It all added up to life as a jockey for McNamara

Despite a crashing fall at Thurles just over a week ago, rising star Andrew McNamara has two big rides this weekend, on Beef Or Salmon at Haydock today an on Newmill at Punchestown tomorrow. Declan Colley talks to him about his stellar rise and the ups and downs of life as a top young jockey.

The vicissitudes of race riding are well known to all racing fans, but for jockeys the chasm between success, on the one hand, and being out injured, on the other, is something they have to cope with on a daily basis.

So it was for Andrew McNamara in this past month when, after scoring one of his biggest successes steering Beef Or Salmon to a close victory over Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition in the James Nicholson Gold Cup at Down Royal, he was on top of the world.