'My age hasn’t affected me' - 30-year-old conditional seeking 'dream result' as Irish title rivals trade blows

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A treble at Tramore on Sunday catapulted Michael Kenneally to within touching distance of conditional jockeys' championship leader Eoin Staples, before the pace-setter struck back with a winner of his own at the same venue on Monday.

As the title-chasing rivals trade blows and with three winners now separating them, Kenneally will need to pull out all the stops if he is to cap a "dream season" with championship success. 

The 30-year-old Cork native thought long and hard about the decision to turn professional, given his age, before deciding to pull the trigger at the beginning of the season. A tally of 30 winners, including three Listed handicap victories headlined by a Dublin Racing Festival success aboard Cousin Kate, suggests the decision was a wise one.

“If you told me at the start of the season that it would go as well as it has, I would have laughed at you," said Kenneally. "It’s been a dream season and my age hasn’t affected me. If anything, it has been a bit of a benefit. You don’t let things get to you as easily when you are that little bit older.”

Asked whether he fancies his chances of overturning the deficit on Staples in the championship, the former electrician is realistic but determined.

Michael Kenneally: in second place in conditional jockeys' title raceCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

“I don’t think you ever fancy your chances when there are only a few meetings left to the end of the season,” he said. “But I’m not going to stop and I’m going to get on as many horses as I can. Eoin is just like me, though. We’re both hungry and want to ride winners.”

While the riders' championship reaches fever pitch on the track, inside the weighing room both men are keeping quiet about it.

“We sit next to each other in the weighing room,” said Kenneally on Monday. “We’re good pals, but we never talk about the championship. I was five behind until yesterday, so there was no point in talking about it. But he texted me ‘well done’ after I rode the treble at Tramore, so it’s not like we don’t like each other. I’ll be the first to shake his hand if he wins.”

• 'There's no thinking anything has been won yet' - pacesetting prodigy Eoin Staples ready for conditional battle to go to the wire 

Kenneally has ridden for a vast array of trainers this term, including a Listed handicap hurdle win on Gringo D'Aubrelle for Gordon Elliott and a fourth place in the Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival aboard the Willie Mullins-trained Kel Histoire. However, he is keen to give credit to some of the smaller trainers who have helped him this season.

“A lot of people have been very good to me,” he said. “I rode four winners on Pebble Bleu for Colin Motherway and another four on James The Brave for Paudie Butler. A lot of the lads around here are supporting me, which is lovely because I don’t have that backing of a big yard.”

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