Mark Enright

I had no expectations going to Galway. I had no ride in the Galway Hurdle or the Galway Plate but I knew I’d have a few rides here and there but nothing really to be getting carried away with.

But this is a funny old game and it ended up that I rode for Willie Mullins, Henry de Bromhead, Jessica Harrington and a Galway Plate winner for Gordon Elliott and to cap it all off, I was leading jump jockey for the week so it was unbelievable really.

One thing just led to another and I got on a few nice horses and it was only at 11.30am on Tuesday morning that I got on Clarcam in the Galway Plate. I suppose I was just in the right place at the right time.

Then Rovetta was a first reserve that got in for Jessica Harrington on the same day and I got a great kick out of that as she is owned by a good pal of mine, the rugby player, Sean O’Brien and a few of his friends but I think I might have put Sean off having a few quid on her!

He rang me and asked what the chances were and I just said it would be tough in her first handicap especially around Galway so I think he left her alone but she went and won so the lads are happy out and they’ll have great craic with her. Hopefully she’ll have 9st10lbs again the next day so Puppy (Power) won’t be able to get back on her!

That’s what life is like as a freelance. There is nothing nailed on, it’s just whatever is going spare and thank God I was lucky enough that I got on a few nice spares.

A lot of lads can look at the entries for a week like Galway and pick out what they’re going to ride whereas I just have a look at declarations the morning before racing to look and see what spares are going. Garry Cribbin is my agent and he does a brilliant job and we work well together that way.

Being a light weight is a huge help and without that I’d be proper struggling. The lightweights are my bread and butter. When I look at entries I start at the bottom and work my way up whereas most lads would start at the top and look down.

Freelance is tough and I suppose that is how I found myself asking Gordon for a job. I just found myself driving up and down the country doing unbelievable mileage, I could be in Cork one day and up the north the next and I was just all over the shop.

It was non stop putting diesel in a car, then I was paying rent, I have a family to support and it just wasn’t paying off as my riding fee’s were my only income. I just wasn’t making ends meet so something had to change.

I never got to the stage where I considered an alternative career or anything like that but I was a bit baffled for a while and didn’t know what I was going to do with myself. I suppose at Christmas time it clicked with me. I didn’t really get on anything with a real chance at Leopardstown or Limerick and you are just being beaten by Gordon and all these bigger trainers and I looked at the racecard and just said to myself ‘if I can’t beat them, I may as well join them’ so that was kind of it.

I gave Davy Condon a call one evening and mentioned to him about going to Gordon’s and he said absolutely so I said it to Gordon at Naas and I’d say it was a 12 second conversation. I asked him was there any chance of a job and he just said “Yeh, come in whenever you like” and that was it.

I was there a week or two when he just came up to me and said ‘keep your head down and mouth shut and work away and we’ll try and get you a few spins’ and last Wednesday I got one that counted, thank God.

I’m in Gordon’s four mornings a week and I’m here, there and everywhere after that. Gordon allows me to get away early if I need to and Tuesday’s and Friday’s there’s no bother there going away to meet other lads to ride work, there’s never any bother so it is mighty.

Gordon is a great man. When I look at entries and see he has 10 I never think I might ride one of them, I’ll get what I’m given and I’m delighted to ride whatever I get from him.

The winter horses are just coming back in now and Listowel time is when it really kicks into gear again so if we could keep it going and ride a few winners through August it would be great.

It’s all about keeping the name in the paper and the springboard for this year was getting the opportunity off JP McManus to ride Off You Go for Charles Byrnes at the Dublin Racing Festival and when you are riding for great people like that it makes it a bit easier. I’m getting huge support from Frank Berry and JP McManus and that is massive.

John Nicholson is a trainer that gives me a lot of good spins and has been very good to me and loyal to me. Then in Gordon’s you are riding the best of horses every day, it’s a great place to work and the lads there are mighty craic as well.

Things are super at the moment, life is great, racing is great and I’m riding for great people so long may that continue. Hopefully we can keep the head down and keep working because if I ease off the pedal now it is not going to pick back up so we’ll keep kicking.