AFTER winning twice on Art Of Unity earlier in the month, I lost my 10lb claim when Arch Enemy won the October Handicap at Leopardstown on Sunday.

That race was a premier handicap, so to get one of those so early in my career was massive.

One of the first questions people always ask is about the name; Pietropaolo. My father was born in Italy but moved to Australia with his family before eventually finding his way to Ireland.

The interest in horses comes from my mother’s side of the family; my grandfather Dan Cotter has bred point-to-pointers for many years. I would always have been around his farm at home when I was growing up. My first cousin Shane (Cotter) had a pony in my grandfather’s yard and we both learned how to ride on that. Shane went on to become champion novice point-to-point rider this year.

While we were still in primary school, both of us would have hunted with the Conna Harriers. A neighbour of ours, Dan O’Donovan, brought us down to Eudora O’Connor’s breaking yard in Tallow. It was there that both myself and Shane sat on a racehorse for the first time.

I then moved on to Donie Murphy, who had a National Hunt yard. I would have gone in there on weekends, school holidays and on any day I could get off school.

Pony racing

My cousin, Paul O’Connell, has a point-to-point yard, so I would have been in there as well. When I was 14, I started pony racing. I spent two full seasons at that. I had my first ride on a horse called Pac Man for Maurice Ahern in Dingle. That one finished second.

I rode 50 winners by the time I finished up with the pony racing. Maurice gave me plenty of experience before I went to Aidan Melia. In my first year, I had 24 winners, with 20 of those being for Aidan.

After he took out his licence to train horses on the track, I went back to Maurice.

In my second year, I rode 26 winners. I had five winners for Maurice at Dingle. Aidan Melia recently trained his first winner since taking out his licence when Purring Along won at the Curragh. Maurice hopes to apply to get his flat licence in the spring time. Both men were very good to me when I was pony racing, so hopefully we will get to have some more winners together on the track.

Joseph O’Brien

After I worked for Donie Murphy, I went to Joseph O’Brien for the summer. I have been here ever since. Up until this year, I would have been going up on the weekends but since I finished school after doing my Junior Certificate, I have been here full-time.

My parents Majella and Dino have always been a massive help. As well as driving me up and down to Joseph’s, they brought me around the country every weekend when I was at the pony racing. I had six rides on the racecourse before Art Of Unity gave me the first winner. I only had my first ride in September; Small Bucks for Paul Flynn in Tipperary. Before my apprentice licence even came through, I had been up to Muredach Kelly to ride out a couple of times.

Muredach had been following my progress in pony racing on the advice of Maurice Ahern. Both himself and Maurice, who has a share in Art Of Unity, promised me that they would give me my first winner on the track.

We expected him to run well in Bellewstown but thought that it might not have been soft enough. He had finished second in the same race the year before. We had done a lot of work at home to get him to settle, so I was hopeful before the race.

Pressure

I can’t honestly say that I thought I’d actually ride my first winner on the day though. It was a lot of pressure off my back to go and get it done so early on.

Art Of Unity then went on to finish fourth at Navan on a day when he was drawn too high. I had to use up a lot of ground to get across, so he ran very well to get that close.

When we were walking the track at the Curragh before his next run, Muredach said to me ‘this is the ground he has been waiting for’. That filled me with confidence, as Muredach knows the horse inside out.

Art Of Unity broke well and I was able to take horses out of their comfort zone early on. That allowed me to get a breather into him so that he had a bit left at the finish. He stayed on strongly when horses got to him inside the last furlong.

Winning at Leopardstown on Arch Enemy was massive. I got simple instructions off Patrick (Magee) before the race. He just told me to be in no rush, as she loves passing horses.

Good advice

I went for the inside early in the straight and a gap opened up for me. I couldn’t believe the way she picked up and galloped. Kevin O’Ryan will be booking my rides now that I’m down to 7lb, so that will be a big help. He is very good to give advice after a race as well.

Dylan Browne McMonagle has always been great for that too. Even when I was still pony racing, just coming in at the weekends, he would go through races with me and tell me how to ride different tracks. He is great for the apprentices in the yard.

Hopefully I will ride at Dundalk every Friday and Wednesday over the winter. I want to get as much experience as I can over the coming months and build some contacts for next year. My weight is good, so I’d hope to be able to stay on the flat. I’ve already had two rides for Joseph O’Brien, as well as a number of outside rides. I just want to work hard over the coming months and if I can get a few more winners before the start of the next flat season that would be great.

Julian was in conversation with John O’Riordan.