BELFAST Banter’s win in last week’s A P Smithwick Memorial Hurdle at Saratoga was significant on two fronts; aside from crediting me with a first Grade 1 success, the Cyril Murphy-trained gelding was also my 50th individual winner in the US.

Having settled over here and made it my home, I hope that recent top-level win may just be the first of many.

Both my parents hunted with the Co Limerick (Hunt), so it was perhaps,only natural that I should follow suit.

My grandfather, who was a dairy farmer, also kept a few horses and ponies, so there were always animals around when I was a child. I learned how to ride almost as soon as I could walk and was hunting from the age of eight.

From there, I would have followed the usual path through pony club, hunter trials and show jumping. At 12, I started riding out for Eugene O’Sullivan, while in secondary school, I did a summer with Jim Bolger and Aidan O’Brien respectively.

All three trainers were very good to me, offering plenty of opportunities and imparting invaluable advice.

I had my first ride in a point-to-point for Eugene when just 17; shortly afterwards, I left school to ride full-time. Later, in 2002, Eugene would also give me my first point-to-point winner, Dr Jazz.

I then spent nine months down in Wexford with Colm Murphy, who was just starting out in the training ranks. Brave Inca, who had already won two bumpers, won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle the year I was there.

Freelance

After moving back home to Cork, I rode as a freelance for a number of local trainers. Mick Winters, Eugene O’Sullivan, Robert Tyner, Louis Archdeacon and Gerry Cully were all loyal supporters during those years.

In 2007, I rode my first winner on the track: Native Churchtown in Thurles for Mick Winters. That horse was owned by a neighbour of mine, Jimmy Gordon. He had worked for Vincent O’Brien in the days when the latter trained in Cork and still kept horses himself. I would go in and ride out for Jimmy after finishing in Winters.

From my first rides in a point-to-point in 2002, right up to 2016, I rarely had more than a handful of spins on the track each season. In fact, in 2015, I took a year out from race-riding, having more or less made up my mind to retire from the saddle.

I went over to Dubai, where I worked breaking yearlings for Shadwell. My boss, a fellow Cork man, John Hyde, thought that I rode very well, so he arranged for me to go over to America for three months.

Through a former colleague of John’s, Bernie Dalton, I ended up staying and working for trainer David Bourke. My short visit got off to a flying start with a double on Virginia Gold Cup day.

As the intention was to go home to Ireland just to get my VISA sorted, then return to the US, I had no plans to resume riding in point-to-points. Therefore, I switched from the amateur to professional ranks during that initial three-month stay.

Another try

However, upon arriving home, I met Declan Queally who suggested that I give it another try in Ireland. He advised that given my 7lb claim and vast experience of riding point-to-points, I would be much sought after by Irish trainers.

So, over the next few years, I rode at home during the winter, then went back to the US as soon as spring came. I enjoyed plenty of initial success in Ireland, including a winner at my local Cork track, Dr Mikey for Margaret Flynn, who had also given me a lot of point-to-point winners over the years.

In both 2018 and 2019, I rode seven winners a season in the US during the time I rode out there. As my claim was reduced to 5lb, I continued to be popular at home but once that had dried up, I moved over to the US permanently in 2020.

Due to Covid, that season never really took off but the following year, I rode eight winners and improved on that by three last campaign. This year to date, I have already partnered nine winners, so am well on my way to a personal best.

Loyal supporters

In the 2022 running of the A P Smithwick Memorial Hurdle, I was beaten a head on the Cyril Murphy-trained Chief Justice. Both Cyril and that horse’s owner, Irv Naylor, have been loyal supporters of mine since I came over here, so I was determined to go one place better on their Belfast Banter last week.

A former County Hurdle and Aintree Grade 1 Novice Hurdle winner, I knew the horse quite well. I remember being stood down beside the last hurdle at Cork in January 2020, when he took a crashing fall in a maiden hurdle with the race at his mercy!

Since arriving in America, he had unquestionably been disappointing but I felt he had shown a bit more on his penultimate start and being honest, I fully expected him to win.

The horse is very trip and pace dependent; he needs to get plenty cover and arrive off the back of a strong gallop.

In the race itself, he settled better than ever before and I managed to keep him interested by passing one rival at a time and getting him in behind horses. Once I asked him to quicken, he went away and won his race like the good horse that he undoubtedly is.

It was fabulous to win a Grade 1 race, something I had always wanted to achieve. I got a great buzz out of it, particularly as it came for Cyril Murphy and Irv Naylor.

Having got married two years ago and bought a house over here, I am well settled in the US. My wife, Sara, runs a very successful operation selling foxhunters and that business is thriving at present.

Once my Green Card comes through, I would hope to come back to Ireland to ride over Christmas and the occasional big meeting but long term my future is definitely over here. Sara and myself have a 16-month-old daughter, Scarlet, while my six-year-old daughter Julia visits regularly from Ireland.

Barry John Foley was in conversation with John O’Riordan