SPORTING PASSIONS - JOHNNY MURTAGH: The jockey talks about his abiding love of soccer and the Meath Gaelic football team.

"I WAS always into football because I'm from Meath, which is a big GAA county. I didn't play much soccer but I grew up a Manchester United supporter. We always had games of soccer in the schoolyard and 20 minutes before training would start we'd always be kicking around playing soccer.

"I thought maybe I might play for Meath someday but I had an auntie in Blackburn so when I was about 14 I thought if I decided to go there I'd try to get an apprenticeship. There was nothing set up but I loved soccer, I loved watching it on TV and I thought 'maybe it's the thing for me'.

"In the end, I went to the apprentice school in Kildare for the racing. I got into the atmosphere down there and I knew it was for me. I got a 10-month course and continued from there.

"But I'm still a big Man United fan. One of my greatest thrills was riding Rock Of Gibraltar to win the Guineas for Alex Ferguson. I got to know him and I still speak to him. He loves racing but I'd say you'd want to do what he tells you.

"You can see the way he gets the team going and gets them motivated. What he's done at Man United, he's built it up, the training centre and everything around him. Even the way he speaks to the young players, he knows them all by their first name and he gets very involved with them.

"I haven't been going to many games but I love the atmosphere and I love going over to Old Trafford. The Premiership, the way it is at the moment, it's so big. I often look back and say 'wouldn't it be great to be part of it?' but I think I have to be quite happy with how my own career has gone.

"I play for Kildare Town in the off-season so I enjoy that. I try to keep myself fit and I like to give my best. I like to be a winner whether I'm playing a five-a-side, playing for Kildare Town or riding in the Derby.

"I started off boxing then when I was about 12 and I did it for three years. I won the Meath title three times, I won two Leinster titles and I won the All-Ireland. I boxed for Navan Boxing Club and I loved it.

"We had a good bunch of lads at that time. I remember we went to the Leinster Championships in Arklow one year and we had seven guys fighting, four or five in the final and three winners. I went on and won the Irish title that same year.

"I loved the training, I loved the competing and it's another sport I watch now with added interest. I was boxing at 45 kilos. I was a southpaw so I didn't like getting hit, I was kind of in and out.

"When I was starting off and the first round went by, my trainer was always enthusiastic, saying 'You're going great. He didn't lay a glove on you.'

"And the second round I went out and got the head boxed off myself again and the trainer was going again 'Jeez Johnny you're doing great, he didn't lay a glove on you - you're flying!' And I just said to him 'keep an eye on the ref 'cause someone's hitting me'.

"My trainer always said I'd make the Olympics. This was 1985 and he told me I could make the Olympics in 1988 but then I got the opportunity to come down to the Curragh.

"My favourite now is the boy from the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao. The heavyweights used to be the big thing but the gloss seems to have gone off that. A big favourite of mine would have been Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran - they were fights that you'd be waiting for and they'd never seem to let you down. They were just the golden era I suppose.

"But there are some great fighters out there. The thing about it is that they do so much talking beforehand. What I like about it is you can't run away and you can't hide. It's just you, another guy and the ref in there.

"So I enjoyed it. It was great for any young lad, especially the training. You know you meet these hardy lads out on the street and they're all mouth. But when you get into the ring, they can't mouth any more. For myself it was good discipline as well. You wouldn't be quick to lose your temper because if you did, that only led to one thing and that was getting a real hiding."

Johnny Murtagh is a flat jockey and recently landed the biggest job in racing - number one rider to Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore operation.