‘A whirlwind start set expectations high and it was extra pressure to cope with'

It was a bit of a whirlwind start to my training career. I took over from Ian Ferguson in 2019 and my first runner was Gallyhill, who landed a four-year-old maiden at Kirkistown and then went on to top the Cheltenham sale when he was sold to Henrietta Knight for £450,000.

I could have done with waiting a month to help me find my feet a bit more. When you have a success like that at the very start you set the expectations very high for yourself as you want to keep it there, and it was a bit of extra pressure to cope with.

I had started riding racehorses in the summer holidays at Ian’s yard in Cullybackey when I was 12 and I caught the bug there, so it has all come full circle.