Mary Tyner: I was overwhelmed with the generosity of people

Action on the Cork-Waterford circuit gets underway at Kinsale on Saturday, with the Farrangalway course, a local track of Mary Tyner, who has had a busy summer returning to race-riding as part of the Corinthian Challenge.

The trio of charity races concluded at Leopardstown last Saturday and Tyner, one of the most recognisable faces on the circuit, often representing her husband, former champion handler Robert, at fixtures across the country, was one of the 12 participants.

Based in Shippool, Mary was approached by the Injured Jockey’s Fund to participate in the charity series, and it was after much encouragement from her daughters that she took a leap of faith and decided to go for it, in order to support the Injured Jockey’s Fund, whilst also honoring the memory of her son Jack, who tragically lost his life after a fall at Dungarvan point-to-point in 2011.

A former amateur license holder, the daily task of riding out stood to her in the challenge.

“I found the first race at the Curragh the toughest as we would be quiet with riding out at home during the summer, but after that race I was alright and I felt I was on track then,” added Mary who partnered up with well-known trainer Joseph O’Brien for the challenge, thanks to former employee Graham Atkinson, who won the challenge in 2018.

“Graham (Atkinson) used to ride out for us here in the yard and he knew we wouldn’t have had suitable horses for the challenge races, so he put me in touch with Joseph.

“I went and rode out a few mornings at Joseph’s and after that he said he would be able to support me during the challenge by providing me with a ride for each race and the rest was history.”

The Cork native, who is a daughter of the late Gerald O'Donovan, a trainer from Bandon in County Cork, has raised over €17,000 for the Injured Jockeys Fund since beginning the challenge during the summer.

“Some of the other participants had just one main sponsor however I had a couple of different sponsors. I raised funds through organizing events such as coffee mornings, cake sales and a lady’s lunch.

“I also had the support of some local businesses Log Cabins and Lordan Safety Services and my local point-to-point at Kinsale, who very kindly allowed me to collect funds at their fixture in June.”

Although the Leopardstown race brought the 2019 series to an end, Mary has continued to raise funds for the charity.

“Poppy Hunt, an artist, kindly donated a beautiful painting of horses jumping one of the Aintree National fences to me, which I will raffle off in the next couple of weeks.

“I was overwhelmed with the generosity of people and I would like to thank everyone who supported me during the challenge.

“It was a fabulous experience and I was grateful to have had the opportunity to give back while also being able to ride on racecourses such as the Curragh and Leopardstown.”

If you would like to donate to Mary’s fund and be in with a chance of winning the beautiful Poppy Hunt painting, please click HERE.