Joey Sheridan

My father Mel was a jockey and was apprenticed to John Oxx. He would have ridden at the same time as Ray Carroll and Donal Manning who I would be good friends with now. Donal is riding out in Donnacha O'Brien's at the moment. My dad went over to Jimmy Fox then to start riding jump horses when he got a bit heavy for the Flat. He got a bad fall when breaking yearlings one winter and they wouldn't give him his licence back. Sea The Stars would have been my first memory of watching racing because my father took a keen interest in him. My mother and father got me a pony and I was always obsessed from a very young age about jockeys and racing. It was all I could think of.

I had 50 to 60 pony racing winners and I had a good stint at it. I met a lot of good people and made a lot of connections through it, people who still would ring and text me to this day if I ride a big winner. There was a fair batch of us pony racing at that time - even from Tipperary alone there was Shane Crosse, Nathan Crosse, Andy Slattery, Ben Coen and Gavin Ryan. That was some crew and on top of that, you had Dylan Browne McMonagle and Darragh O'Keeffe. My father would have often brought Shane and I back from pony racing. You'd get to know them all and you'd be staying down with the lads. That's how I got to know Brian Dunleavy who would be one of my very good friends. He is doing very well point-to-pointing.

The first yard I started out in was David Wachman's, I went there for a summer. David retired at the end of that summer and he sent me to Ballydoyle where I spent two, two and a-half years. That was unbelievable. When I was there, I remember riding the likes of Hydrangea and Rhododendron. Order Of St George would have been there and I ride a lot his offspring now in Denis Hogan's. Aidan O'Brien was good for advice. I kind of wanted to get my licence then. It was Liam Healy and Stevie Ryder who mentioned to me that I should go to Denis as he was up-and-coming. He was having a lot of runners on the Flat and was really starting to get going. They said to Denis and I went in there one morning. Denis asked when could I start and, in fairness to Denis, after I rode my first winner, I was practically riding the whole yard. That's probably the reason I have got to where I am now.

Eastern Racer was my first winner (Dundalk, April 2019) and he was expected to win. I just wanted to get the job done more than anything else. I remember he had been running over seven furlongs and he was stepped up to a mile in a claimer. I just had to follow them around and get there late. It worked out well. I rode for James McAuley (owner of Eastern Racer) from the start. I rode my first winner for James and Stephen McAuley, and Jim (Gough), my winner to lose the 10lb claim, my winner to lose the 7lb claim, and my first stakes winner (Sceptical in Listed Woodlands Stakes at Naas, June 2020). In fairness to James, he still says to this day that I would have ridden Sceptical in Ascot and the July Cup. The only reason I didn't ride him because it was through Covid-19 and 7lb claimers weren't allowed to ride in England at the time. I am certain that if he wasn't fatally injured, he would have been my Group One winner. He was an aeroplane. If I was to ride a sprinter now, I'd assess it on how good Sceptical was. I suppose it is all about experience. You can only base how good a horse is on the experience you have. I had a fair idea how good Fozzy Stack's Two Stars was because I had ridden Sceptical.

I'd say I hadn't even ridden at all the racecourses in Ireland when I had the Group One ride on Princess Zoe in the Prix Du Cadran in France (ParisLongchamp, October 2020). I went over there as an 18-year-old in my second-year riding and I hadn't been on a plane in years. I went there on Arc weekend, with nobody there, at the height of Covid-19. I was still claiming 5lb at the time and I think I had only ridden 40 winners, so it was a big thing. The whole of Ireland would have been watching and wanting her to win. Alkuin went off in front by about 20 lengths and I got him in the last 50 metres. I had never ridden over two and a-half miles, but I had ridden over two miles. I remember talking to loads of people like Fran Berry, who I still talk to today about certain races. Pat Healy gave me Jamie Spencer's number and I spoke to Donal Manning. Tony Mullins was very good through that because there was a lot of good riders ringing for the ride and he was being asked why he was using a 5lb claimer. Tony's thing was that I knew her well. I'd like to see more claimers getting opportunities in those types of races once they can ride. I think it can be over thought in a way. Once you go out and walk the track once or twice, and you have a brain in your head, it doesn't matter what age you are. I remember Tony had her in a 45-70 in Roscommon (June 2020) and I rang Tony for the ride and he said grand. She was a non runner that day as she was in season. I was riding for Denis on her next outing at Navan where Shane Foley rode her. I always kept an eye on her as I was down to ride her. I rang Tony after she won the GPT (in Galway, July 2020) and he said I could ride her on the Saturday. I won on her that day in Galway and then I won a Listed race (Galway, September 2020) on her as a 5lb claimer. I was just hoping and praying I would keep the ride on her in a Group One. I remember going to Navan and Tony rang me to say I would ride her in the Group One. I rode like a man possessed that day in Navan!

