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Friday Night Racing | Niall McCullagh on his son: "He's way better than I was when I was at that stage"

Veteran Jockey Niall McCullagh was the special guest for this week's episode of Friday Night Raci...



Friday Night Racing | Niall Mc...
Racing

Friday Night Racing | Niall McCullagh on his son: "He's way better than I was when I was at that stage"

Veteran Jockey Niall McCullagh was the special guest for this week's episode of Friday Night Racing.

Born in 1969, McCullagh is still mixing it with the youngsters these days and is coming off the success of riding three winners at last weekend's Irish Derby meeting at the Curragh.

However, his son Scott is ready to step into his boots and McCullagh senior was quick to praise the impressive strides he's making, saying:  "We've ridden against each other occasionally but Ireland is hard for the kids and he's quite tall and he's not a natural lightweight.

"You need to be light like Andy Slattery to get going here. And, he was getting the odd ride and I said 'Mick Channon is looking for a ride - would you try England? Expecting him to say 'No Way, I'm not going to England'' and he said 'Yeah, when can I go?'

War Diary with Niall McCullagh on their way to winning the Irish Stallion Farms EBF 'RAGUSA' Handicap

"So, off he went and he was over to Mick's for a trial for a month, rode a winner or two, came home, picked up the rest of his gear and off he went and he's on 20 winners now. He claims five and he's doing well -he rides well.

"But, he's tall and he's not a natural lightweight like me. He has to work at it but he rides well.

"He's way better than I was when I was at that stage. If I think he ran a bad ride - I'd tell him. If I thought he was a poor rider - I'd tell him. He actually rides very well and I'm very proud of him.

Watch the full episode of Friday Night Racing here:

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