HE was the kid everyone was talking about, the 12-year-old from Jonny Madderson’s brilliant short documentary. Unbelievably mature, focused, driven and articulate.

Just 21 on March 6th, he is by no means the finished product. Ryan Moore is 40. But Dylan Browne McMonagle is unquestionably among the top tier of flat jockeys in Ireland now.

One might say he is destined for greatness but that is one of those glib statements that detracts a little from all that goes into reaching the top and then staying there.

Talent is only ever one factor. All the other elements must be there. The hunger. The support structures. A touch of fortune. Work and luck are two elements he mentions more than most throughout our conversation. They are part of the mix of factors that opens up some opportunities. It is then that the ability must shine.

Most of us have dreams. Every year, a new crop of mid-teens enter an unforgiving system that will spit most of them out because they are filling readymade vacancies caused by the same number of riders hitting the exit door.

They are all hoping to be the next Moore but only a few will make a living as a jockey.

Browne McMonagle isn’t bedding down on Olympus yet but he is already a Group 1 winner and the number of other prestigious stakes races on his CV is mighty impressive. A regular in those contests now as a key cog in the Joseph O’Brien machine, it just feels like he is part of the furniture and fittings already. Being champion apprentice, in 2021, seems ages ago.

He is definitely on his way.

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The Letterkenny native possesses that easy manner and affability that makes him good company. Did you ever meet anyone from Donegal that didn’t have the gift of the gab?

He is relatively tall now and certainly, there is no need for the five stone of lead that gave the aforementioned cinematic masterpiece its title, in a nod to the supplementary weight he needed in those days.

But he looks healthy. An Australian summer helps, no doubt. Apart from the sun, the trip yielded 11 winners thanks largely to an association with the powerful Ciaron Maher/David Eustace operation. Once the word was out, he was getting calls from the likes of the Hayes brothers Ben, Will and JD (grandsons of Colin and sons of David) and Mike Moroney.

“There’s a lot of positives to take away from it,” says Browne McMonagle flashing that ready smile. “Obviously, Dundalk is the only thing here in the winter time so you like to be riding most days if you can and gaining experience. It’s a good opportunity for everyone to get away and make new contacts.

“It was a thing I always wanted to do, go to Australia and see what it was all about. And I had a talk with Joseph and we decided to go this winter. And when I went I was taken in like family by the Ciaron Maher group and he looked after me really good. I learned a lot and definitely it’s a big help having a contact like himself for the future if I want to go again and I definitely will be back for sure.”

O’Brien has strong ownership connections Down Under and has already won two of the most prestigious races on the Australian calendar in the Melbourne Cup (twice) and the Cox Plate, using locally based riders on each occasion. Having experience of the top Victorian tracks will assuredly be a string to the Browne McMonagle bow when riding arrangements are being made.

“That will be up to him what he does but definitely it’s a big benefit to have rode at all the good tracks, like Caulfield and Moonee Valley and Flemington, all those big tracks where the good meetings are on during the winter for us or at the end of the season. So to know the way around and the style of racing is obviously a big help for going back again.

“They’ve got a different style over there. The inside horse usually took the position and if you’re drawn wide they always want you to get in and not be too wide. So the horse on the outside usually either kicked forward and made the running or dropped right in last.

“Over here and in England they usually go a bit quicker and you can always drop in. Usually you’ll be able to make up a bit of ground. But over there on the tight tracks, they go slow, it’s hard to make up ground... so being in the first few is a big help but the draw was very, very important.”

Northern hemisphere

More and more northern hemisphere jockeys have made the switch to riding in Australia, with so much racing and mind-blowing prize money. Johnny Allen, Robbie Dolan, Declan Bates and Browne McMonagle’s fellow Tír Chonaill man, Martin Harley, are just three that have flourished having stalled over here.

“There’s a lot of racing all year around. It’s on every single day, so there’s a lot of opportunities out there and if you’re willing to put in the graft you’ll always get the results back. There’s a lot of money out there to be made and so many horses. (And) the crowds, it’s on a different level over there… the Irish riding is very, very competitive, but Australia is so, so big so there’s so many opportunities everywhere. Country tracks, city tracks… a lot of racing and a lot of chances for people and I’d advise anyone to go.”

A prodigy on the pony racing circuit from the time he bagged the Dingle Derby at 12, Browne McMonagle guided 218 winners and was champion twice. His uncle, Adrian Browne supplied most of the ponies, including this Derby winner Let’s Go, though it was Rachel Carton, stepmother to Oisín Orr and Conor Orr that sent him on his way first.

“Pony racing is big in Donegal and I was very lucky that my family were part of pony racing and Adrian was good, he always had the best horses. But it was Oisin’s stepmother, Rachel actually started me off riding. I got riding lessons off her on a pony called Kipper, that’s what got me going and then I had my first winner on him (as a nine-year-old at Finn Valley).

“A lot of us rode on the same pony and learned the craft on him. Plenty of good riders have come out of there. And once you’re willing to work and you put in the graft you get the results.”

