IT was a remarkable landmark attained by only six others and yet many reading won’t be aware of it.

As Mikey O’Connor booted the Terence Leonard-handled Lily Of Dromard to a six-length triumph in a five-and-older mares’ maiden, it was to almost total silence, with only essential personnel in attendance.

Having registered his 400th point-to-point winner, O’Connor deserved to be feted, to be cheered into the winner’s enclosure, to be dunked in a water trough.

It wasn’t to be but as he knows all too well, there are far worse things in the world. And the satisfaction of overcoming so much to reach such elite status was more than enough. Inside, the 40-year-old Liscarroll native was glowing, recognising the magnitude of the achievement, in wonder at joining a select band of individuals and proud that he had endured for almost a quarter of a century.

Along the way he had ridden for some stalwarts of the point-to-point game, and guided the early careers of some equine superstars, including Denman, Forpadydeplasterer, Rebel Fitz, For Bill, Mister Top Notch and Pearly Jack.

The summer has been focused on the exploits of his 12-year-old son Dylan though, who despite his youth has been crowned champion pony racing jockey after riding 36 winners, a tally that included three four-timers and a five-timer.

They have a couple of racing ponies at home in Charleville along with a few show jumping ponies and the horses he trains under a permit, which include Lily Of Dromard, who he bought for Greg Coleman. Maurice Ahern also provided much of the artillery for Dylan.

And then there was Temple Hill Tamara, the venerable star of pony racing that has her own Facebook page. Owned by the family of Darragh O’Keeffe, a friend who is currently leading the race to be champion jump jockey, Temple Hill Tamara has been good to a lot of riders.

Wonderful

There is a wonderful photograph from two years ago, when a then 10-year-old Dylan and Temple Hill Tamara are being led in having won at Glenbeigh, where the legendary pony had also prevailed with O’Keeffe in 2012 and 2013. And she’s still doing it.

“I’m working for my young fella at the moment!” says O’Connor with a laugh. “He’d a fantastic season. We travelled the country and met super people. ‘Tis mighty and he had an outstanding year.

“Since Dylan could walk he’s been flat out at the point-to-points. He’d be running around in the mud, bating bales, chasing fellas around the weighroom and bating them, chasing them with the stick and having the craic. He grew up in the point-to-point field really. He loves horses.

“I used to get too flustered when I was riding. I’d get too heated up. You’d be making sure Dylan didn’t make the mistakes I made. He’s like a sponge, he takes everything in.

“I tell him every day, even in life, is a school day, to never forget that. It’s a great outlook to have in life. You just have to keep learning. I say it to myself the whole time. You learn every day so it’s just storing that knowledge and being able to keep it.

Satisfaction

“I get great satisfaction out of guiding Dylan along. The pony racing could do with a bit of funding, they’re struggling and hopefully HRI will step in.

“It’s important for the young people going forward and you’ve so many superstars of jockeys that come out of it.”

The passion for horses has passed on. O’Connor and his wife, Mago also have two daughters, Sophie (7) and Rachel, who is just six months old.

“Sophie is a huge fan of Rachael Blackmore. She’d some name picked out (for Rachel) but Mag didn’t like it so she said, ‘We’ll have to call her after Rachael Blackmore, she had such an outstanding year.’ Sophie was delighted.

“Rachel is very good to sleep but the teeth are starting to come now. She was sound to the world today (Wednesday) and Sophie copped Rachael Blackmore was going to ride a winner, so she was roaring and jumping around and ended up waking her up. Ah it was very funny.”

There’s the power of the role model, right there.

Colourful

Mikey is trying to be the same for Dylan and indeed all the kids. Mind you, he did get a fright recently, when he thought the son would repeat one of his father’s colourful-but-not-age-appropriate phrases in the public domain.

“I have a saying, pressure is only for tyres and bra straps. Dylan was being interviewed one day and they said to him, ‘Were you feeling pressure?’ and he said, ‘Naw, pressure’s only for tyres and bouncy castles.’ I thought he was gonna say bra straps. I nearly died!”

Dylan’s journey is a reflection of how it started for Mikey, whose parents, Noreen and Bob had ponies and donkeys, with the youngster building up a catalogue of Donkey Derby winners.

“We travelled the country with donkeys 30 years ago. When I was going to school, Dad and Mam used to drop me down to Enda Bolger’s at weekends. He was a great schoolmaster and you see all the good young jockeys the last few years he’s been the backbone of.

“We’d a point-to-pointer then, Glitter Girl, who was my first winner in Kilworth & Araglen (in February 1999).”

Too strong

Gerry O’Neill provided the first job in racing and he went to Gerry Cully thereafter. A brief sabbatical followed, to chase the temporary lure of a few quid on the building sites, but the draw of the horses was too strong.

“Mick Winters said at my 21st birthday party, ‘I didn’t bring you a present but I’ll give you 21 winners,” relates O’Connor of the comeback, with a decent imitation of the Winters delivery in the process.

The Kanturk conditioner was true to his word, and then some, as a partnership developed that proved mutually beneficial. There were countless great days and horses, but few better than the “special” Rebel Fitz, who made almost €500,000 in prize money on the track as he won 18 of his 30 races, three with O’Connor in the saddle.

“Mick waited with him rather than go point-to-pointing. He always seemed more a two-miler than a three-miler so he went to Listowel (for a bumper).

“We rocked on down to Listowel and Mick said, ‘The f*cking horse is favourite! How the f*ck is he favourite?’ I said to him, ‘Simple Mick, you’ve been going around telling everyone for the last six months he’s the best horse you’ve ever seen, and you can’t figure out why he’s favourite?’

