Conor with his son Charlie
I'm from Wexford Town and I didn't have anything to do with horses or the horse industry initially - mum was a matron in Wexford General Hospital and dad was an accountant in a few different firms.
As a kid in primary school I met John Berry and became very friendly with him. We used to go up to his house after school and I got a bit of a love for the ponies up there. I rode ponies with him and basically that is where it all started from. I didn't know much about the horse industry but, from then, I wanted to be a jockey. Why? I don't know as there wasn't much of it on television and at that time I don't think I was even going up to the racecourse in Wexford. Something was in the head and that was it!
Before and after school, I used to cycle out to Liam Codd's yard. It was about five miles from my house. I would cycle there in the morning and he would drop me into school and he would pick me up again at 3.30pm and I'd go back there for the evening. Homework was sort of pushed aside! I loved it and I did that from the age of nine or 10. i also rode out there on school holidays. My mum and dad then bought a pony trekking school in Rosslare when I was about 12. We ran that for two or three years and then I went to the apprentice school in Kildare when I was 14. During your year in the apprentice school, you're placed with a trainer and I was placed with Frank Oakes. At the end of the year the trainer decided if he wanted to keep you and the apprentice decided if they wanted to stay. I did, and I signed on as a Flat jockey. It was probably silly as I was a little bit heavy and I was never going to ride much on the Flat. At the time I suppose there weren't many people to steer me in the right direction.
Frank gave me my first ride on Davy's Hall at Roscommon in 1984 and I just quietly crept away from there. A filly, Gayfield, gave me my first winner a couple of years later in a claiming professional bumper in the old Limerick racecourse over Christmas. It was a memorable day - I remember there was a stewards enquiry as I had drifted a long way across the track, but we held on and kept it. I remember being so happy the whole way home in the lorry with the mare. There were no mobile phones at the time, so you couldn't ring your mum or dad, you had to wait until you got home to the phone box. I was with Frank for about another two years and then we had a little bit of a falling out. His wife was quite sick, which I didn't know at the time, and I was left to nearly run the yard. It just got very hard and I kind of got a bit disillusioned with working. I ended up coming back to Wexford, but I couldn't ride because Frank didn't release my apprentice indentures. It got a bit messy, but we sorted everything out after Frank's wife sadly passed away.
Padge Berry was John's uncle and was training in Wexford. At that time, I was working in a small yard with Peter O'Leary just down from Padge's. I remember Padge rang me and said he wanted to meet me that evening. I met him and he asked what I was doing, and I said I was happy where I was and enjoying. He said it was too small and I wasn't going to get anywhere. He said to me I was either going to David Nicholson in England or Francis Flood. He had the phone in his hand and he said he was going to ring one or the other! I said I didn't want to go away to England, so he picked up the phone and I started in Francis Flood's the following Monday. I loved it. Frank Berry was there and he took me under his wing straight away. It was a great yard and a very busy yard, and totally different to what I was used to. There was a lot of good jumping horses and a lot of schooling. Frank minded me and he got me other rides. He was so highly thought of that if he dropped the word, you were in on something else. Francis gave me a great chance and it was a fantastic start in life.
Being relatively injury free during my career was massive. To be able to take a job when it was offered or take a ride on a specific horse when it is was there was amazing because, if you missed that, somebody gets that slot and you don't get back in. I was unbelievably lucky all my career with jobs and with good horses - they just came along at the right time. For whatever reason, I just loved the big day. I never felt it was pressure going to Cheltenham or Aintree for some reason. I really relished the big day. To start riding those sort of horses - Imperial Call (Gold Cup winner 1996), Hardy Eustace (back-to-back Champion Hurdle winner in 2004 and 2005) and War Of Attrition (Gold Cup winner 2006) - in the latter part of my career was amazing. I was 30 when I rode Imperial Call and you think when you go past 24/25 you are kind of done. I had an amazing 10 years of good horses and it probably couldn't have come at a better time because you appreciated it more, you were able to take it. I think lads are getting things too young in this generation - they not able for it and not mature enough. I think it was a better time back then. There was no doubt about Hardy Eustace's attribute - it was just a will to win. He had an unbelievable hardiness about him and he would never give up. You'd see horses that might have more class than him, they are flashier than him but, at the end of the day, he was the one you wanted on your side. He got the job done, he was there to be counted at the end.
