Waterford jockey David Casey retired from race riding on a winning note at Listowel last week.

Waterford jockey David Casey retired from race riding on a winning note at Listowel last week.


David Casey retired from a long and successful riding career in great style at Listowel last week with a winning farewell.
In fairness, getting the leg up on the 1/6 hot favourite was hardly the most challenging moment of the Waterford jockey’s career and the Susannah Ricci owned Long Dog romped to an easy nine and a half lengths win over Collen Beag.
Casey was given a guard of honour by his weigh-room colleagues when he came into the parade ring for his final ride and he celebrated the win in typical understated fashion.
The Waterford jockey admitted in an interview with At The Races at Listowel last week that unlike many of his fellow jockeys he wasn’t reared in the saddle and didn’t in fact sit on a horse until he was 15 years old.
He began his riding career in 1992 as an apprentice to the Flat trainer, Tony Redmond. Casey’s first racecourse win however came in a claiming hurdle for Willie Mullins on If You Say Yes in early1995. He finished the 1995/6 season as the Champion Conditional Rider with 21 winners.
Casey won six times on Willie Mullins’ Micko’s Dream in 1998 and went on to enjoy other profitable partnerships with Tony Martin’s She’s Our Mare and the Frances Crowley trained Sackville.
Casey can count two Cheltenham Festival wins on Fadoudal Du Cochet (Grand Annual Chase, 2002) and Rule Supreme (Sun Alliance Novice Chase, 2004) among his 770 winners in the UK and Ireland. He also won the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown twice on Rule Supreme and Kempes and was a three times winner of the Thyestes Chase, (This Is Serious 2002, Hedgehunter 2004 and On His Own 2012).
Another high profile success during a brilliant 2004 was Casey’s victory in the Galway Plate on the Dermot Weld trained Ansar. The Waterford jockey was subsequently awarded the Park Hotel Supreme Sports Star award for 2004.
Casey is set to take up an assistant role at Willie Mullins’s Closutton yard in Co Carlow and will soon travel to Australia to oversee the Melbourne Cup preparations of Max Dynamite.
At Listowel last week, Willie Mullins paid tribute to Casey and admitted he was delighted the Waterford jockey would be staying on as part of the most successful team in national hunt racing in Ireland.
“David came to us when he was 17 so he knows our operation. He’s seen it grow, he knows the way I think and the way everyone else in the yard thinks. He’s going to be a huge help organising work in the morning, and riding work as he always is.
“Anytime in the past when I’m buying horses I usually send David to ride them. It’s great to have someone of his calibre going to Australia with Max Dynamite, and the feedback that I will be able to get from him will be huge.
“David rode two French Champion Hurdle winners for me but perhaps my best memory is him winning on Mystical City in the Galway Hurdle. He was the first claimer ever to win the race, and his 3lb’s made all the difference that day.”