and Kieran Barrett. They got me going in ponies.”

RACE trial

O’Shea’s mother persuaded him to sit the Junior Certificate at Davis College in Mallow. “I hated school and was a bit of a rogue. Anytime we drove by Rockwell (boarding school) she would threaten to send me there. I’d heard about RACE and told her I wanted to go. She promised me that if I sat my exams, she would let me do the two-week trial. She always referred to me as her ‘boy’ and she told everyone her ‘boy’ would be back home in two weeks.

“I was one of 120 on the trial and 30 of us were called back to do the 11-month course. She was devastated and cried for weeks. She’d cry when I came home on a Friday night – I loved the bacon and cabbage on the Saturday – and she cried again on the Sunday night when I was going back to Kildare.”

O’Shea said RACE gave him a fantastic grounding. “It was unbelievable for me. I was 15 and six-and-a-half stone. I didn’t know much about fitness or nutrition, but they took us under their wing and taught us to be disciplined. It was a great part of growing up and it’s such a shame to see it out-of-service now.”

O’Shea was sent to Michael Halford to serve his apprenticeship. “There was myself and a girl named Debbie to be sent to Halford’s. I used to hang out with Debbie Young and was delighted as I thought it was her. But it turned out to be the other Debbie – Debbie Pierce – and we didn’t speak for a long time. But now Debbie Pierce is my wife!”

They say that behind every good man is an even better woman, and O’Shea credits Debbie with getting him to where he is today. “I’ve had my bad days, a lot of them, but Debbie has always kept me going.”

O’Shea had his first crack at racing at the Curragh on October 3rd, 1998. “I remember it well. It was on a horse named Consider It Done over one mile. The owners were brilliant on the day when they discovered it was my first ride. It was that quick, it was over before it started.”

Less than 12 months later he had his first winner. “It was September 9th, 1999, on Class Society at Tipperary. That one got me on the road.”

O’Shea had 14 winners the following year and was voted the ‘Most Improved Apprentice’. He was champion apprentice in 2001 and 2002.

Dubai winters

Things were ticking along nicely – O’Shea was at Halford’s in the summer and started spending his winters in the UAE from 2001 after winning a scholarship from the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

“It was 2005 and I thought everything was rosy. Mick [Halford] came to visit me in Dubai two weeks before I was due to return and told me he was getting Johnny (Murtagh) as first jockey. I thought my world was going to end, but Mick had already put in a call to Ger Lyons for me.

“Mick gave me some good advice when leaving. He told me to go and get a mortgage, which I did.”

O’Shea spent two seasons at Glenburnie Stables and packed in plenty of winners. “Johnny then started riding for Ger. He was like a hyena that hadn’t eaten in 10 days – he wanted all the good rides! To be honest, I would have probably done the same but I didn’t want the leftovers.

“I remember leaving Ireland the day before the Galway Festival. I called Ryan Moore looking for a bed – I ended up staying with him for four months.”

O’Shea started riding out for Paul Blockley and Debbie joined him in England a few months later when she got a job with Moore’s aunt Candy Morris.

“I remember getting a catch ride for Mick Channon in August 2006 on College Scholar and won. I had 50 winners the following season and 30 of those were for Mick. He was a great boss and very good to me and got me rides at the likes of Ascot and Goodwood.

“Back in Dubai I was riding for Erwan Charpy and had won on a few horses for Sheikh Hamdan. One day his manager Angus Gold asked if I would be their second jockey in England. I went back to the UK and chatted to Mick who told me to take the job.

“I had four fantastic seasons working for His Highness and had some great winners including my first Ascot winner in June 2009 on board Ouqba.”

“I also married Debbie that same year. We had our honeymoon in Dubai.”

The couple now have two sons, Darragh (13) and Aaron (11). “Darragh might become a jockey, but Aaron is not so keen on riding and thinks he’d like to be an agent.”

O’Shea returned to Ireland for the 2013 flat season, but his heart was in the UAE and on returning he was appointed retained rider at Ernst Oertel’s Al Asayl Stables for purebred Arabian owner Khalid Khalifa Al Naboodah.

