GROWING up in Listowel, I never went a day without a football or a hurley stick in my hand. I would have played football with Listowel Emmets and hurled with Lixnaw, right up through the grades until I was 16. My older brothers, Gearoid and Kevin, were way ahead of me, so had already done the pony racing and gone on to become jockeys.

Football and hurling were the main thing for me. I never planned to get into racing at all. I was down at home one day, when Kevin was back from England. He had a couple of ponies there and told me to sit up on one. Next thing I knew, he had me trotting up the road and that just led to the rest! Soon Gearoid was giving us a hand and, between the two lads, they just pushed me into it.