00:00For 19-year-old Ryan Kavanagh, 2023 has started off in a good vein. Earlier in the year he
00:09was the recipient of the Godolphin Sudden Stable Staff David Nicholson Newcomer Award
00:15and he recently celebrated his first winner as an apprentice jockey for his boss Amy Murphy.
00:20We visited Ryan at Amy's yard and found out why he enjoys working in the industry.
00:28I was in college for my electrician course and there was a little break during Covid
00:33and my little brother was working here for Amy and I just needed a little bit of money.
00:38I thought why not go into this industry, all the other jobs weren't really taking anyone
00:43on and Amy was happy to bring me in and horses have always got to be done no matter what's
00:48going on in the world. So yeah, I just sort of came in, learnt everything here. I mean
00:54I first came I didn't even know how to put a head collar on and yeah I just learnt as
00:59I went and enjoyed it more and more every day. I won the Newcomer Award and again I
01:05can't thank everyone here enough. They've taught me everything and without them I wouldn't
01:09know half the things I do now and yeah it's just as long as you're willing to learn, this
01:15place is great, everyone will help you. I mean Jack Quinlan, Stefano Cerchi, both of
01:20them like have put me under their wing and sort of brought me with them, taught me everything
01:24they know and that's why I'm where I am today. Not just the win but like the opportunities
01:29that I've been given by Amy, I've had six rides within the first three weeks of having
01:33my licence and then on my fourth ride I was able to ride a winner at Yarmouth on Recreasa.
01:39Yeah it was amazing and I can't thank Amy and everyone here enough. I mean I just love
01:44working with the horses, if it wasn't going to be a jockey I'd still want to be working
01:48with horses. I love the fact that you can sort of see from when you buy a horse as a
01:53yearling to when it first goes on the track and how much they improve. Like I was just
01:58riding a two year old then and just taking it out the stalls, yesterday was its first
02:02time and then today it's jumping out as if it's ready to run which is, it's just an amazing
02:07process and obviously the speed of it is great as well. Amy's like a friend, like it doesn't
02:14feel like she's my boss because she's so friendly and so helpful. Like I've been sent out to
02:18France, Ireland, I've had so many opportunities, like I said the six rides within three weeks.
02:24As long as I'm willing to work hard and learn she's there to help. It's every jockey's dream
02:28to ride in the Derby but I think I'll have a smaller one. Just to ride at the Newmarket
02:33courses, my older brother passed away just over a year ago and he's got a placket at
02:38both of the race courses, just to even ride at the courses would be nice.
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