I'm from Monasterevin, Co Kildare and am presently living three miles from there in Clonanny, Co Laois. As we like to say here, I'm one of the top trainers in Laois and would be well down the pecking order in Kildare! We bred a good few National Hunt horses and that was my earliest memory of horses, having them at home and bringing them to what was the old Derby Sale at the RDS. My father had horses in training with Andy Geraghty on the Curragh. When I was only a chap, if I heard he was going there on a Saturday morning, I'd be first in the car waiting. Andy was the first person to put me up on a horse when I wasn't more than 13 or 14 years of age. I can still remember thinking I have to do this. I was just bitten by the bug. I was always going to do it, but it probably wasn't what my parents intended because I wasn't too bad at school. I had other interests as well, but it didn't go down too well when I chose the horse route!