Four years after deciding he wanted to be a jockey, James Ryan's talent emerges
Hill Ryan Guarantee 66/1 Mercury Ostraka Picture: The James William For And Danny Winning Healy Trainer At Top Price Shot Dundalk Racing After Murphy
"It's a little bit unreal," said Mairéad Ryan shortly after her son James won the Emerging Talent Award at the Horse Racing Ireland awards on Monday.
Last month, James claimed the champion apprentice title after a nail-biting final fortnight on the flat. It's been a remarkable journey for the 19-year-old who had not considered becoming a jockey until four years ago when covid shut down all of his other sporting outlets.
Growing up at the family yard in north Dublin, James and his twin brother Ivan - a national hunt jockey who had his first winner on the track at Fairyhouse in early November - had sport horses in their lives but rarely ones for racing, bar the odd point-to-pointer owned by their father Kieran. Their mother had her own history with horses. She had represented Ireland in eventing at the 1992 Olympics.
"I don't think they even remember seeing me ride!" she said.
"I would have ridden a little bit after they they were born, but only show horses, nothing serious. They'd laugh at me sometimes, when they were younger and I'd sort of be saying things to them. It was nearly like, 'What would you know?'
"They had ponies and they would have ridden around the fields with the stirrups pulled up because we watched racing. Then covid hit and they got very involved with helping Conor (Maxwell). He kept horses in one end of our barn because his yard wasn't ready, and he rigged up a simulator.
"Suddenly they were talking about being jockeys and I kept thinking 'that'll pass, that'll pass' but it hasn't and you know that's the path they wanted to go down."
James suspects his mother "wasn't too pleased at the start" about his new career path, "but I don't think she had any other choice," he added with a smile.
"Sometimes, probably more Ivan than me, watching the point-to-points, she'd probably only watch with one eye."
Their parents' only condition was that they finish their Leaving Cert.
"James said had spoken to Tom McCourt and Tom was going to take him on," said Mairéad.
"Tom spoke to Kieran and myself and he said, 'I think he has a talent and he has ability and I think he should pursue this'. Ivan started riding with Conor as well. They both worked very hard. James has been particularly successful - it's unbelievable really. He hasn't changed which is more important."
James's first winner was on McCourt's Philly's Hope at Dundalk in January 2022. His mother was starting to think it would never happen for him. Fast forward 34 months and he had finished the season with 33 winners, enough to claim the champion apprentice crown ahead Adam Caffrey and Wayne Hassett.
"It was great fun," James said about the title race, an experience his father called "quite stressful".
"It was right down to the wire last day, the Wednesday in Dundalk was probably the changing moment. Adam got a double early on in the card, and I got two back."
James plans to spend the winter riding at Dundalk.
"We presume at this stage that's what he's going to want to pursue," Mairéad said about his future in racing.
"He's very tall but it doesn't seem to deter him and he seems to have great balance. We always knew he had great balance, even when he rode ponies.
"He sort of has a tunnel vision when he wants. He's a great lad to go and ask advice, and he takes it on board. He gets very good advice from the people around him. Tom has been wonderful to him. Ger Lyons has been wonderful to him.
"I really just think our job is to have a nice home environment for him. Somewhere safe and secure to come home to when he wants to come home to it. They're a great support mechanism. If James or Ivan has a bad day, they're there for each other helping each other out."