IT’S a Friday afternoon and former champion jockey Paul Carberry is burning rubber to keep up with the Ward Union Staghounds.

“Nothing much wrong with your leg today,” one of his hunting friends joked at the sight of the foot boot, with the crutches flung in the back seat.

The 50-year-old double Grand National winner would have given his right arm to ride up with the hounds, but instead he was keeping one eye on the action and the other on his 11-year-old daughter Elle Jay.

She’s truly a chip off the old block and is holding her father’s place alongside leading hunt staff, while he recovers from recent surgery.

Not only is this latest setback disrupting his hunting, but it’s also keeping him out of the saddle at his established pre-training base outside Skryne, Co Meath.

Eight years on from retiring after an illustrious career as one of the best National Hunt jockeys of his era, his body is still suffering from all the hardship.

“This time they took out a plate, so I could get my knee done in a few weeks’ time. It’s been giving me trouble for a while back. Hopefully when I get that sorted, I’ll be a new man.”

Carberry reels off a list of other injuries sustained in a career that spanned 25 years. “Broke my left leg five times, and right leg was broken once, I think. Both ankles were broken, on separate occasions. Then there were wrists, ribs, spine, concussion, a punctured lung. There wasn’t a year went by that I wasn’t out of action for a few months, so much so I was nicknamed ‘brittle bones’.”

Recent times

Carberry’s wife of nine years, Rachel Clarke, reminds him that he’s also had his fair share of falls out hunting, and a few show jumping in more recent times.

Twelve months ago, he got broken up on a day following hounds. “My horse lost his footing and came back on me, then another horse landed on top of him. I didn’t feel the shoulder going. I went to Blanchardstown to get it put back in, but by the time I’d returned from having an x-ray, it had popped out again.

“At one point, they thought I might need a replacement shoulder, but it would have finished me riding. It wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to hear that.”

He recalls another significant fall in the late 1990s. From the high of winning the Aintree Grand National on Bobbyjo for his late father Tommy - a year after the Irish victory - this was a low point in his career.

“It was 1999 and just a few weeks after Aintree. I was riding out at Noel Meade’s and fell on the gallops, but then another horse hit me from behind.

“They asked if I needed a helicopter, but I said no and went by ambulance instead. I was first told it was a few broken ribs, but then discovered one of them had ruptured my spleen. The doctor said to me ‘another 15 minutes and you’d have been gone’.

Carberry didn’t miss the spleen – most jump jockeys get them removed at some point – but just a few years ago, the old scar tissue caused a twisted gut, which landed him in Connolly Hospital for four days.

“Rachel asked me what rating I’d give the pain, and I said 10/10, so she called an ambulance. If I’d been a horse they’d have put me down.”

Paul in his usual style over a fence at Gowran in 2014 on Mallowney \ Caroline Norris.ie

“I’ve been concussed a few times and I remember one incident in Newcastle in 1997. Real Tonic did a complete somersault, and I was stood down for the rest of the day. My head was hopping, and I was wishing someone would come in with a samurai sword and cut it off.

“Another day in Killarney, I was knocked out cold for three minutes. But you usually just got sick, fell asleep and then the pain would go away.”

In the wars

He made little of the fact he’s been in the wars so many times. “You just had to pick yourself up and go on. I got so used to it. The same goes for the young lads of today. You can’t let it get you down. You need to give your body time. We always try and rush back too quickly and sometimes you will do more damage when you do.”

Jockeys have a pain threshold like no other, and it will take a lot to keep them out of the saddle. However, this decision was taken out of his hands at the age of 42.

“I’d had a bad fall off Rich Coast in Listowel in late 2015 and another toss closer to home early in 2016. My leg never recovered.

“I was told that, if I’d had another fall on it, it was going to be very hard to fix. I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I had to take their advice and bow out.”

Putting all these injuries aside, there were plenty of good times too while racing around the world, and he remembers them clearly.

First ride

“I turned 16 on a Friday and got my first ride in a point-to-point two days later. It was on a horse called Joseph Knibb for my father. I weighed six stone, and he was carrying 13, so there were lots of lead. We won by a short head that day.”

Carberry didn’t take the usual route to National Hunt racing though and was champion apprentice on the flat in 1993. He rode under both rules for a few years and achieved a rare feat in September 1994, when winning on the flat, over hurdles and over fences at Galway.

