Charlie O'Dwyer

I’m 20 years of age and am delighted with the way things are going in my riding career. I’ve had four winners this season and had my claim reduced to 5lb after winning on Goodnightngodbless for James Motherway at Wexford last month.

I’ve also won twice at Ballinrobe lately on Aidan Howard’s Can’t Stop Smiling and those two mares are owned by JP McManus. I‘ve ridden seven or eight winners for Mr McManus and he’s been great, so hopefully any other opportunities he’s willing to give me I’ll take.

Touch wood the weight’s very good and I can still ride a bit on the Flat as well. I started on the Flat when I was 16 and had a couple of winners that first season but I was probably still quite weak.

I had my first jumps winner on Thyestes Day last year so I’m very pleased with how things have gone, and the number of winners I’ve ridden, since then and I feel I’m getting stronger and better all the time. A lot of lads fly through their claim and it either works or it doesn’t, unfortunately it probably doesn’t work more often than not, but I’m happy with the pace of the progress I’m making.

Ballybawn Belter winning at this year’s festival at Punchestown was certainly a highlight. It was unbelievable because Punchestown is sort of my local track and it was a great day for myself and my parents and to do it for Mr McManus was brilliant.

I missed out on my Dad Conor’s riding career because I was still so young at the time and he didn’t put any pressure on me to follow in his footsteps. I always wanted to be a jockey but as a kid I was terrified of riding horses. All I wanted to do was ride them and be around them, but my Mam Audrey was the one who kept me at them because she knew I wanted to do it. She grew up just down the road from Dessie Hughes’ yard and that’s where she would have started riding. I was stone mad into ponies and when I was around 12 or 13 I got one really good pony and once I was away on him, that was it and I haven’t had an ounce of fear since which has maybe been a problem!

I only had one ride in a pony race and ended up coming off and Mam wasn’t keen on that route for me. She’s still a bit nervous watching me race-ride but she’d much rather watch me over hurdles and fences than on the Flat. She has a bit more confidence watching me over jumps since bringing me hunting and doing things with the ponies as a young lad.

When I went to Newbridge College the teachers knew the path I was on and tried their best to point me towards other options but I was having none of it! I wasn’t a big fan of school at all and was a bit too light-framed for rugby but did a lot of showjumping with the school team which was great fun and we competed at Hickstead.

It was always the plan to go jumping. I always thought the weight would get a bit heavier a bit quicker but it held and that’s why I kept going on the Flat a bit longer than I probably wanted, but it was no harm because riding on the Flat sharpens you up and tidies you up and it’s brilliant to be able to do it and to still have the option to do it.

I love riding over fences and, in all honesty, maybe prefer riding over them more so than hurdles. It’s a slower pace and a bit easier to spot a stride, I find, so that suits me.

Garry Cribbin is my agent and has been particularly good for me at the big festivals. He got me the ride on Milan Native for Gordon Elliott in this year’s Irish Grand National and another ride at Easter for Willie. It was great to get a spin in the big race, especially in the Gigginstown colours.

Once I started riding racehorses at 13 or 14 and Dad knew I wanted to really make a go of it as a jockey, he took over the scene then and he’s been behind me every step of the way. When I started to concentrate on jumping he was adamant that I should try and visit as many yards as I could and see how things operate differently in them and I’ve spent time with Henry de Bromhead and Enda Bolger amongst others. I think there isn’t a big yard in the country that I haven’t been to and I’ve been to a lot of smaller yards too. It’s a massive benefit to trainers I ride for if I know how they like things done, and that helps me to figure out what might suit a certain horse or what mightn’t.

I’m based at my father’s yard most of the time during the summer and also ride work or school for other Curragh trainers, or for Enda Bolger if he brings horses up. In the winter time I go down to Willie Mullins the odd day and that’s an unbelievable place to ride in.

I am interested in the training side of things but trying to compete with the bigger yards is the daunting side of things, I suppose. It’s just the way things have gone and Dad, like a lot of trainers on his scale, probably is feeling the pinch a bit but he has some very loyal owners including my sponsor Thomas Clarke whose company Circuit Electric is based in Wexford.

I think we have a nice team of winter horses for later in the season so I’m really looking forward to them and we have two really nice two-year-olds, a Ribchester and an Elzaam, that we’re excited about. As hard as it is to make money as a trainer, you have to have those two-year-olds or even store horses that you can bring along and try to get your few quid out of, that’s what is needed for the smaller trainers.