Glen Norris © Photo Healy Racing
I'm from a village in Waterford called Lemybrien, just outside Dungarvan. My father bought us a pony when I was probably 10 or 11. I went to pony school and learned how to ride there. My father had an interest in horses. I loved the pony and rode the pony every day after school and even jumped the pony, but I became allergic to horse hair in the sense of eyes flaring up, sneezing, coughing and getting a rash. We moved the pony on, but it never left me. I always wanted to ride horses.
My father became a bookmaker when I was 13 or 14 and I ended up going racing helping him at point-to-points and so on. I fell into other jobs in racing working for other bookmakers. I remember my first job was working for Noel Cummins who was a fantastic person and bookmaker. For some reason his clerk was sick or didn't turn up for Listowel Festival. Back then I think it was four days, but it was four days of absolutely packed racing. Noel was friendly with my father and asked my father could he have me for the day, and I was thrown in at the deep end. Back then it was just pencilling on a book. I survived the ordeal! I ended up working for Noel for the week. Noel recommended me to other bookmakers and I ended up working for say 75 per cent of bookmakers back then. I was 16 at that time. When I started working for bookmakers, that was me and school finished. It was a different era back then as you could leave school early because you could go straight into a job. I was willing to work and my parents didn't mind. I worked for the bookmakers, so I could see the horses and the jockeys. I loved watching the races. I could always envision myself on the horses, but I had the allergy.
I was about 20 when I went back to pony school and I was probably the oldest guy in pony school! After a couple of weeks at pony school, the allergy reduced. I knew then that I had kind of outgrown it. I had moved to Dublin and I was riding out in the mornings in the Curragh for Frank Berry, Mick O'Toole and Pat O'Leary, and then I'd work in the betting shop during the day or else go racing. I always wanted to go back to Lemybrien, so I saved up enough money to come back to buy a site in Lemybrien. I then got a job riding out for Pat Flynn. From the moment I went into Pat's, I gelled straight away. I loved going in there and riding the horses and he was very easy to work for. He gave me my first opportunity and I am still really good friends with Pat. I never sat on Montelado (Cheltenham Champion Bumper winner 1992 and Supreme Novices Hurdle winner 1993), but he was there. Horses like French Ballerina and Flagship Uberalles were there. I remember seasons at Pat's where we had 40 to 50 winners. Every horse in the yard had won races - the likes of Right Job and By Charlie Allen. I remember Pat's earlier days of Sweet Charmer and From The Hip. Brilliant horses there and a great place to work.
Glen on Hes Our Music in a charity race at Punchestown in May 2015© Photo Healy Racing
On my fifth ride, I rode a winner. Noel Cummins always said that the day I rode my first winner in Tralee (25th August 1998) was the day that Christy Roche retired from the saddle. He always slagged me that Christy knew his time was up! She was called Maid In Blue. Back then there were 20-odd runners in bumpers and Pat had said to get her out nice and early and have her in the first four or five. When she shied at the tape, I went from being first to jump to being stone last. I didn't panic, I just said 'Plan Z now!'. I went from being last to being first after two furlongs and she won by 12 lengths. I actually clerked in the betting ring that day for the first five races for a bookmaker called John Boyle and then got togged out and rode my first winner. I stayed in Killarney that night and went out for a meal and celebratory drink. Justin Carthy (bookmaker) came into a pub and bought a bottle of champagne. Funny enough, I really did think she was going to win but I didn't jinx myself by saying it. I remember saying to my mother that I would win and when I was about to cross the line I'd give her a wave and I did! I remember saying to myself that if I ever rode a winner I would be slow to pull up, so that at least when I got back to the winners enclosure there might be someone there! I actually couldn't pull her up, she could have probably gone around again. I pulled her up and the first person I met was Pat Healy photographer who I was really friendly with and I'll never forget the smile on his face. He was delighted that I was able to ride a winner and he took my picture. Noel Cummins was the second person to congratulate me and when I came into the parade ring it exploded. Every bookmaker that I had worked for, and hadn't worked for, came down to congratulate me. Pat is still slagging me about waving at the line, he still does these impressions of me waving and he does it to tell the other lads not to do what I did!
I still worked in the betting ring but, once I rode that winner, I wanted to work more with riding horse and I did. I was lucky enough to ride a few more horses. Pollardsfield was a great horse for me - I won two bumpers on him (Cork, November 1999 and April 2000). He definitely was the best horse I rode, he just had an engine. Every time you squeezed him, you'd feel him go through the gears. It is like driving a fast car when you put the boot down more and it gets quicker. Every time you sat lower into the seat and grabbed the reins, you could feel him go through the gears. Pat Flynn was then getting more into the Flat and training Flat horses. Rides ended up drying up and we didn't have many bumper horses. I had broken my collarbone three times and that was niggling. I also had an interest in motorcycles and went to France on a motorcycle and had a very, very bad accident down in the south of France which I was probably lucky to walk away from. I broke fingers, ribs, my clavicle, my scapula and I was out for a couple of months. That definitely put an end to me riding out for a while. I fell in love with motorcycling after horse riding and I started racing motorcycles for the next couple of years. I did the circuits in Ireland and I did every big track in the UK. I rode my own bikes, but I did get a bit of sponsorship. Pat O'Leary and his son Gerard O'Leary (trainer) sponsored me. I did that for maybe four or five years. The serious accident didn't put me off. If anything, it made me more determined. I knew it was my fault. I still ride my bike over to Cheltenham and I rode over to Aintree last year. I've been all over Europe on a bike.
I was still working for various bookmakers, but then I went outside my comfort zone and trained to be an internal auditor. I also trained to be a technician for Diageo seven or eight years. I did it for six months but it wasn't for me. I think it was the fact that I left school early and I was never qualified to do anything, so I wanted to have some qualifications. I grew up working in the betting ring with my father and that industry has given me a life and whatever I have, so I never turn my back on it if somebody asks me to help out. Pat O'Hare's crew rang me, through Paddy Orr, the night before Thyestes day in Gowran Park as they needed someone and I said yes. I would never let down anybody who asks me to work for them.
I met Henry de Bromhead at the races in Clonmel and I didn't know Henry well, but I did know him and he knew me. I asked him and he said 'Yes, come down and ride out'. That was maybe six, seven or eight years ago and I've been with Henry ever since. I ride out for him a couple of days a week and I ride whatever I am down to ride. He has given me a lot of the nice ones to be fair - Minella Indo, Heart Wood, Bowmore - and I love going down. If I could go down there every day, I would but I work for SIS part-time and I do a bit of work for Coursetrack putting the trackers in the number cloths in the weigh room and I like that as well. If Carlsberg can write lives, I've got one! I've such a variety in racing.
Your first winner is probably your best day in racing because you never actually think it will happen. I achieved something that I always wanted to achieve. I didn't give up with the allergy and starting late. I knew deep down it would happen but, when it did happen, you can't believe it. It was a fantastic day. I love racing and I love horses more so. It is the best industry you could ever work in, in my opinion, because every day is different. You only get back out of something what you put into it and it wasn't hard work for me as I loved every bit of it. I still do. I love the people in it, my best friends are in it. You are outdoors and looking at great racing. As far as it goes for me, there isn't much better than going racing and working in the horse racing industry.
Glen was in conversation with Michael Graham
