Dunboyne woman set for first leg of charity racing challenge

Despite having a lifelong love of horses, Dunboyne woman Emer Lawlor is firmly out of her comfort zone when enters the Corinthian challenge in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund.

Horse riding is something that Emer has been involved in all of her life, but this will be her first foray into the racing world.

“I’ve always been around horses, I was grew up doing show jumping and got involved in showing after. Racing was something I bypassed, I would have watched racing on telly and went to a few race meets, but never took part," she said.

"My goal is to get to the Dublin Horse Show every year, but I can’t do that this year due to the challenge. I do a lot of showing with small hunters at the RDS. I competed in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.”

Having turned 30 last year, Emer decided to take the plunge and get involved in a horse race and found the Corinthian Challenge online, which is an event for amateur riders and gives them the chance compete in three races over four months.

Participants ride over three top class courses in a bid to funds for Irish Injured Jockeys. It consists of three races taking place between July and October in Gowran Park, Leopardstown and the Curragh.

After applying Emer was called for an interview and provisionally selected for the event before going through a ride assessment on the Curragh at the racing academy which she passed. Emer turned to Moynalvey trainer Tony Martin to help train for the event.

She says: “I was lucky he was prepared to give me his time and let me use his horses to get prepared for the races. There’s two riders going out of Tony Martin’s yard, myself and Dean Ryan from Kildare. We have to declare five horses between us in advance of the race, just in case anything goes wrong before the first race we’ll have a few back up options we can switch onto. Anything can happen in the build up. We get to know the horse in advance of the race, which is great instead of getting a random one the day.”

Emer is grateful to be getting the chance to work with a trainer of Tony’s standing.

“Tony gave me a fantastic opportunity, when I first started I was like a rag doll on the back of a sheep but Tony and the lads in the yard gave me great support, they can see if I’m not feeling good about how I performed, they don’t judge or criticise you don’t perform and always offer plenty of encouragement.”

Emer is considering staying involved in racing after the challenge finishes.

"We’ll see what happens, I definitely have the bug, I might consider going for an amateur license. It’s a long way down the road yet. There’s a chance I’ll make an absolute fool of myself during the event and be told never to return to a race track ever again.”

She also turned to a professional jockey coach for help.

“I’ve gone to a jockey coach called Warren O’ Connor at the Curragh and he thought me on a simulator the different style required for racing. I didn’t realise how different racing was to normal riding but I’m getting there.

A jockey may find it difficult to ride a show jumper and vice versa. They have equal amount of difficulties but it’s a different style of riding. The most obvious one is the length of the stirrup. With show jumping you’d ride with a longer stirrup and with show jumping you tend to hold it a bit shorter. That was my biggest challenge, I’d never ridden that short before, it felt totally alien and didn’t feel secure.

After a couple of weeks riding up in Tony’s I’ve gone the opposite way, now when I get up on a different horse I find my stirrups are much shorter than they were before."

Emer is happy to let horse riding be her hobby for now and isn’t planning on incorporating it into her professional life as a member of an Garda Siochana.

“I’m not involved in the mounted unit in An Garda Siochana. I joined in 2015 and I’m stationed in Dublin Airport. I like to keep my career and hobby separate. If a position came up and I was able apply I would, but I’m quite happy in my role at moment.

"It’s nice to be able to have the horses as a getaway. Somewhere to come home and unwind in the evenings. On my days off I can go up to Tony’s yard or go to my own horses.

The non-stop nature of the event means that Emer will have little time to rest in between the different stages of the fundraiser.

“Part of the excitement is that there are three events, it’s not over and done with after one go. It’s gruelling to think that there are three races but you can always improve if you’re not happy with your first one, if you have the competitive instinct in you then you can push on and prepare better for the next race and achieve your ambition on this one. I won’t have much time for a holiday this summer, I’ll try to squeeze in a couple of days at some stage, but after this first race I’ll be straight back out on to the gallops preparing for the race.”

She is also aware of the dangers associated with the sport, as horse racing can be a very unforgiving sport.

"With everything in the equestrian world there’s an element of risk. It’s probably the only sport in the world with two ambulances following it at all times. Horses are unpredictable, they’re like humans they have good and bad days. If you’re unlucky their bad day can turn your day into a very bad day as well. I’ve been around horses all my life and after a while you can learn to read when they’re off.

But it something as little as a cat or a bird coming out of a hedge can set them off. Anything can happen, you don’t have to be galloping, and you can just be walking on the road. You can end up with a broken arm or pelvis or anything. There’s a risk aspect but there’s a thrill to know you can hold an animal like that and keep them under control."

Emer has had her fair share of hard knocks on the race course.

“I’ve had some bad falls over the years. I had a bad fall in 2014 that completely knocked my confidence, it took a while, but I rode some nice horses, built up my confidence and I got back to where I was.

Obviously my confidence has taken some sort of steroid to get back to where I am now. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think of what would happen if I had an accident. But life is too short not to take a chance and I’d regret it if I didn’t take the chance. I have the bug now and I just need to get it out of my system.”

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