Thomas Lyster (TL): What year did you go to England and which yard did you join?

Mick FitzGerald (MF): In 1988, I went over to John Jenkins in Royston in Hertfordshire. I flew on what felt like one of the first Ryanair flights, from Dublin to Luton on a one-way ticket. It cost me £60.

Two years previously I had my first ride, on a horse named Being Bold trained by Richard Lister, in a maiden at Gowran Park.

It was over in a flash, but I knew I would love to do that again. As you get more experience, everything in a race starts to happen in slow motion. You become more perceptive and the more you are well able to anticipate what is going to happen.

I rode my first winner in December 1988 and rode another winner within a week. Then I went 18 months without another winner. Two buses came along very quickly, but it was a long time before the next bus came!

It was fantastic to win the British conditional riders’ title in 1992/’93 because I was ambitious and always very confident in my own ability. When you get knocked back you always have got to believe in your own ability. It is always important to keep the faith and winning something like that was a reward for that self-belief.

Mick and Fondmort after winning the Ryanair Chase at the 2006 Cheltenham Festival \ Healy Racing

TL: You rode 1,280 winners as a jockey, including 14 Cheltenham Festival winners. What was it like being a professional jockey? How tough was it?

MF: Being a jockey was all I ever wanted to be. Anybody who can live out their dream is having a pretty good run at things.

Yes, it felt like hard work at times but, for the most of it, I was doing something I just loved to do. It was all that I could think about from dawn until dusk and I am sure in my sleep I was thinking about riding winners.

It is full-on but when you are doing things at the level I was at, I look back on it now and I think, ‘God, why was I ever moaning?’

TL: What jockey did you aspire to be like while growing up?

MF: I think John Francome set a very high standard. Brilliant over an obstacle, brilliant tactically. When I was just getting going, Richard Dunwoody’s nickname was ‘The Prince’. Everyone wanted to ride like him, he was the best. His standard was very high.

TL: What were your most memorable winners as a jockey?

MF: It is funny because, you think back now, the first winner you ride is a big milestone. Then the first big winner you ride is another milestone and then the next big winner you ride is a milestone in its own right.

I won the First National Bank Gold Cup at Ascot on a horse named Raymylette, who was owned by Andrew and Madeline Lloyd Webber. That was very special place for me. He was also my first Cheltenham Festival winner. That was a day I will never forget.

Any Irishman who has ever been to Cheltenham or who has watched racing from Cheltenham on the television, that is where it is at. You are not a complete jockey until you have ridden there.

It was amazing winning both the Gold Cup and Grand National. I can remember the footage of Andy Pandy falling at Becher’s Brook (1977) and watching old clips of Grand Nationals gone by. Micheál O’Hehir’s Foinavon commentary (1967) and Mr Frisk breaking the track record (1998).

Then, suddenly, one day you are part of that. You are part of history and that is something to be very proud of.

TL: You have had a long association with the Nicky Henderson yard at Seven Barrows for most of your riding career. Which was your favourite horse to ride for Nicky?

MF: Fondmort. I loved that horse. You could set your watch by him. He was the clock that was always right. He was very reliable and was always good on the big occasions.

He loved Cheltenham and he was a pleasure to ride. I rode him in the Grand National. He did not stay but I had one of the most enjoyable rides I ever had on him around there. It was just a shame that he was not allowed to run in the Topham when they only did one circuit. I have no doubt in my mind that, had he been allowed to run in that race, he would have won.

Mick is part of the Sky Sports Racing team of presenters \ Dan Abraham

TL: Since retiring as a jockey in 2008 you are currently a presenter for ITV Racing and Sky Sports Racing, and previously for BBC and Channel 4. What is it like to work as a presenter and how much preparations are necessary before going on air?

MF: It can be quite daunting because any mistake you make is going to be picked up by somebody. You cannot make throwaway comments because somebody is going to be offended.

As far as preparation goes you are only as comfortable as the amount of preparation you do. The more preparation you have done, the more comfortable you feel in front of a camera. You know the form and the answers to the questions you are going to get asked and that is all in the preparation.

The show might last from 1.30pm until 4pm but, for those two and a half hours, it takes hours and hours of preparation to know every scenario and every horse, the previous winners of the race, form and the trends associated with certain trainers and certain jockeys. A lot of work goes into it.

TL: Is there anything in racing that might benefit from change, in your opinion?

MF: The Levy gets its income from a percentage of bookmakers’ profits on racing. I would rather see the Levy get a cut of bookmaker turnover because bookmakers can manipulate things. They have all these offers, all these concessions, because these are ways to keep the profits on racing down. If the Levy received a percentage of bookmaker turnover on racing it would be a very different story.

TL: As well as working in the media, you are a qualified jockey coach with the British Horseracing Authority. You have worked with jockeys such as Bryony Frost. Would you be able to describe what you do?

MF: I think one of the most important things about being a coach is the mentoring side. Being that support for somebody when their day has not gone that well. That is crucial because I know how that feels like. It is tough when you get in a car on your own and you have a two-hour drive home.

You might have had a fall and are sore. Then if you look at your phone you might be getting ripped apart on social media and you feel it is your fault.

A good coach will call that jockey and say, “Look, this is today. Tomorrow it will be somebody else and the day after it will be somebody else.” You have to accept what has happened, put it behind you and move on.

TL: Finally, tell us a funny story from your riding days.

MF: One day I was driving to Aintree to ride at the Becher Chase meeting with Adrian Maguire and Johnny Kavanagh. Johnny was a housemate of mine at the time and he had a broken leg. We brought Johnny for the day out because he was bored. He had a cast on his leg.

Adrian and I had two falls each over the National fences that day and we were both crippled. Adrian had damaged his back quite badly and I had cracked a couple of ribs and had a massive haematoma on my leg, and I could not lift it. Johnny had to drive us home with a broken leg because neither the two of us were capable of driving!

Luckily, we had an automatic, but it was still crazy to have had a fella with a broken leg driving us home. It does not even bear thinking about, to be honest.