Michael Carey

I was born in Downpatrick, Co Down and have always been in the Downpatrick area. I don't remember watching racing on the TV as such, but I do remember my mum taking me to just outside Downpatrick Racecourse(Jim Crow's Hill) to watch the racing. There used to be a lot of people there. It was outside the track, but you could always go down towards the start where the two-mile one-furlong hurdle races commenced. I remember listening to all the jockeys talking and, in particular, I remember standing down there when Terence McKeag was riding because I remember a horse called Rosemary Street throwing him off and him cursing back! My mum worked as a housekeeper in the house where the horse Bright Trick was bred, a grey horse that Brian Fitzsimons rode to give Frankie Fitzsimons his first winner on the track (hunter chase at Downpatrick in 1969).

From Spectator to Local Reporter

The Down Recorder used to put a photo in of maybe action at Tyrella point-to-point, but they never had a reporter. I sent them a story and was over the moon when they used it. About a year after that, I thought I should put something into the Mourne Observer. At that stage I was just going to Tyrella, Comber or Loughbrickland point-to-points to watch them. It got to the stage where I loved attending them. At the start, I didn't write too much in the reports for the papers but, as the years went by, they wanted more and more and more. Sometimes I would get a full page or it could be a two-page spread with photographs. Harry Marcus would have provided photos for the papers and, before Harry, I would have used Tommy Leckey. I also include reports from Downpatrick fixtures for the papers. I also wrote for the Down Democrat for a while.

The Voice of the Racecourse

The late Iain Duff, who worked at Downpatrick racecourse, wrote to me one day saying that he was looking for an announcer because Lindsay Osborne had given it up. Back then it was more difficult days with all the non runners and writing up the jockeys on the board. I started on £15 per meeting! Then one day as I was heading to Down Royal, Iain rang me and asked me to do the announcing there for him. I did both tracks for a long time. I really loved doing it - calling the 'winner alright' and doing the SPs, which I had to find my own way of getting (Oliver McCann and Vincent Finegan would have kindly given them to me).

One day I was at Tyrella and Barney Jones, the trainer who was associated with North Down point-to-point, asked if I would do the announcing as Michael Murray wasn't well. I did one meeting, and then I did Tyrella. As well as Kirkistown, I did Newry once and I did Crumlin a couple of times. These days I do East Down and North Down point-to-points. I've already been asked to do North Down at Kirkistown in November. I've got well used to it by now and I have a free hand at the point-to-points. I'll take a note of the horses declared for the later races and try to work ahead. You don't want to call the declarations out too soon because people might not be there. I usually call them out about 20 minutes before the race is due to go off. Once you get the first race over, it is easier. I would prefer point-to-point racing to the track. It is more homely and I would know most of the amateur jockeys. I would know nearly all of the northern jockeys to say hello to and also the southern jockeys that come north like Barry O'Neill and Rob James.

A Passion for Point-to-Point

There can be small fields at this time of the year in the north because three meetings come in a row. A handler knows that he/she can't run a horse three weeks in a row. Attempts have been made to space the northern fixtures out, but it hasn't happened yet. The first one was last Saturday in Mid Antrim at Toomebridge and this weekend is Route up at Portrush in Co Antrim, and then there is East Antrim at Loughanmore. They are all one week after the other. The alternative is that northern horses have to travel - Castletown-Geoghegan in Co Westmeath is not so bad to travel to for northern handlers, but some of the other point-to-points are further south.

I honestly couldn't see my life with racing as I've made so many friends through racing. Downpatrick is called the friendly track and the people from Downpatrick would all go there and support it which is great. I have to say the late racing journalist Jimmy Walker was a big influence on me. He rang me one time when he was stuck. He was writing something about the trainer Jeremy Maxwell and I found the information in a scrapbook I had. It meant a lot when he said to me that I did a great job writing up racing for the Down Recorder. Coming from Jimmy Walker, it meant the world to me. I got to know him very well and I wrote a tribute to him in the Down Recorder when he passed away.

Michael was in conversation with Michael Graham.

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About Michael Graham

Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.

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