Niall Moore

Gortnahoe in north Tipperary is my homeplace and I'm from a very sporty family.

My sister is on the Tipperary ladies county football team and my brother plays hurling for the local club Gortnahoe-Glengoole who were the county Intermediate champions in 2020. I play hurling myself but it's hard to get the chance to play much at the moment because of my riding commitments. Shane Long is from the village and played hurling before moving on to his football career. We'd see him around when he's back from England and he's a sound fella. My parents and family come to meetings to watch me riding as much as they can and it's great to have their support. I'm based at home at the moment and am enjoying that. There's plenty to be said for it!

I'm related to John and Julie Burke from Holycross and watched them race-riding when I was growing up. They've been a big help to me, and also trainer John Nicholson who is based near us.

My uncle Sean Moore is a huntsman with the Golden Vale Hunt and I went out hunting with him a lot when I was younger. That was my first experience with horses. I went to RACE and, after completing the apprentice course there, did my time with Johnny Murtagh. My weight meant it wasn't really an option to ride on the Flat, although funny enough I never grew much bigger after the age of 16 when I was around 9 stone. It was great experience riding work on the gallops at the Curragh and then, at weekends, I went to John Nicholson's and rode out for him. He had a smart Flat horse called Another Batt at that time who went on to do well in Britain and a good novice chaser called Benruben, so I was lucky to sit on some talented horses straightaway.

John was able to put me in touch with Evan Williams and I moved over to his yard in Wales where I spent fifteen months and rode three winners. Evan and stable jockey Adam Wedge were very good to me and I learned plenty. Adam was very accommodating, you could ring him for advice any time and he'd put you right on a few things and applaud you when you'd done something well.

I felt the time was right to come back and I got a chance to join Gordon Elliott's yard. It was great to be associated with such a powerful stable. I'd be good friends with Sam Ewing who has done so well since linking up with Gordon. I got the chance to ride out and school with the likes of Davy Russell who was someone I looked up to when I was following racing as a young lad. It'll be good to be competing against Davy again now that he has decided to come back and I won't be sneaking up his inner or anything like that! Gordon continues to give me plenty of opportunities and hopefully I'll ride a winner for him in the near future.

Philip Fenton was looking for a conditional and I joined him last March. He's based around half an hour from me in Carrick On Suir. I'm in Philip's every morning and then go on to ride out for some other trainers and I also do some work with pre-training horses later in the day. So at this time of year I'm kept busy until it's dark. I enjoy it and it keeps the weight down.

I've had three winners for Philip this season and went close at Leopardstown over Christmas on his horse Gali Flight. He was a brilliant and brave rider and is a great mentor to me. He's always giving me advice and is great on tactics and where to sit in a race.

A double at Down Royal on Stephen's Day, where I rode winners for Ray Cody and Seamus Fahey, was a super Christmas present and I'm now on six winners for the season which is my best tally so far. John Nicholson advised me to link up with agent Garry Cribbin, who he described as the best in the business, and he looks after Brian Hayes as well who is first jockey to Philip. I'll be 23 in August and I still have 16 winners left with my 7lb claim so hopefully things will keep going well for the rest of the season.