Jockey Jonathan Moore joined Friday Night Racing on Off The Ball where he chatted about how his early career made him cherish his recent success.

Moore made his top level breakthrough over Christmas when he guided Flooring Porter to a first ever Grade One success in the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle.

Having grown up in an eventing and showjumping environment, Moore's path to racing wasn't immediately obvious. However once he had his first taste of thoroughbreds, there was no turning back.

"Myself and @McDonnellDan roared him home from the @Newstalk studio"

Johnny Ward recalls jockey Jonathan Moore winning @Galway_Races on his Georgie Shore on Friday Night Racing@HRIRacing | #EveryRacingMoment pic.twitter.com/fpal6s5OME

— Off The Ball (@offtheball) January 8, 2021

"A good friend of mine Edmund McCabe, I used to play hurling and football with him. One day his father, Mosey said to me 'Do you want to come down and ride a few?' recalled Moore.

"I went on down and rode out that morning. I think I rode three lots that day and I remember coming home and telling my parents 'this was what I wanted to do, the thrill I got from that. I want to be a jockey.'

"My mother threw her eyes up to heaven and my father probably just laughed, but I was hooked then."

Moore: 'There's nothing like it'

The thrill of going a stride quicker on something more powerful was an instant addictive hit.

"I was used to ponies and you go around hunter trials and cross country courses and you think you are going fast," said the jockey of his first racehorse experience.

"When you get up on a thoroughbred racehorse, a half ton animal going up a gallop with the speed and the power they have. You're 12 or 13 years of age, sure you think there's nothing like it. It was a great thrill and that's how I got hooked."

Jockeys can get severe injuries and as he wasn't from a 'racing family' were there concerns form his family about his career choice?

"It was yeah but my mother is a teacher herself and always told us if you are interested in something or if you are passionate about something, she wouldn't get in your way.

"She probably didn't think at that stage I was going to progress to be a jockey be she definitely didn't stand in my way.

"She helped me out as much as she could, her and my father."

While as a teacher Moore's mother wasn't delighted that he didn't finish school and instead headed to RACE on the Curragh.

Much has happened in the interim but his start in to life as a jockey included a four year barren period between getting a licence and riding his first winner.

Those struggles have been long forgotten given his successes over the last year in particular since linking up with the ever more powerful Gavin Cromwell yard.

The association led to a maiden top level success at Christmas with Flooring Porter, and Moore hopes a first Cheltenham success this coming March.