TODAY, I am very fortunate in getting to realise a long held ambition, when I am one of 25 riders set to face the starter for the 2023 running of the Say Yes To Organ Donation Charity Race at the Punchestown Festival.

As a healthcare professional with strong ties to the racing industry, I am incredibly proud to get this amazing opportunity.

I grew up on a stud farm where horses were part of the family. Growing up the youngest of six, my sisters and brother were happy to have me on a horse before I could walk!

I’ve even seen photos of them walking me around sitting on a goat before we had a pony!

I was very lucky to be taught by my sisters from such a young age which is where my love of horses really stems from. We got a pony, Minta, the hardiest Connemara, who was passed down from each child and lived out his retirement at the family home.

Slowly things progressed from the pony scene when Mum and Dad bought two mares and that really started everything off for us with breeding and racing.

One of the mares produced Phoenix Reach, who went on to have major international success at a Group 1 level. They also bred a blacktype winner, Minashki, from one of the mares, so there was real talent in the two blood lines.

From as young as I can remember we were mucking out, getting hot meals ready for the mares in winter and enjoying the odd day out at the races when we had a runner.

Eye for a horse

My parents had a great eye for a horse and they would intermittently buy at the sales, having fantastic luck with one particular horse, Amourallis, who finished second in the McDonagh Handicap on the Tuesday and won the Galway McNamara Handicap on the Sunday of the same summer festival in 2004.

That has to be one of my fondest racing memories with friends and family singing “Is This The Way To Amarillo” in the parade ring! We had horses with a few trainers including Pat Lally, Harry Rogers and Gerard Keane which is how I first came into contact with Gerry.

Dad also did a lot of pre-training over the years which brought me a lot closer to the jockey side of racing. Colin (Gerry’s son) would ride horses for Dad after school.

With a bar like that set, I always had an ambition to be able to ride a racehorse and one day, hoped that I might have a chance in an actual race!

I tried to teach myself in the pre-training yard, but after spending more time in the sand than on the horse’s back, I asked Gerry if he would let me ride out with him on weekends and he had a lot of patience helping me to learn the ropes.

Fantastic team

Some of my favourite weekends were spent in Keane’s yard; it was always busting with energy, enthusiasm and a fantastic team of people. I got to go racing with Gerry and lead up for him a few times and just loved every minute of it.

After school, I was very lucky to go straight to college studying nursing and had continued luck getting an ASPIRE scholarship to study a Masters in Smurfit Business School, before I started my career in healthcare and strategy.

Racing continued to be a passion but slightly deprioritised with study for a number of years. I always kept an eye and had an interest but thankfully was able to rekindle the flame through applying for this race.

My sister Christine competed in the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund (PKRF) race in 2008, and I was 14 at the time and remember thinking this will be me some day!

I loved watching her dedication to the training and having such a great reason to celebrate with friends and family while raising money for such a fantastic charity.

I had been out of racing yards for a number of years and then applied to the PKRF race in 2022 and knew it was time to get back in the saddle. I eased myself into it and then began riding out in the mornings before work in Noel Meade’s yard with the Tu Va Team who were a fantastic support in helping me.

Having been second reserve in the PKRF race up to early 2023, I was delighted when James Nolan (the race organiser) phoned me to let me know that I got a place in the race.

Willing to enter

Straight away, I picked up the phone to Gerry and asked him would there be any chance he would have an owner willing to enter a horse in the race for me, and in true Gerry Keane fashion, he couldn’t have been happier to help.

Franno’s owner Patrick Mulligan, kindly agreed to having her entered. I was in Gerry’s yard within a few days and it felt like I’d never left. I’ve been lucky to get to bring Franno galloping every day since.

Training for this has been the most physically tasking challenge I’ve ever had. After my first lot I couldn’t move my arms properly for four days but thankfully I’ve come a little bit further since then!

It’s a very deceiving sport, they make it look so easy and natural but the skill and the physique required is phenomenal. Fitness has always been a big part of my life - last year the focus was learning how to swim to complete a full distance Ironman in Cork, which has provided me with a fantastic base fitness level.

The simulator has been extremely helpful as well. I was lucky to get lessons with Cathy Gannon in RACE in the Curragh and there’s nothing as encouraging as Cathy telling you, “Go, go, go”, when you’re riding your imaginary finish on the simulator!

So between that and a few tips and tricks from other jockeys, I’m hopeful that Franno and I will get on okay on the day!

I’ve never been as excited for something as I have for this race. I ran the track on my own last week and every step really felt like a pinch me moment.

It’s such a privilege to be a part of such a fantastic group of jockeys and people passionate about Kidney research in Ireland.

As part of the participation, we were invited to Tallaght University Hospital to meet renal patients undergoing dialysis treatment at the state-of-the-art Vartry Renal Unit, which is one of the organisations that benefits from the fundraising done by this race and the PKRF.

As a nurse, it really is a dream come true to combine a love for healthcare with a love for horses and watch these two wonderful industries collide to produce a charitable outcome as well as lifelong memories for so many people!

The support from my partner, family and friends has been unbelievable. My sister Sally even surprised me by flying home from Australia last week so the excitement at home is palpable!

Gerry, Mark, James and Colin have completely taken me under their wing in Keane’s yard and the wider racing team have just been unbelievably supportive. I’m still a work in progress but am very excited to see how we get on during the race!

It’s such a full circle moment to be back in Gerry’s yard, being the first person to teach me how to ride race horses it means so much more than just another race.

Aoife Kiernan was in conversation with John O’Riordan