Tommy Lyons
Born in Dublin in the mid 70s, I have no discernable genealogical background in horse racing but most of my childhood memories revolve around the sport. It’s been part of my life so long I can remember when Big Mc was known as ‘Gees John, is that a little paunch developing’ McCririck. Such was the misspent nature of my youth, Playschool was always a horse and never a TV show. And Paul Nicholls was a jockey, too!
Clearly, comedy is not my genre but I know horse racing must be because I have hard luck stories going back to the days when Tote tickets were flimsy pink slips of paper on which the race and number of the horse had to be punched.
I recall an incident when I cheered home the Tommy Carberry trained Joseph Knibb in a handicap chase at the Galway Festival of 1988 only to discover that I’d been given a mis-punched ticket for runner-up Mascara. That could have been the parting of the ways for me and horse racing but the god of thoroughbred racing handed me a second chance when the same horse reappeared the following day to land a hurdle race. The real beauty of the story was that he returned a bigger price on the second occasion. That was me. Hook, line and sinker!
Indian Skimmer, Belmez, Old Vic, Panto Prince, Ten Plus, Maori Venture, Diminuendo, Pebbles, Royal Academy, Unbridled, Arazi and Istabraq are just some of the reasons why I’m now working within this industry. Sea The Stars, Denman, My Way De Solzen and Voy Por Ustedes remind me why I wouldn’t have it any other way.