Even without Imperial Call, War Of Attrition and Hardy Eustace, I would say Native Upmanship (winner of the Grade 1 Melling Chase at Aintree in 2002 and 2003) and Youlneverwalkalone (Grade 1 Hatton's Grace winner at Fairyhouse in 2000) were bang there in my memories. Myself and Mouse Morris were friends and I worked for him for years. I was nearly 41 when I rode War Of Attrition for him in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and to ride a Gold Cup winner at that age was amazing. There was something special with War Of Attrition and myself. We really gelled and I had so much confidence in him. He probably does just shade it as my favourite, but the others were massive as well.
Conor winning the 2005 Champion Hurdle on Hardy Eustace
I never had any thoughts about training because I'd been in so many different yards and saw the difficulties and how trying it was. It didn't really appeal to me at all, but I suppose towards the end of my career, obviously being older, it appealed to me somewhat. I think it was when Michael O'Leary (Gigginstown House Stud) asked me how long I was going on for and I said I would probably pack up in that year. He just presumed I was going training and he said he would support me. I thought then I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth as it was a great opportunity to start off. That got me into it and it is something that I really dearly love. My first winner was Hangover for Gigginstown in a bumper at Punchestown in 2008.
Back in 2011/2012 we had a good year with 14 National Hunt winners. We had a nice few Gigginstown horses at the time and a nice few JP McManus horses. Looking back, to have those years was great but, unfortunately for whatever reason, we just didn't build on it to get more horses. Then the crash came and it was hard to get going. Nowadays, though, the cost of things has got so expensive and it is hard to keep going. There are times when you go through a spell without a winner and you are thinking what's it all about. To have my son Charlie (jockey) there keeps me going a bit as well, in fairness, because I want to support him. The joy I get out of him riding a winner for us is amazing. He is pretty open to advice. You want to give him as much as you can, but there's a cut-off point as well. The likes of Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty are very good to him. Ruby would often ring him on the way home. It is better for them to be trying to give him the advice than me really. Coming from the 'old man' is not as easy to take! We have around 20 horses in and it is not enough. There's always a few injured. You kind of need a minimum of 30. We are always open for more horses as we have boxes for about 35.
I think Battle It Out is a horse with a future if he keeps progressing and doing things the way he has been doing things. He's still a little bit weak behind but, what he did in Naas last month, I didn't expect to see. I expected a big run, I fancied him, but I didn't expect to see that sort of performance. It was a 45 grand race and the way he jumped throughout the race was fantastic. A small yard needs that sort of horse to put them in lights a little bit. In Navan, in about two weeks time, there is the final of the EBF novice series. It is a Listed novice handicap over 2m7f and I'd like to go there. We'll see then - if Punchestown was soft, maybe. If he did well in Navan, though, I wouldn't be sorry to see him go back to Martinstown for a few months. He has learned so much this year. I think you can often do too much with those novices at times and, obviously, the man who owns him (JP McManus) is the most patient man in the world. It is great that we have him.
I was over at Cheltenham on Monday for a 'Legends Lunch' to celebrate 100 years of the Gold Cup. I hadn't seen Graham McCourt and Graham Bradley for a long time. It was a good day and great to catch up with lads, and it was a great idea. If Galopin Des Champs turns up in his true form, I think he is definitely the best horse in the race (Cheltenham Gold Cup today). Now as we saw with El Fabiolo on Wednesday (pulled up in Queen Mother Champion Chase), things change. I think if he does everything right, the ground will suit him and I think he'll travel and jump. I had a little fancy for Martin's horse (Brassil, Fastorslow), I thought he'd get a bit closer, but I'm not sure the softer ground is going to help him. Without knocking Galopin Des Champs, I suppose there are times that he hasn't turned up at his best and maybe he doesn't always but, when he does, I think he is a long way ahead of them really.
Conor was in conversation with Michael Graham
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