The Big Interview: Kildare's own Paddy Flood on his Irish Grand National win and story so far

For the two weeks before the Grand National I did my best to not ride the horse I won it on. I was trying to get a ride on literally any other horse in the race because Conor O’Dwyer had fallen with him twice or three times. When they fall with the likes of him, I thought he is going to drop with me.

The words of jockey Paddy Flood as he recalls his victory on the Mouse Morris trained Hear The Echo back in 2008.
It ended up being Paddy Flood’s crowning moment, a 21-year-old jockey riding an outsider in the biggest event on the Irish racing calendar — The Irish Grand National.

My grandfather and I probably remember that day as fondly as Paddy does. I was 11 years old, and I had €5 each way on the long shot as soon as I had heard that the jockey was local.

“I had never ridden him before and anyone that had ridden him told me he was a tough, highly-strung horse and I thought there is no way this lad will win anything, let alone a national,” Paddy explained.

“Just after jumping off and going a mile I was like what is going on here, he’s taking to this is easy. After a circle, I was thinking I have never ridden as easy. At that stage you are just thinking, don’t take too much out of him, no thoughts of winning yet.”

Hear the Echo a was 33-1 outside but Paddy felt as if the odds should have been much longer than that given what he had been told about the seven-year-old’s history. But all those concerns leading up to the 3:55pm at Fairyhouse had faded by the time the home stretch had arrived.

“Then at third last, I just felt as if there was no way he was going to be beat, I could feel him under me, and he was never tiring,” Paddy described, still sounding surprised as he says he was that day.

“You often feel you have a race in the bag three or four from home but to feel that in the National was something incredibly special.”

Paddy recalled the event with fondness but with no sense of preoccupation with it as many people might have for such an achievement. This was never more evident than when I asked him what age he was when he won the big race.

“Ehhhh…what year was it?”

2008 I quickly replied.

“Well, I am 34 now so you can work it out from there” he chuckled.

This was a consistent theme throughout the interview. Paddy spoke with a relaxed honesty about every facet of his life, whether it was the great moments or the harrowing lows.

In just three years, Paddy went from attempting to fight off the grip that alcohol had taken on his life as a teenager to gripping the reins of a Grand National winner.

“It was a build-up over time. But a meeting at Thurles was the tipping point, I had gotten polluted the night before and did not wake up for work. My trainer Eddie O’Grady was ringing me constantly for two days, but I just couldn’t face him,” said Paddy.

“When I finally did answer the phone, I was expecting a screaming match, but I got a different sort of shock. He said he thought I had a problem and that if I went to get help, he would keep my job for me when I came out. I would never have agreed beforehand but after talking to him I decided to go.”

Eddie was true to his word and after six weeks in Aislinn Adolescent Addiction Centre in Ballyragget, Paddy still had his job but more importantly, he had dealt with the demons that drove him to the drink.

"It saved my life. I had never dealt with the death of Kieran Kelly (who was tragically killed on a horse in Westmeath three years prior). Him and I were best friends back when I worked for Dessie Hughes,” Paddy said.

“I drank my feelings when he passed, I was never able to accept it or grieve properly. But they did a therapy session with me one day. I am not ashamed to say I cried for about three hours. It is hard to describe what it did for me, I had just let three years of hurt out all in one go.”

You could feel the appreciation Paddy had for the people who had helped him break down those emotional walls. But he would never forget the man that got him that help.

“No doubt in my mind that 99% of people would have given up on me. They could have put it down to me having no interest in the sport anymore, but he knew something was wrong and pointed me in the right direction,” Paddy explained.

That wealth of life experience gained in his early years would prove invaluable for teaching the next generation of jockeys. Paddy now works for RACE as an instructor passing on his knowledge to the future big race winners.

“I have had the highs and lows. I can see the bad coming for someone, like I never could for myself, but I can help steer them away from the path I went down,” said Paddy.

“The coaching started as financial gain because for me as a jockey you are talking about a chap who left school at 13-years-old and whose only qualification is his ability to ride a horse.

“But over time it is just about finding things that interest me and give me excitement. I have always needed that, and I feel as if I have found something great with coaching.”

Paddy’s partnership with RACE has taken him to Bahrain for the last nine weeks. Maybe it was a contributing factor to his candid nature as he relaxed on his sun lounger in the 30 degrees of sunshine in Manama.