'My dream is to be champion jockey' - brilliant documentary footage of a 12-year-old Dylan Browne McMonagle resurfaces
The 22-year-old Donegal native won his first Irish flat jockey's championship on Monday at Galway
Amazing documentary footage of a 12-year-old Dylan Browne McMonagle has resurfaced this week after the Donegal man was crowned champion jockey in Ireland.
22-year-old McMonagle secured his first ever Irish flat jockey’s championship at Galway on Monday having ridden 95 winners at home this season.
The season ends at the Curragh on Sunday but his tally of winners cannot be caught by nearest rival and six-time champion Colin Keane, as the pair both head to California this weekend for the Breeders’ Cup.
Browne McMonagle’s rapid rise to the top has been one of Irish racing’s most incredible stories in recent years, all the more remarkable as he was once the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary film while still a schoolboy in Donegal.
Back in 2015 a short film called ‘Five Stone Of Lead’ was made by director Jonny Madderson about a 12-year-old boy from Letterkenny with a dream of becoming champion jockey.
That boy in the movie was Dylan Browne McMonagle and just ten years later his dreams were realised with that first title success.
In the beautifully produced five minute movie, a baby-faced McMonagle is filmed working hard on his fitness by boxing and running and speaking about his ambitions for the future as he drinks tea on his parent’s sofa.
The film follows a tiny McMonagle to the Glenbeigh pony races in Kerry where he tells the camera he's just 4st10lb and has to carry an extra 5st2lb of lead in his saddle cloth.
McMonagle was a prolific pony racing champion and rode over 200 winners in that sphere before Joseph O’Brien signed him as a 16-year-old apprentice jockey.
“From a very small age you just dream of this. Every young jockey growing up wants to be champion jockey and thankfully I am privileged to be in the position I am, riding the horses I am,” McMonagle, who was champion apprentice in 2021 and 2022, said on Monday.
A reminder of McMonagle’s starring role in the move was posted by ITV Racing’s Kevin Blake, who is also assistant trainer to Joseph O’Brien.
McMonagle told the Racing Post: "When you look back on it, it's crazy what can happen in such a short space of time. It's cool to look back on it. Plenty of hard work has gone in since then and that's what it's all about. Whatever you put in, you'll get it back out.
"It's what every jockey dreams of when they start racing so to do it at this stage already is unbelievable. It's not something I expected to happen this early but it's been a great season and it's brilliant that it's been topped off with this."
Several people reacted to Blake’s post with fellow ITV pundit Luke Harvey saying: “Brilliantly produced and filmed documentary, brilliant subject and ultimately a potentially brilliant jockey.”
Another comment said: “A fantastic achievement Kevin. His story has a Hollywood movie written all over it,” while another said it would "bring a tear to a glass eye.”