Hi, my name is Kieran McGrath, I am 16 years old and I
am from West Waterford, Ireland. My brother first got me into horses when he
got broodmares, that he kept on the family farm at home. He would take me with
him to different stud farms, like Castlehyde and Grange, when he was getting
the mares covered. It was from then I started to show a keen interest in
horses.
I started riding ponies at a local riding school when
I was 11, after 2 years I got my own pony that I hunted with the West Waterford
Hunt, which I loved. I also went show jumping in Ballyrafter every Friday with
my pony and I really enjoyed that as well. When I turned 14, my brother got me
into Ashtown Stud in Kilmacthomas working for Paul Shanahan. My brother is the
manager there. I worked at the weekends and whenever I was off school. While I
was there, I learned a lot about the breeding side of the racing industry and
my brother showed me the ropes of a breeding yard. I got lots of opportunities
to go to Coolmore Stud with the mares that had to be covered.
My brother often brought me racing to racecourses like
the Curragh. I also got to go Tattersalls as my brother often had foals selling
there. After 2 years at Ashtown Stud, my boss Paul Shanahan got me into Joseph o
Brien’s during the summer, for 8 weeks. I was nervous enough going there as I
had no experience riding racehorses but the lads in the yard helped me a lot
and I got on really well there.
I decided to apply for RACE as it was always a dream
of mine to become a successful jockey and I had also seen how successful many
of the graduates of RACE were. I first attended an open day and then went up
for the trial week which was tough, both mentally and physically, but I enjoyed
it a lot. When I got the news that I got accepted for the course I was over the
moon and couldn’t wait for August to come around.
We are now on week 24 and I have learned so much about
racing and my riding has improved greatly. I got sent out to Johnny Murtaghs in
November which I was delighted with as I always looked up to him growing up and
to get the chance to work for him is great. I have become a much better rider
since I started at Johnny’s and hopefully I keep on improving. I am delighted
with how the course has gone so far and cannot wait to see what the future has
in store.
Kieran was placed with Johnny Murtagh on the 19th of November
2018.
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