Next Generation | Rider
Name: Gavin Collier
From: Ferns, Co. Wexford
Twenty-seven-year-old Gavin Collier combined with Liam Kenny’s Kingston King to open his account at Ballycrystal on Saturday in the older maiden.
A Mechanical Engineering graduate, the Wexford native is enjoying his busiest season to date having been supplied with mounts by Kenny, Philip Rothwell and John Kinsella already this term.
How did you get started with horses?
Ah sure I was probably 13 or 14 when I got started with ponies, a good friend of mine Patrick Murray, he actually was a jockey himself, he had ponies and I would have started riding ponies with him and then going out hunting.
A few of my uncles would be interested in horse racing, just watching it, but as regards being involved within the sport, there is nobody really in the family that would have been.
I never really competed in show jumping or anything like that, it was just really a hobby going hunting with the Island’s. I started off hunting with them most weekends for about three or four years before I went to college.
I went to DIT and studied Mechanical Engineering. It was when I was in college in Dublin that I started riding race horses on the weekends.
Patrick got me riding out on a few Saturday morning’s and that’s really how it all started with race horses.
After college I went to work for Prunella Dobbs and I was with her for about three and a half years. I was with her for three years before I got my license out, I would have only been 23 or 24 when I got that and Prunella actually gave me a few spins in point-to-points. I would have gone into Darragh Brennan’s in the afternoon’s around the same time to give him a hand.
This year has been a lot busier for you, have you changed your routine at all?
I have had a good few rides this year, I have been putting my head down a good bit this year trying to get into other yards doing a bit of schooling and things like that and that is how I got the ride at the weekend for Liam (Kenny). I have been going in to school for him the last couple of months.
I am based with Philip Rothwell in the morning and would try get around in the afternoon. John Kinsella would only be 25 minutes away in Glenealy, I would go into his and a couple of other places.
Having been in Darragh Brennan’s, Darragh would know Liam and the contact really came about through that and thankfully it worked out well.
Kingston King had run well at Tinahely the week previous, so were you confident of a better run ahead of Saturday?
Liam was fairly hopeful ahead of Saturday. He said the horse had been in good old order. They didn’t actually ride him out until Thursday after his run at Tinahely to freshen him up and it worked the track.
When we got down to the start there wasn’t really much pace on, nobody really wanted to go forward and I was hoping to get a lead, but I just said that I would go on and it worked out well in the end.
Liam had always said to be good and positive on him and try and take a lead, sit second or third, but when nobody said they wanted to go on, I said I would go as he has had plenty of experience so I didn’t really mind going forward with him. I had ridden him twice before so I knew that he jumped well.
It must have great to ride that first winner?
It was brilliant, you are always thinking will I ever get there even though I haven’t had too many rides. Hopefully I will get a few more now.
It was also great to have the first winner at the Island’s point-to-point. There were a couple of local lads that were fence stewards on the day so they were cheering me on.
What are your ambitions now for the rest of the season?
It would be great to pick up as many rides as I can and try to get another few winners on the board and maybe build up a few more contacts to get into some other different yards.
Is there any rider in particular that you think people should watch out for?
There is Dan Nevin who is in Harley Dunne’s. He comes into Philip’s and rides a couple in the afternoon’s and rides all of Tom Power’s horses for the point-to-points.
Who would have been your biggest influence in racing?
From schooling in Liam’s, James Kenny has been a great help. He is Colin Bowe’s every day and would be schooling loads of nice horses and when I go into Liam’s he would giving me pointers even though he is a good bit younger than me!
I did the schooling course with Derek O’Connor in RACE about a year and a half ago and it was brilliant. The feedback that you get is great. You have an earpiece when you are schooling and Derek can talk to you as you are going down to a fence and he is able to give you pointers on what you should be doing at different moments.
