Redmond Fine Art - Celebrating 25 years at Punchestown

The Punchestown Festival 2015 will always hold a special place in my memory as it was the year I fulfilled a lifetimes ambition by riding in a race at the home of Irish National Hunt Racing. Following a get-fit campaign I decided to enter my name to ride in The Punchestown Kidney Research Fund Charity Race and luckily received the all clear in early January of that year.

The training was very tough (I was 54 at the time) but with plenty of encouragement from family and friends it passed without too much bother. It was great to be back riding out, something I had not done for over 20 years! I am eternally grateful to Jackie Mullins who kindly allowed me to ride her horse, the aptly named "The Bosses Cousin", trained by her husband Willie Mullins and to their son Patrick Mullins for the invaluable pre-race encouragement. The race itself passed so quickly and sad to say I was not involved in the finish, but the buzz I got from competing was amazing.

I rode the race in memory of my great friend Mark O Hanlon who had passed away in March of that year, as it was his encouragement that had got me started in the first place. Our fundraising was done through a raffle for an original oil-painting of the legendary jockey Sir Anthony McCoy and signed by himself and the artist David Trundley. The painting was donated in part by the artist and mainly by Mark's colleagues at Irish Thoroughbred Marketing at The Curragh and I am delighted to say that we were able to hand over in excess of €5000 to the Kidney Research Fund in Mark's name.

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