Shane Crosse was actually over there that day with me riding for Joseph O'Brien and he was just touched off in the Group One race (on Pista) two races beforehand. We went out and walked the track. Between us making our own assumptions of the track, and talking to Tony and his brother Willie Mullins and plenty of other people, I was well informed. Tony and Willie kept telling me that it was a long way around and the ground was absolutely bottomless. Obviously, she had never run over the trip and I was to ride her to get the trip, but to ride her like the best horse in the race and to be confident. I knew I had to deliver and it was as good a chance of any to ride a Group One winner that soon. I felt the whole way in the false straight, and the whole way into the straight down to probably 150/100 metres out, that I had the leader. I remember pulling my stick through and going for a fresh hold and then thinking 'gees this lad isn't coming back' but, the last 50 metres, I knew she was rallying again and I knew I was going to get up. It was relief to be honest. Tony never put any pressure on me, but I had pressure on myself. Paddy Kehoe (owner) was always very good to ride for. I still ride for Tony to this day.

I think one of the main things I concentrated on this year was to eliminate mistakes. I always used to say to myself that I always had double the number of seconds that I had winners, sometimes even triple. I always said to myself if I halved those second places and turned them into winners, I'd be well up in the table. This year I've only had nine or 10 runner-ups since March. With the number of winners I have ridden, it is my best year. I'd love to get to 40 winners, I think it would be a solid number in Ireland. I didn't become a jockey to be one of these half-way people. I remember my poor old mother saying to me 'if you're doing this, you're doing it properly'. From Aidan's when I was very young to transitioning then to Denis', and the people I am riding for now, they are all very hard-working people. I have picked up a few rides for Ger Lyons and plenty of other good people this year and I've made a lot of connections. Joseph is a gentleman and it is a privilege to ride for him and for Willie. It is a big confidence booster to be riding for those lads. A lot of trainers have gone up to Denis and Fozzy this year and have said I'm not doing anything wrong and that they will use me if they can. One thing I'm proud to say is that the people I started out with, I'm still with today. I've never had any fallouts and I like to think that my riding has been good enough to keep those associations. Between Denis, Fozzy and other people I rode for when I was claiming, they still put me up to this day no matter how good or bad the horse is. You don't want to be in and out with trainers and falling out, I wouldn't be like that anyway.

I'd love to keep building connections in Ireland and keep building on every year - if I keep getting better every year, and riding more winners every year, that would keep bringing me up the table. You only have to look at the riders ahead of me, it shows the quality in Ireland. I'm having a good year and I'm still ninth. It was great to see Colin Keane winning a Group 1 (on Kalpana at Ascot last Saturday). He Is fairly flying the flag for a lot of us in Ireland with the Juddmonte job and everything. You have Colin and the likes of Billy Lee and Wayne Lordan, and they were all brilliant to me before I even ever got a licence. This is my second full season as a professional and you have to keep stepping up your game. These lads are riding a lot longer than me. When you start getting those nice rides in maidens for the likes of people I am riding for, you have to be as good as those jockeys. I'd like to think I would hold my own with anybody.

It was nice to see my brother Mel get his first winner (on Hell Left Loose) at Gowran Park on Monday. It was nice for him to ride it for Denis too, like I did. It will give him the incentive now to keep working harder and harder throughout the winter, to keep taking his opportunities and keep improving. Denis is old school, he served his time with the likes of Michael Halford and Charlie Swan. They were hard workers and wanted their apprentices to be the same. Denis is no different. If Mel keeps working hard, hopefully he will get on well.

The Healy photographers are long-time sponsors of mine and the best way to describe them is that they are such decent people. I've been friends with Sean since I was 13 or 14. Between Liam, Pat, Sean, Noreen, Ruth, and Cathy in the office - they are all brilliant. They are always a phone call away no matter what you have going on. They have always looked after me and I've been very good friends with them for a long time. I wouldn't want anybody else on the side of my breeches than them. Their father was in the game a long time. I was never lucky enough to meet him but, from what I hear about him, I can see why the others are the same. I'm one of the lucky ones that they really help out.

Joey 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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