YESTERDAY Tony Dobbin had his first-ever glimpse of Fairyhouse when he walked the Meath track in preparation for his ride on The Grey Monk in today's Jameson Irish Grand National. The professional's eye will have taken in the contours, the ground and the potential traps, but the mind will have slipped more than once into "what might be".
Despite, or perhaps because of, Dobbin's appetite for success, such dreams are inevitable. Especially when five days after Fairyhouse he will be hoisted on to Lord Gyllene, the second favourite for the Aintree Grand National. If a jockey's pulse isn't quickened by a week like this, what flows through him must be less red than is healthy.
Dobbin's earthy good humour scotches any concerns on that score and despite a three-day break last week because of concussion, those who believe The Grey Monk to be possessed of enough class to defy top weight of 12st can console themselves that the Downpatrick-born rider is "up" for the week. It would be strange if he wasn't because Dobbin knows this could be the week to recharge his career.
Not that his career isn't healthily ticking over already. Retained by the powerful Gordon Richards stable, seventh in the British jockeys table, and contender for leading rider in the north of England, many riders would envy the 24-year-old's position. And yet the grey shadow of the one that got away, and the headline grabbing limelight he took with him, is always there.
Dobbin acknowledges that for many he is still best known as the rider who was jocked off the mercurial One Man, the young jockey who had to step aside after winning a Hennessy on the flying grey to allow Richard Dunwoody the greater glory of two King George VI victories on the Richards-trained horse. More frustrating thoughts of what might have been have plagued Dobbin since that jocking off 14 months ago but now, in the more dour shape of The Grey Monk, he feels he has an even better, more dependable grey shadow to block the old one out.
"Now, I feel I have the better horse to ride, but there's no point saying the One Man thing didn't hurt at the time because it did. It would have hurt anyone. At the time he was the greatest horse in training and seeing him win the King George, it was natural to start thinking `if that had been me'. It did shake me and I found myself wondering why was I bothering," Dobbin says.
Too young and too talented to wonder for too long, Dobbin persevered. Almost 70 winners this season alone shows how well he has got on with things, but when it comes to the big races, the races that define seasons and careers, Dobbin's profile still remains relatively low. The Grey Monk has the talent to change that. However, if he doesn't, accusing fingers are unlikely to be pointed at his partner's temperament.
Possessed of a wit more ready and flexible than is usual in the often anxious world of the jockeys room, Dobbin understands the pressures of riding in the prestige races but refuses to be overwhelmed by them.
"Big race success puts you right in the scene and makes people want you. There isn't much loyalty these days and no one uses unfashionable riders. The every-day winners are all very well and they pay the bills, but the big winners give you that bit of jam. Having said that, you can't look or think about them too much. If you do, you can shit yourself when it counts," he adds.
When owners haven't insisted otherwise, the similarly plain-speaking Richards has never hesitated to put the rider he calls "the boy Dobbin" on board when it counts. Despite the One Man saga and the mount on another stable star Unguided Missile going to Dunwoody, the relationship between the hard-bitten trainer and his jockey is strong.
"He's a hard old guy," says Dobbin. "He does a lot of roaring and screaming, but a person wouldn't want to shrink back from him. I just shout back. He's a great trainer and all those decisions about somebody else riding were owners' decisions."
If the Fairyhouse ground contains enough juice for The Grey Monk to perform at his best, Dobbin expects the horse's form and stamina to make him a worthwhile favourite.
"Some people doubt whether he stays, but in my view all he does is stay. It was a shame he couldn't run in the Gold Cup because the form of his previous race at Haydock has worked out really well - and that was only over two and a half miles. He beat Terao and Uncle Ernie at Haydock and both of them won at the festival. Three out that day, they were queueing up to challenge and he just ran away from them," Dobbin says.
The Grey Monk gave Dobbin his only ride in Ireland so far this year when falling at the 12th fence in Danoli's Hennessy at Leopardstown in February. "The more I look back at that, the more I think I should have won. At the time I was 20 lengths clear of Jodami and he ended lame and only just beaten," he says.
The Aintree fences are the great leveller of the English Grand National next Saturday, but in Lord Gyllene Dobbin has what he considers the ideal type for the contest. "He stays forever, jumps well and if Master Oats stays in the race, Lord Gyllene will think he's loose with only 10st on his back. He looks a real Aintree horse," he says.
Two Grand Nationals and two excellent chances. For a jockey, going into a week like this, it just doesn't get any better. Except of course if one or both were to win. "That would be such a boost," Dobbin says, before adding, "especially to my bank balance."
Shadows of any colour would certainly be hard pressed to disturb his new profile then.