Once his weight gradually increased, switching solely to jump racing was an easy decision and it gave him so many great days. He was champion in the 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 seasons.

Some wins are more memorable than others. “I never had many rides in the Welsh National, but then won it on Monbeg Dude in 2012. Then there was Florida Pearl in the Hennessy in 2000 and Beef or Salmon in the same race in 2006.” He also rode several winners for owner Robert Ogden in Britain.

Carberry fondly remembers the Grade 1 winner Harchibald. “He was one of my favourites. I suppose it was because he was quirky and so was I.”

Quirky was how others could have described Carberry too. There was also a fun side to him, a cheeky side, a wild side, and a few times his drinking got him into trouble. But when it came to horses, the jokes were left in the parade ring. He was truly gifted and notched up over 1,500 winners before calling it a day.

He relives one race at Cheltenham in 2005 he wishes had gone differently. “It was a pity in the Champion Hurdle. It could have been the best ride, but Harchibald got me there a bit earlier than I’d have liked. He was so sharp over hurdles. We were beaten a neck by Conor O’Dwyer on Hardy Eustace.”

Carberry had a long and successful partnership with Noel Meade.

“A few years before I retired, I had started pre-training on land I bought when I was younger. I’ve had a few here for Noel, including Snow Falcon and Chancol.

“We’ve had some other good horses too, including School Boy Hours, who won the Paddy Power Chase in 2021. He’s probably the best-looking horse I’ve ever had here.”

More recently, there’s been the Gavin Cromwell-trained 2024 Cheltenham winning duo of Limerick Lace and Inothewayurthinkin.

Retirement plan

When Carberry hung up his boots, he had a plan up his sleeve. Having come from a family steeped in racing and it being good to him, it was unlikely he’d leave it altogether.

“I knew I wanted to stick with horses somehow, so I figured I would continue with the pre-training. Training itself wasn’t really an option. You need to be thinking about that when you’re much younger.”

A life in media wasn’t on the radar either. “It never popped up, but I was never really one for talking anyway.”

“I also got into show jumping. Some people laughed at me, but I wished I had started when I was younger. It’s also such an adrenalin rush.”

Initially starting out with one shed and just green fields, the 25 acres at Morcelli House have since developed into a 25-box yard with a two-furlong gallop, turnout paddocks, walker and arena.

The magnificent house, built by Rachel’s late father Harry in 2009, is now home to the Carberrys and their four children Kacey-Lou (15), Elle Jay (11), Paul Charles (7) and Anna Mae (4).

All have followed in their parents’ footsteps – Rachel has worked in racing most of her life – with the same love for horses.

Paul also has an older daughter, Lauren, from a previous relationship.

Pre-training can be so rewarding, and Carberry is the best man for the job. He was always known for his gentle, quiet approach to horses. “Even when I was race riding, the whip would have been the last thing I used.”

Good to me

“J.P. (McManus) sends me a good few horses every year, as does Eamon Duignan, and Gavin (Cromwell), who has been very good to me over the years. We also take in horses for other local lads, if they are coming back from injury or need a break.

“The winters are busy, but the summer months can be tough, and we could do with being busier. It’s like this, when you are riding, people are looking for you. But when you’re not used to asking for things, it’s difficult.”

“When I was riding, I had plenty of support, especially from the Irish Injured Jockeys, but now when I get injured, I have to get in riders and sometimes it can be in a bit of a panic.

“It can be very hard to get people to work, but thankfully Rachel and Kacey-Lou both ride out when needed, as well as my brother Peterjon. We also have great help in Rachael Leonard-Long, who has been here three years now.”

Looking ahead to early 2025, Paul Carberry hopes to be back in the saddle in a few months to nurture some new young horses, and also in time for a bit of hunting.

“When starting out, it really stood to me and others like Barry (Geraghty) and Puppy (Power), but a lot of jump jockeys nowadays don’t hunt at all, which is a shame.”

From the sidelines now, Carberry is observing the way racing is changing and, in some cases, not for the better. “You are being watched all the time. Just look at the recent incident with Shark Hanlon. He was trying to do good by the horse. It has put enormous pressure on his life.

“Sadly, it’s the way the world has gone. It’s more important than ever now to keep the head down.”