“Arab racing is unique. It is a huge part of the racing calendar in Dubai and there are races even on World Cup night. My very first winner in Dubai in 2001 was on an Arab called Danidor. They are not everyone’s cup of tea, but they are very intelligent, and I enjoy them.”

In 2018 he linked up Satish Seemar at Zabeel Stables, where his nephew Bhupat was assistant trainer, and the following year joined Jebel Ali Stables as the retained rider for trainer Nicholas Bachalard.

“I’ve known Bhupat for as long as I have been in Dubai. I often got spare rides for his uncle and when Bhupat took over the licence in late 2021 I became his first jockey.”

Tadhg and Laurel River won the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March

In their first full season they hit the ground running with a string of big wins – including the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen with Switzerland – landing them the leading trainers’ and jockeys’ titles.

“Before that big race my son asked where we’d be going on holidays. I told him if Switzerland wins, we’ll go there. I kept my word, and we spent 10 days in Zurich!”

O’Shea and Switzerland were denied the double in 2023 and O’Shea didn’t feature in the big race on Remorse, but the 2024 World Cup meeting was one to savour.

The multiple Group 1 winner Switzerland was retired but Bhupat Seemar had secured some decent horses, including the Juddmonte-owned Laurel River who had come from Bob Baffert’s a few months earlier.

O’Shea had always fought hard to get rides on World Cup night and, after steering the six-year-old to win the one-mile Group 3 Burj Nahaar by seven lengths on March 2nd, he was fairly confident he would keep the ride.

Two hours before the feature race on World Cup night, O’Shea landed the second Group 1 of his career – and second Dubai Golden Shaheen – on the seven-year-old Tuz.

Laurel River wasn’t favourite for the big one, plus he was stepping up to 10 furlongs, and there were some bigger guns in the mix, but O’Shea had a good feeling.

Sent off at 9/1, the six-year-old annihilated the world-class field to win by eight and a half lengths.

“In fairness Bhupat and I fancied him quietly. He was drawn 12 of 12 but I know Meydan so well now I wasn’t concerned. He has such natural speed, and within 150 metres of jumping off I knew we had a good chance.

“Bhupat said it’s the best horse he’s every trained, and he’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden.”

O’Shea could not have been prouder, especially with his wife Debbie and two sons by his side at the prize-giving. “It was so great to have them here. They live in Wexford for part of the year where Debbie is involved with the family’s Blackhall Stud. We built a house near her home place, but they all come out each winter. The boys are schooled in Dubai over the winter months.”

Darragh O'Shea holds the Dubai World Cup

Japan adventure

No sooner had they finished celebrating when O’Shea was thinking he could now clear his mortgage and take a nice family holiday with his winnings. He was also planning his next move, this time to Japan. “I got a call in January asking if I would be interested in doing eight weeks in Tokyo with trainer Sakae Kunieda. I agreed and came out in late April.

“Racing is unbelievable here. I ride out on a Wednesday and Thursday and race on Saturdays and Sundays, so I have some down time in between to see the country.”

In his first weekend he notched up two winners and last Sunday he steered Yukihiro Kato’s 9/4 favourite Mount Bell to win the final race at the Oaks meeting.

This weekend he has 10 rides at the Derby meeting at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu. “I don’t have a ride in the Derby sadly, but I’ve had six winners here so far, so hopefully I can add to that.”

When his Japanese contract is up in late June he will return home to Wexford for eight weeks to enjoy some down time with his family.

“It will be good to catch up with Debbie’s family too who are close-knit and such hard workers. Her father Andy Snr and two brothers Andy Jnr and Paul keep an eye on the horses for us when we’re away. And of course, my mother-in-law Angela, who keeps everyone going.

“We have a few thoroughbreds and bred a few winners over the years, including Aragon Castle who is with Andrew Balding.”

After that it will be back to business in the UAE.

“Dubai is certainly the land of opportunity and I am surprised there’s not more Irish out there. All those years ago I was cautious when going over, but you have to jump and take a chance. As they say, the biggest risk of all is not taking any.”

Since those early days on the Curragh, O’Shea has come a long, long way, and he’s far from a retiring age. “I’ve lost a lot of jobs, and I’ve had plenty of lows, but my wife Debbie has always given me the elbow and hopefully we have a lot more highs to come. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I’m happiest when I’m on a horse,” he concluded.