Cillin Leonard grew up on the outskirts of Dublin in a little area called Beaumont and being the son of an aircraft mechanic and a school headmistress, the likelihood of him becoming a professional jockey was slim. However, while spending his school holidays at his grandparent’s farm in County Laois, he soon realised that he was at his happiest when playing and riding on the ponies. It wasn’t long until he was hooked and at the age of 16, he left home and joined the Irish Racing School.
After leaving the Racing School he held stints at the yards of Ken Condon and Willie Mullins, to help bring on his riding and enhance his knowledge of the racing game.
In 2017 Cillin had felt he had learnt his ‘trade’ and took out his jockey’s licence. He soon struck up a good rapport with Pat Fahey and the winners started to flow. Nevertheless, with so many jockeys fighting for rides, it was hard to pick up quality mounts for other trainer’s therefore, the decision was made to leave Ireland and Cillin packed his bags and crossed the Irish Sea.
After a short spell in the growing Olly Murphy yard, Cillin’s agent got him the job as conditional jockey to the ultra-shrewd, Dr Richard Newland. It was here that Cillin’s career blossomed, a winner at Cheltenham’s October meeting was the highlight of his first season.
Now in his second season with Dr Newland, things have been progressing brilliantly and we are delighted that we have been able to sponsor Cillin for the past 10 months. In this time, we have had notable success together, including a Listed Hurdle victory on Marine One and a Cheltenham winner with Captain Tom Cat.
We look forward to continuing our sponsorship of Cillin and helping him to reach the very top of the jockey ranks!!
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