Jane Davis

I'm from Goatstown in Dublin. I've always been involved in horses through my parents. My mum had ridden for my grand-aunt a good bit and, when I came along, I started with ponies and I just got bitten by the bug. Then when I was in transition year at school, I was riding a good bit for Buster Harty. I kept ponies there and Buster's daughter, Sabrina, rode out in Dermot Weld's. It was the year of foot and mouth and I was in transition year in school. Transition year was quite boring, so I asked my mum and dad could I stay down in Kildare and ride out with Sabrina for the rest of my transition year for that summer before going back to school. I had never sat on a racehorse before so I did a week with Gerry Stack who was a neighbour of the Hartys. Then I spent that summer riding out and that was really my first introduction to thoroughbreds and the racing industry.

I had never really been racing much before and after getting to see the Curragh, and the racing on the Curragh, I wanted to go to college to get a job within the thoroughbred industry. I kind of went down the business route. In my first college placement, I worked at the Curragh that summer as part of the team when Paul Hensey was the manager. It was back office, ticketing and administration and all that side of it. It was a big eye-opener. Then my post graduate work placement was at Leopardstown. I ended up staying in that role for five years, I was Marketing Executive there.

From Leopardstown, I went to Tipperary Racecourse where I was the manager for two years and learned so much in that role. I suppose you are much closer to the bone at a track with a small team. I was far more involved in the track side of things, dealing with trainers and the industry, preparing tracks and ground for those fixtures. I learned a huge amount in those two years. Then I came to Horse Racing Ireland in a racecourse marketing support role. I suppose marketing was always my kind of niche area and I was in a role for three years where I worked with all the racecourses in marketing support. I was part of the team that worked on the launch of Longines Irish Champions Weekend. It was incredible to be part of that team.

From there I got the opportunity to join Connolly's Red Mills and I've been there for the last five years. I'm the head of Equine Marketing. We have three brands - Red Mills is the feed, Foran Equine is equine supplements, and Carr & Day & Martin Horse care products is our newest care brand. We bought Carr & Day & Martin at the start of Covid in March 2020, so we have three equine brands which are sold globally. I'd be over a small marketing team that markets those three brands in all international markets.

Red Mills are big sponsors and would be my main sponsor for the Corinthian Challenge. The Corinthian Challenge is by far the largest annual fundraiser for the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund. Anyone can apply and it probably does help if you have got a degree of riding experience. There are 14 riders taking part this year. We went through an assessment in RACE (Racing Academy and Centre of Education) in Kildare where we get assessed on our riding skills and fitness. Then the 14 riders were selected. Each of us were tasked with raising over €10,000 for the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund and we get to take part in three charity races. The Curragh was the first one, the next one is at Gowran Park in September and then it wraps up at Leopardstown in October. It is a series and we get points based on our placings in each of the legs, and there will be an overall series winner.

It was possibly a bucket-list item. I have ridden horses all my life, but I had never really seriously considered ever taking part in a charity race. It was just something that clicked. Before Covid, I was possibly looking for a bit of a challenge and the guys brought it to my attention, and I just bit the bullet and said 'right Jane, be brave!' It has been on the back of my mind because I signed up two years ago and was hoping it would come back post-Covid. I ride out every morning before work for Tom Mullins and that's a currency I am so grateful to have. The riding out has kept me in the saddle. He trains out of the original home yard where Paddy Mullins would have trained. His gallop is the original woodchip gallop you'd see on the footage of Dawn Run being exercised on. It definitely wouldn't be lost on you how special a yard it is. He's just a real horseman and takes beautiful care of his horses.

Certainly, in the last couple of months I have done a lot of fitness work, running and going to the gym. Red Mills have a store in Kilkenny and upstairs above the store is the TJ Reid Health and Fitness Gym managed by Richard Connolly and TJ Reid, the hurler. The guys in there have been really helpful having worked with jockeys before, so they know the type of exertion required in riding a race. It is unique. I've been trying to do strength training for endurance and to strengthen my muscles. The more the donations came in, the more driven you were to stay going. It was a serious motivator.

There are so many people involved, particularly the owners and the trainers that put forward horses for us all to ride in the races. That is huge, I'm immensely grateful to Tom and the owner of Takarengo (Rita Byrne) to give me that chance to ride a lovely horse. I knew I was on a safe ride and I knew he would try for me. Through RACE, they did an offer for us to sign up at a discounted rate for coaching. I was lucky, I did some work with Paddy Flood. I went for a couple of lessons in RACE and that was great on the horse simulator. He's such a brilliant rider himself and a brilliant coach. One of the big things he told us was to know our track as best we could. When I went up for lessons, I would pull in on the way home and walk the track (Curragh). The valets looked after all our gear as we were all very green to the equipment, getting dressed, getting ready, weighing out. A few others taking part had ridden in maybe charity races before or point-to-points and things like that, but for the majority of us all it was very, very new.

Getting to the mile and a half start at the Curragh wasn't straightforward either, it was a bit of a hack! Getting there in one piece was part of it! Takarengo was super. Before the race we were all asked what way we all wanted to line up and Tom had said if I could be handy, and If I wanted to make it, he had no issue with that. Once he jumped off, he just bounced into a lovely rhythm. I was very lucky, he was very straightforward. It all happened so quickly, I couldn't believe it when we were at the two pole already. Pulling up was my biggest trouble! I think the horse just enjoyed it, he was race fit as he had his run in Leopardstown 10 days before with Charlie (Mullins). I think there are photos of me passing the line and my face is one of pure and utter disbelief, shock and relief.

I think everyone's advice was to try and breathe through the race. I didn't breathe after the winning line! To be fair to him, he came down through the gears himself. Pulling up, I had never experienced an adrenaline rush like it. It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself and catch my breath. It was a serious rush. 'Home turf' at Gowran Park will be brilliant. It is a couple of weeks away and I've two show horses going to the Dublin Horse Show first, so my focus is on that and then it will be firmly back on the Corinthian Challenge. I love riding horses, racehorses or show horses it doesn’t matter, a nice horse is a nice horse! I'm very aware of how lucky I am to have had that experience at the Curragh and I just hope in the next two races I put in two safe, clear rounds. I reached my target (on Just Giving), but people can donate to the others on the Corinthian Challenge Just Giving page where the profiles of all the riders can be read.