A 66-year-old jockey who has had two knee replacements rode a winner in Ireland – 35 years after he last rode into the winner’s enclosure.
Liam Burke and Teuchters Glory were first past the post in the Good Luck To All Irish Runners In Cheltenham (Pro/Am) INH Flat Race finale at Limerick on Sunday (12 March). Liam last rode a winner in 1988.
“I have a lot more friends than I ever realised I had, I’ve had plenty of phone calls and messages which is nice,” he said.
Liam switched to training after his last win but after the double knee replacement, and having lost weight, decided to return to riding two years ago.
“I suffered a lot with my knees for a long time and I had both of them replaced. I was well overweight, and I had another problem, so I lost the weight, I rode out every day and I just got back in the flow,” he said.
“I wanted to ride again, and I wanted to ride a winner if I could. Luckily, it went grand, for once I didn’t do anything wrong. It might not look great now looking back at it, but the horse was good on the day.”
At 66, Liam is the second oldest winning jockey in Irish racing history, behind Harry Beasley, who won a maiden plate at Punchestown aged 71 in 1923. He beat horses saddled by the likes of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, and of the jockeys he lined up against, only one, Jamie Codd, had been born when he last won.
“It was great to beat Willie, Gordon and Jamie Codd!” Liam said.
“I have ridden against one or two of them and finished a long way behind, but I managed to get the better of them on the day.
“This is it, for my age, to be able to do that – I didn’t get tired and I didn’t do anything stupid, I didn’t fall off or anything like that, my knees didn’t give way so it ranks right up there with my other achievements.”
The question now is whether Liam will keep riding, or return just to training.
“I’d like to be able to do it again, but a lot of people are saying to me, no stop, before you fall,” Liam said.
“But I will see, I may go for a bumper again, but probably not. I have achieved what I set out to do and I don’t want to go out looking for trouble.”
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