'If you're on Colin McKeever's second string you still have a very good chance'

Growing up, we were dragged point-to-pointing every Saturday by my father Martin and it was watching Colin McKeever, Wilson Dennison and Derek O’Connor that made me want to be a jockey.

Every week it was those same boys standing at the number one spot in the winner’s enclosure. Now it's me getting to ride winners for them – and it's a dream come true.

My Dad had always owned and bred a few horses. His whole family are involved with horses and he would have done a lot of hunting when he was younger with the South Tyrone, but he was the first of them to get into racehorses when he started breeding a couple at home and he passed that interest on to me.