'We're there in a mentorship role and to help maximise opportunities' - Fran Berry, Ruby Walsh and Emmet McNamara co-found new management agency for jockeys

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A new venture co-founded by former jockeys Ruby Walsh, Fran Berry and Emmet McNamara has been launched with the aim of assisting with professional off-track support for riders, which Berry says will provide mentorship as well as guidance on how to maximise opportunities throughout a jockey's career.

Complete Sports Management (CSM) already has 40 jockeys signed up alongside brands such as Finance Ireland, McCarthy Insurance Group and Travel Counsellors. It has been established to provide a model tailored specifically for jockeys, covering commercial representation, PR and media, tax and accounts, financial planning, travel logistics and group partnership deals.

The agency was founded by chartered accountant JP Wynne, alongside the three former jockeys, and seeks to centralise a number of services under one roof to provide riders with "professional structure, financial clarity and long-term career security".

Fran Berry: 'We're there half in a mentorship role and the other half to help them maximize their opportunities through sponsorship and commercial avenues'Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Explaining the venture, Berry said: "It came out of a conversation between myself, Ruby and Emmet about what we learnt from our riding days. We all came from a racing background and had a certain amount of guidance, but a lot of riders don't have the same guidance on how to make the most of their career so we thought if they had a management team in place to help and guide, it would be a benefit.

"It's to provide guidance, whether that's putting them in touch with the right people to provide services such as insurance, financial planning, mortgages, etc, or just helping them throughout their career so they're in a good place when they come out of it. We're there half in a mentorship role and the other half to help them maximise their opportunities through sponsorship and commercial avenues.

"We think jockey sponsorship has been underutilised somewhat in Ireland so hopefully we can be the point of contact between firms and riders, which would add to their career, and to the sport as well, by bringing new people in.

"JP Wynne has dealt with a lot of jockeys over the years and we think we can each individually bring something to the riders who have signed up and we're hoping to add riders of all levels to the team and build their commercial profile. When you're riding, it's 24/7 and you don't get to deal with these things, so hopefully we can make their lives easier, as it's a short career so we need to maximise every opportunity riders get."

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