We have generations of horse lovers on both sides of my family. My dad’s father Patrick Mangan bred the 1956 Champion Hurdle winner Doorknocker. That’s the family line my uncle Billy still breeds from. Five generations on, he has a mare with those bloodlines so that will tell you that we do cherish these nurtured families.

On my mother’s side, we have her grandfather Frank O’Brien and her dad Denis O’Brien, who’s still an avid point-to-point attendee. Both rode competitively on the track and bred some good horses too.

My mam still rides eventers – I did eventing but when I turned 16, the decision had to be made whether to concentrate on eventing or racing. There was only way that decision was going to go.

I went to Cork Institute of Technology to study marketing, mainly because I enjoy business. While I was in college, I’d also started doing RTÉ Radio. Before I’d go out to ride in a bumper, I’d be doing some races on the radio and that’s how I got started in the media.

I’d been riding out in Ballydoyle during my summer holidays since I was 16. I finished college and that led to the Coolmore link and how I ended up in Primus Advertising in Fethard. I had a degree in marketing and a grá for pedigrees, so I kind of had a combination of what they were looking for.

When it comes to pedigrees, nature has a great way of being unpredictable and when you think you know everything, you don’t. That’s why everybody has a job and if you had it figured out 100%, the game wouldn’t be competitive.

I do believe that if you love the animal, whether they’re dressage, show jumping, eventing, flat or national hunt horses, you love them regardless. I’m a firm believer that if you narrow yourself to one particular discipline, then you’re not the overall package.

The highlight of my racing career is definitely winning the Punchestown champion bumper. As an amateur, you only get one opportunity a year to ride in a Grade 1 and that’s the bumper in Punchestown. David Pipe came over with a horse called The Liquidator (2013) and I was very lucky that he gave me that opportunity. That was my first ride in the race and we won. It was particularly rewarding because I was a 5lb claimer, just 20 years of age and was probably naïve about how hard it was to win. It wasn’t until I got beaten on horses like Presenting Percy that you realised how big the race is.

Game changer

My dad trained a Grade 1 winner so it was nice to match that. Montys Pass winning the 2003 Aintree Grand National was a game changer for the yard. He built stables, he kept people in jobs and fulfilled an ambition for my parents and their parents.

I remember watching the race at my mother’s parents house and the jubilation they had because it’s a race of rich history, of legendary status. Your name will forever be remembered with that race. But no, I’ve never had any ambitions to ride in the Grand National myself!

Routine

Every week, every weekend is different. Monday to Friday in Fethard, come home to Conna and ride out on a Saturday and Sunday morning if I can, or else I’ll be racing most Sundays. And for Punchestown, Galway, Cheltenham, I’ll be there for the week.

There was a certain degree of pressure, whether you admitted it or let it get to you, when you were racing.

At college, they didn’t follow racing so I could have had the biggest winner or the biggest loser the day before but there’d be no talk about it and that was great!

The boys would have flutters coming up to Cheltenham or big meetings, asking if I’d any tips, but for the most part, my own generation isn’t getting a grasp on racing and I firmly believe that they don’t appreciate the athletes the animals are.

Betting

There’s too much emphasis on betting. Betting is uninteresting unless you’re winning and coverage is steered towards betting companies. We’re forgetting if we want to appeal to a new generation you need to enhance the prowess of the animal.

I’m with RTÉ and I think we’re doing more of that; getting down to the parade ring, stable yard, down to the start. That’s more interesting than showing a shot of the betting ring.

Doing racing commentary is unbelievable. I’ve been so fortunate, whether it’s timing or just the luck of being in the right place at the right time. When I was doing the radio, the guys asked me to do a day broadcasting on television from Galway. I did it and on the way home, they asked me to do a second day. Gradually I built my way up and I’m with RTÉ for all their race day coverage.

I’m very privileged to do it because everybody who loves racing would love to do this; go racing, talk about and watch racing, it’s a dream job.

Beauty of sport

Reporting in real time is what sets us apart. We live in a streaming world with the likes of Amazon and Netflix where you can watch 10 episodes at a time but sport happens in real time and that’s why the national broadcasters are so important. That will be the anchor for RTÉ going forward because Netflix can outbid you for a film or series, they can’t outdo you for sport.

I love a good debate, I like to be tested and Ruby and Ted Walsh test me. We get on very well, we bounce off each other a lot and I think that makes for good, entertaining television.

Ruby is a crazy-intelligent man. He’s able to put his mind into words and communicate in a way that very few people can.

His post-racing career all goes down to his intelligence as well. You can see all the contacts he made with TV and Paddy Power long before he ever hung up his boots. That’s a testament to him.

Of course growing up, Robert Hall and Tracy Piggott were for me the faces and voices, the narrators of racing.

Tracy was always the one you wanted to be interviewed by and Robert was the fellow you wanted to mention your name!

Showing

Charleville approached me to judge two years ago and I jumped at the opportunity. It’s a renowned show, one of the biggest around. The first year I judged Don Cossack in the Racehorse to Riding Horse qualifier and he went on to win in the RDS, so that was a great start.

I do love horses that can multi-task. Those retrained racehorses come into the RDS and make the ring their own. There are a lot of familiar names but they don’t have to stars on the track to have been stars in the ring. I think classes should be better supported and better sponsored because they’re a great advertisement for the aftercare of racehorses.

Jane Mangan was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.