Kildare sheep farmer taking the reins at Cheltenham today
Tom Harney, a Kildare sheep farmer, is riding the 25/1 outsider Slurricane at the Cheltenham Racing Festival today (Tuesday, March 11).
This is the jockey's second time riding at the Cheltenham Festival. Last year, he finished in second place riding Ross O'Sullivan's Eagle Reign in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.
Harney told Agriland that the excitement of racing at Cheltenham never goes away.
"It’s a brilliant meeting and very exciting. Everyone wants to have a go at taking one of the races home at Cheltenham. To be part of it is brilliant.
"We arrived on Monday morning, I'm racing [today], then heading home at lunch time on Wednesday to ride in Limerick on Thursday. I'm not sure yet if I'll be back racing here [at Cheltenham] on Friday, but I have a flight booked just in case.
"It’s a busy week. A lot of checking the airline apps. O’Leary should give us a discount card," he added.
When he isn't racing horses, Harney is working on his family's sheep farm in Co. Kildare.
"My father is a sheep farmer. He farms ewes. I grew up on the farm," he continued.
"When I was younger, I was mad to get out on the farm and give him a hand with the sheep. Then the horses took over it’s hard to do both but I’m an 'outdoorsy' kind [of] fella," he said.
Harney said that working on the farm has taught him some valuable lessons that he has transferred over to horse racing.
"To get rides, you have to put your head down and work hard. On a farm, you have to put your head down and work hard too. The work ethic side of things was a great stepping stone into racing," the jockey said.
"I try as much as I can to help on the farm. My father will be lambing soon, I’ll give him a hand in the afternoons as much as I can. This weekend there’s a lot of racing, so I’ll try and juggle both," he added.
With lambing season approaching, Harney is bracing himself for a frantic couple of weeks.
"It’s tough to juggle. My brothers moved to Australia, and my sister works for a radio station. We all used to give him a hand, but this year it will be a bit tougher. I’ll have to pull up my socks a bit this year."
Harney is riding Ross O'Sullivan's Slurricane today in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at 4:40p.m.
"You don’t bring a horse here unless they deserve to be here. It’s a competitive race, we’re coming in off the back of a win," he said.
"She jumps well, she stays the distance well. We’re hopeful, but you have to be confident. It’s a competitive race and we’ll give it a good go," he said.
"You could put a fiver each way on a worse horse," he concluded.