“So he said, ‘Bury him inside of the middle of ‘em’. I said, ‘I don’t know will he relax’. ‘I don’t care, ‘he said, ‘he needs to learn.’ He legged me up anyway and he hit Mick a belt of a kick and blew him half-way across the parade ring!

“He went off then like a scalded cat down to the start and the minute he was away from the crowd he calmed down.

“‘Twas like poetry in motion. He jumped off fifth or sixth and was electric. He just fell asleep and when he was needed, he was outstanding.”

O’Connor also steered Forpadydeplasterer successfully on his debut in a Galway bumper, having sourced him for his new connections.

“Tom Cooper rang one day looking for a good horse for a bunch of lads from Dublin. He said, ‘He needs to be a proper horse.’ That was his words. I said, ‘I know where the horse is.’”

The horse was a breaker at Winters’. The only slight hitch was that he was already called Make It Better and the syndicate members were adamant that they were going to pay homage to one of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s benefactors, whose identity had been publicised in the Mahon Tribunal at the time to investigate unexplained payments to the man running the country.

Later on, Winters allowed O’Connor to use the initial name on a mare he liked. Make It Better went on to be champion point-to-point mare and he still has her at home, aged 17, with her “lovely Policy Maker foal” he thinks a lot of.

Winters’ brother-in-law, Adrian Maguire entrusted him with a major role in the education of future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman.

“As a young horse, I did an awful lot with Denman. Adrian would have taught me an awful lot as well.”

Five-timer

O’Connor won three southern region titles, in 2008, 2009 and 2013, and was banging in winners, including a memorable five-timer on his home track at Liscarroll in 2012 with twin sister Elaine Palmer training one of those, but illness, suspension and injury all served to slow the momentum, which actually makes the tally of winners he has recorded all the more remarkable.

“I was really flying, riding plenty winners, and then I got a bad fall in Boulta. I was rolled on and dislocated my shoulder but they were worried about oxygen to my brain.

“I wasn’t right for maybe a year after it. I was just not myself and very easy agitated. But I had great sponsors at the time, Eamon and Valerie Courtney of the Killarney Oaks Hotel. They were outstanding they helped me through an awful lot.”

He had been airlifted from Killarney racecourse to Cork University Hospital 16 months previously after a fall from Moon Dice that left him with multiple rib fractures and chest trauma, but this spill from Hawkers Son that delayed racing for a quarter of an hour in December 2014 had the most severe impact.

“That finished me really for the riding, even though I’m still tipping away at it, but I was at the top and it’s gone tough now even getting rides.”

He knew he was lucky though. His close friend, John Thomas McNamara had been paralysed in a fall at Cheltenham in March 2013 and died from his injuries in July 2016. More recently, there have been tragic deaths of other friends and acquaintances, such as Ger Kelly, Ger Withers and Darragh Sheehan, a staunch pony racing supporter.

“In every walk of life, there is tragedy. But they’re people you think of every day. You’d always have happy thoughts about great people like that and you’d always like to think… even with the flapping with Dylan, I always think of Darragh Sheehan. When things could go wrong, you’d nearly think there was someone there minding him.”

His own late father comes to mind too.

“I’d always be thinking Bob would be looking down on us and would be very proud.”

Donie Sheahan lived a long, full life when passing away last month at the age of 95.

“He was outstanding. He’d often ring me and so would (his son) Liam. I was unbeaten on his fabulous mare For Bill, won five times. Unbelievable.”

Of all his rivals, and he has ridden against Derek O’Connor, Davy Russell, Jamie Codd, Enda Bolger and Barry O’Neill among others, McNamara shines through.

One of the best

“He was one of the best I’ve ever come across, his natural talent, his horsemanship. He was different gravy. John Thomas was the most honest man I ever met.

“He’d call it as it is. If they were no good, he’d say it. And straight out, if you’d a problem, the first man I’d ask was John Thomas. He’d tell you if you were right or wrong. No airs and graces. Just the way it was.”

He admits to feeling emotional to have joined O’Connor, Codd, O’Neill, McNamara, Bolger and Willie Rooney on Olympus.

“It was unfortunate the lads couldn’t have been there. I’ve a great wife in Mag, and three lovely kids. Dylan would travel the earth, moon and stars if he could for horse racing. Loves it. They all do.

“It was a great achievement. I’m five or six off a 100 on the track and I’d love to get to that. And I’d love to join Enda Bolger on 413 in point-to-points and maybe even pass him out because when I was growing up, he was the daddy.”

He is anxious to utilise the opportunity to show his gratitude to the many trainers and owners that gave him rides and reels off the names in no particular order: Tom Cooper, Tom Cummins, Liam Burke, James Sheehan, Martin Hurley, Terence Leonard, David Fitzgerald, Adrian Maguire, John Shaughnessy, Gerry Cully, Ger O’Neill, Paul Barber, Harry Findlay, the Costello family, Jim Culloty and of course, Mick Winters. There are others, no doubt, but be assured he is grateful.

And when he needed them, IHRB senior medical officer Jennifer Pugh and the medical team “were outstanding”, as was Pugh’s predecessor Adrian McGoldrick.

He’s not done yet though, with “another couple of numbers” he’d like to hit. But he is happy with his lot and can reflect with a great degree of satisfaction.

“Looking back, it’s hard to believe I’ve ridden so many winners and knocked across some great horses. I’m just so thankful to all the great people I’ve ridden for.”

At Lisgoold in 2014 (Left-Right) Declan Queally, James Hannon, Gerry Mangan and Mikey O'Connor