We all knew about him when he made the transition to the track. We expected. And he delivered.

But he was 16. Walking into a weigh room inhabited by mostly hard, hairy-arsed men. Adults, discussing adult topics, using adult language. It was daunting.

“You’re coming from riding against guys your own age, 15, 16 and you’re being put in against professionals. You’re at the bottom of the barrel again and you just have to try and work your way up. But it is very tough, you have to turn into a man very quickly. You have to grow up fast.

“But I was very lucky, I had a lot of help when I started off. Joseph looked after us unbelievably well and got me on the board straight away. And when you’re getting support and you’re riding nice horses and working with good people that have been there and done it, it’s a big help.

“It’s a very competitive sport. You’ve got your friends but there’s no friends in the weigh room. All the guys will help you as much as they can but it’s up to you if you want to learn.

“From when I was really young I was always good friends with Shane Foley and he was a big help first for me growing up. And when you have guys like him in the weigh room and Declan McDonogh, Colin Keane, all the guys will always give you advice. But it’s up to you to produce the goods and try and be competing with them.

“It’s a help when you have a claim but when the claim goes it’s either, ‘Do you want the champion jockey or do you want to use this guy?’ and you have to kind of prove that you’re able to get the same results.”

Early success can dilute hunger but Browne McMonagle won’t be waylaid.

“You have to be dedicated. You have to work hard. Always trying to do things better. Nothing comes before the racing or work, that’s the way I put it anyway. I’m 100% dedicated and it’s all-in or nothing.

“You only have one go at this game and you can’t be doing things on the side and thinking you’re going to be the best because guaranteed, the best is doing more than you’re doing so you have to always try and be a step ahead of everyone. And put in as much effort as you can because there’s always someone to take your spot.”

Boxer

Being a talented boxer, who won an All-Ireland as well as a number of Ulster titles before racing had to take his complete focus, meant that fitness, diet and discipline were a given.

“Well, you either want to do it or you don’t, you know? My granddad told me, ‘If you’re ever going to do a job, do it right or don’t do it at all.’ So it’s either 100% or nothing and that’s the way I try and keep it if I can.”

There have been many rewards but the best thrill is being led into the winner’s enclosure with his parents Caroline Browne and John McMonagle, his Uncle Adrian or the rest of his family and friends from home waiting to cheer him in after another winner. To give them that joy, after all they have done for him, is a big part of his why.

Baron Samedi provided much of the early joy and impetus, the duo winning three handicaps on the trot together before bagging the Group 3 Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan in 2021, finishing third in the Irish St Leger later that year and competing in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot.

It isn’t all about the big stage though. Certainly, the calibre of navigation provided to Prairie Dancer in winning the Colm White Bookmaker November Handicap at Naas last year will live long in the memory, making all over the two-mile trip and racing wide for the early part of it on a gelding that would prefer nicer ground than the test on Tipper Road that day.

“You get a great buzz out of them. The bigger the stage the better it is but Prairie Dancer in the November Handicap at the end of the year was huge. Then you get a great buzz for the people you ride winners for as well, especially smaller trainers. Another one was having my first winner (Military for Aidan (O’Brien) in Naas (last September).”

What happens on the track doesn’t just come down to instinct. It plays its part but Browne McMonagle likes to plan for as many possible outcomes as he can.

“Tracks, trainers, jockeys, horses, you need to know them all. Like some trainers have their horses so fit you can’t take them on too early in a race or you know you’ll get a battle by them maybe or something like that. Who you’re riding for as well makes a big difference.

“But you have to do all the research and know nearly everyone else’s horses as much as you know your own. Mapping out the speed, the pace of the race, where you’re drawn, what you want to follow, what the fancied ones are. There’s so many things you need to look into and if it makes a difference in one race in the year it pays off.”

Study takes place in the mornings while having a sweat in the bath. It is an imperative in a sphere where one or two per cent might tilt the balance one way or the other. Particularly when there are so many variables.

“There could be a horse in front that is a bit green or a bit lairy when it gets to the front and those kind of ones you don’t want to challenge them too early or you’re only going to help them. Or if one stays, you need to ride them to beat them for speed. Or another, you might know you’d light him up if you go up alongside it.

“You need a lot of luck as well. You can make a plan and you have A, B, C but you can be down at Z by the time you’re after going two furlongs and you just have to use your own initiative then. And that’s when reading the race comes into it.”

Al Riffa, who gave him that Group 1 victory in the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes in 2022, is among those that makes his eyes light up when discussing the coming season. Lumiere Rock is another, while Rogue Millennium is an intriguing addition to the roster.

There are many potential stars in the Classic generation – Atlantic Coast and Galen (“a gorgeous horse”), runner-up to City Of Troy on his only start as a juvenile, are just two of them.

And then the two-year-olds. Well they’re all champions right now. Little wonder Browne McMonagle loves his life.

“I wouldn’t do it otherwise but I’m very lucky, riding plenty of winners and hopefully it all keeps on going. Nothing else I want to do anyway.”