It was a day to remember for 20-year-old Darragh Higgins at Toomebridge on Saturday as he partnered his first winner when guiding the Ellen Doyle-trained Haddock De Grissay to win the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.
The Cork native may not be from a racing family but learned his trade with the former rider turned handler Colin Motherway and has now joined the Baltimore Stables team of James and Ellen Doyle.
Name: Darragh Higgins
Age: 20
From: Ballymacoda, Cork
First Winner: Haddock De Grissay - Toomebridge
How did you get started in racing?
I had an interest in ponies when I was younger, and then when I was in third year at school I went riding out with Colin Motherway and that is where I would have started with racehorses.
I would have been going into him every weekend and then the odd day during the week if he had schooling on to gain a bit more experience.
Colin was brilliant to learn from and he taught me plenty to be fair to him.
Had you always planned to take out your QR licence?
Yeah from whenever I started riding it was probably always an idea that I had to go racing riding. I asked Colin what he thought and he told me that I should go for it and see how I got on.
I hadn’t done any pony racing so I was straight into race riding at Kildorrery in 2020.
When I finished school I went to Kildalton to do the Green Cert for two years so I wasn’t able to fully commit full-time to racing but I managed to still get to Colin a couple of days a week when I could.
I finished in Kildalton last May so this is my first season going full-time with the racing so I’m looking forward to it.
You have moved to Wexford this year, how did that come about?
Yes, I am nearly full time with Ellen and James, I would be there five days a week living in Wexford with Brian Dunleavy and Mikey Sweeney. I would still be going up and down to home a fair bit still. I am only with Colin the odd Sunday now whenever I am around.
I would be very good friends with Brian and during the summer James had bought plenty of horses and I wasn’t overly busy at home so I started going over and back with Brian, breaking horses, lunging and riding and they asked if I would stay on a few days when they starting brining more horses back in.
Wexford is the only place to be getting opportunities. Ellen and James alone have 80 horses in, whereas to find 80 horses around at home you would be going to five or six different yards and there is plenty of opportunities there to be fair too.
They are very nice people to work for. It is very easy to work, it is great craic but everything is done properly so there will be no bother there.
Well you had a good start to that new link-up with the Doyle’s on Saturday.
Yeah, it was unreal to get the opportunity to ride the horse and get my first win on my first ride in a point-to-point for them. I have to thank Ellen and James for the opportunity. I rode in a bumper for them but it was great to get a chance for them in a point-to-point and for it to come off so well. I’m delighted to be honest.
There were no big celebrations afterwards though because I had to travel five and a half hours home to milk cows on Sunday morning!
Toomebridge can be a tricky track, how did you find it?
I had never even been up to Toomebridge before and it’s a place where you would want to be using your brain.
I had plenty of tutoring from Colin Motherway and he had it fairly well drilled into me not to be going too quick.
Have you set yourself any targets for the season?
I just want to gain as many contacts as I can to get more rides and experience to help improve all the time.
Do you have any interests outside of racing?
I used to play a lot of hurling before, but since I’ve gone at the horses full time I haven’t been able to get the time.
Finally, are there any other riders to keep an eye out for?
Danny Fitzgerald is a lad from down my way in Cork. He rode a winner at Lismore last year and is going well. He has plenty of horses and good experience - he is one to watch.
