I'm from Kildare Town right on the Curragh. I was basically into boxing and I won a silver medal in the All-Ireland finals. I was always into fitness. At 14 years of age, I got suspended from school for saying something I shouldn't have to the vice principal. Dad came home early for lunch and told me I was going out to work with him in Kevin Prendergast's while I was suspended. My dad was Travelling Head Man for Kevin for 20-odd years. I would have preferred to be in work than school. A 14-year-old 40 years ago is like a 30-year-old now! I never went back to school and six months later Audrey O'Neill, Slim O'Neill's wife, came into the tack room out in Rossmore and said there's jobs for three guys in New Jersey working for a guy called Joe Imbesi. I put my hand up, 100 per cent, even though I had only been riding for four months. Audrey said to me that my father wasn't going to let me go at 14 in 1985. I got my passport and daddy said he wasn't holding me back as I was no good in school.