Hiya guys!

Today I bring to you an interview with Liam Keniry. I hope you enjoy!

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Me: What is your favourite race of your career, win or lose?

Liam: Favourite race, win or lose, would probably be the Cambridgeshire 2004 on a horse called Spanish Don who came along very early in my career, I was still an apprentice and won a couple stakes on him and obviously winning that Cambridgeshire at the time as an apprentice was very good. 

Me: If you could ride any horse that you never have, past or present, what horse would you choose?

Liam: Favourite horse I’ve never ridden would be Sea The Stars; what he did in his classic season was just brilliant. He had everything. Won the Guineas, the Derby and all them other races he did, it was probably just… yeah just amazing what he did that season.

Me: What are your opinions surrounding the discussions of banning the whip?

Liam: The whip… I think the BHA have the whip rules absolutely spot on and if the whip was every banned it would be a backwards step for racing, I believe. 

Me: As a jockey, weight is obviously a huge thing for you guys, so what would you eat on a regular day? Are there any periods across the year where you can actually just eat everything and anything or is it a strict kind of diet all year round?

Liam: As you get older it becomes easier to manage your weight. I would always have a little bit of breakfast no matter what weight I have that day. Something small to eat in the evenings and just plenty of exercise. Yeah, your weight is easier to manage when you’re quite busy doing  two meetings a day and stuff, so it’s not really an issue.

Me: What would you say to anyone who thinks racing is animal cruelty?

Liam: I think people who think racing is animal cruelty are probably people who have never been to a racing stables and haven’t seen how well these horses are looked after and cared for and how prepared they are when they go to racing. The majority of the time the horses are so prepared that they probably find it quite easy and I imagine most of them quite enjoy it.

Me: Racing is an all year round sport, so when you do get some down time, what do you like to do?

Liam: Yeah, it’s good to be busy. I prefer it that way, the busier you are, the fitter you are and I think the easier it is to keep your eye on the ball. If the racing gives time off it can be quite nice to go on holiday with the wife for a couple of days just to get away for a couple days. But in general it’s better to be busy.

Me: Who do you look up to in the weighing room?

Liam: I always looked up to Kieren Fallon when he was riding. He was just a genius in the saddle and he was Champion Jockey a many times. Especially in the big races, Fallon was as good as there was in his time riding I think.

Me: What is one race you’d love to win?

Liam: Any Group 1 race would be great. Yeah, any Group 1 race would be brilliant.

Me: What is your overall goal in racing over the upcoming few years?

Liam: I am very close to riding 1000 winners now, I think about 30 away from that so hopefully if we get back racing soon, if I can do that by the end of this year it would be good and just to continue to ride winners every year after that, that would be good.

Me: What would be your ‘horse to watch’ for the next season or two?

Liam: A horse looking forward to this season would probably be a horse called Indeed who is trained by Dominic Ffrench Davis. He did quite well last year and hopefully he should have a good year this year. We’d like to think he definitely up to winning in a listed class and hopefully there are a couple of big races in him yet.

Me: What is your favourite race course to ride at and why?

Liam: It would probably be Newbury. I am primarily based in Lambourn so Newbury would probably be my local track to there and I think it’s a big galloping track and quite fair, so yeah, it’s a good track Newbury, it’s a fair track and a good track and it’s always nice to ride a winner there. 

Me: What is your best advice for young people who have a passion they want to follow, whether that be racing or something else?

Liam: I think… always follow your dreams. Work hard. Working hard will always help you in life no matter what job you do.

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Firstly I want to thank Liam for his time, he gave some brilliant answers. Hopefully he reaches 1000 winners this year, I will definitely be following his progress as he becomes closer to that goal!

Thank you for reading.