Shane O'Callaghan

I'm from Keady in Armagh. I always grew up around horses and ponies with my father and grandfather. I'd say from the age of three or four all I wanted to do was be a jockey, get on a horse and see how fast it could go. I learned to ride through my grandfather - three or four years on ponies bareback which is obviously a big help now when it comes to balance. Whenever I left school, I worked on Saturdays for John Woods on the outskirts of Armagh. Then I ended up going to CAFRE (College of Agriculture Food & Rural Enterprise) in Enniskillen and on the summer holidays I went on work placement to Lady Jane Gillespie. I ended up working there for nearly a year and got great experience. Mattie Bowes was there at the time and It was great to learn off him as well. I was also riding for Paddy Fegan when he had his training licence.

Things progressed from there and I ended up going to Anthony McCann's where I stayed for nearly three years. When I went to him, I was an amateur at the start and had three rides in point-to-points. I was light at the time carrying a lot of lead, so he asked me would I go apprentice. I said I would because I just wanted to ride. I ended up having two rides on the Flat and said it wasn't for me, so I decided to go conditional.

I rode my first winner in September 2018 in Downpatrick on a horse called Authorative for (owner) Rita Shah. It was great to ride a winner that day as that would be my local track. Anthony was very good to me but then he had more horses for the Flat at Dundalk, so I moved to Ted Walsh. I started going out with a girl who worked for Ted and he offered me a job. I thought it would have been silly to say no to Ted given who he is. I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and moved down here and I am still with Ted two and a half years later. Ted is an absolutely brilliant teacher for any young person - he's not afraid to tell you when you are wrong, he's also not afraid to tell you when you are right.

A lot of people would say their most notable winner was the first one on the track but for me it was actually my second winner. I rode my first winner and thought it was going to be handy enough. I didn't ride my second winner (New Society in Fairyhouse for Keith Watson) for another two and a half years. I nearly enjoyed the second one more than the first.

Ross O'Sullivan is Ted's son-in-law. I just started riding work for him up in the Curragh or riding lots out whenever he needs me. I struck up a good association with Favori Logique. I won three in a row on him (in August and September last year), he's been a brilliant horse for me. I'm very open to taking outside rides and Ted is a brilliant man for that as if I'm always available to go riding or schooling for anybody, he is the first man to tell me to go.

I have eight winners this season and four of them have been for Ross, with the others for Ted, Keith Watson and Robert Tyner. It has been a great season and hopefully it will continue to the end of Punchestown. I'll just try and ride as many winners and make as many contacts as I can until then. I have 15 winners left as a 7lb claimer. I do 9st or 9st 1lb nearly every day, so I can claim off bottom weight without struggling. The aim at the end of it all is to ride out my claim but I'm just going to continue progressing my riding as much as I can. Also, I want to make as many outside contacts as I can. Hopefully the winners will come after that and hopefully next season I will continue to do the same.

Without a doubt the best horse I have sat on has been Any Second Now. The only time I would ride him is when I'm schooling him at Ted's. There's a couple of girls in the yard - Katie and Chloe - would ride him all the time and then when he is going to school, I ride him. He just gives you a feel schooling that he is a different horse altogether in terms of ability than what I usually sit on.

I really enjoy riding Kildorrery for Ted. He is quite a difficult horse to ride, so he obviously improves your riding a lot. I also love riding Batcio, he always runs well. He was third at the Dublin Racing Festival (in the Grade B Paddy Power Handicap Steeplechase). He was only beaten just over three lengths and galloped all the way to the line. I also rode Whatsnotoknow for Mouse Morris that day, he ran very well and finished fourth over three miles in a Grade B handicap hurdle.

That was my first experience of the Dublin Racing Festival. It was probably my biggest day in racing and a completely different atmosphere to anything I have experienced before. Obviously, the nerves are a bit different as you are going out in front of a packed stand. You are used to going racing and riding in front of trainers and stable staff (during the Covid-19 pandemic). To experience the Dublin Racing Festival the way it was this year was something else. The crowd made a massive difference.

Growing up it was always the Grand National I wanted to win and for the time being it still is the Grand National. I'd absolutely love a spin around Aintree at some stage.