** Aintree Grand National **

Notre Pere (FR) Barry Potts, Ireland 10


excuse my ignorance but who the hell is Barry Potts?

Believe it or not Notre Pere is going back to were it all began. Barry Potts trained Notre Pere before it ever ran, then it went to Drapers.

This was from our mate Johnny Ward...which reminds me i aint seen him on here for a while.

Johnny Ward

THE early-morning October sun lights up Beechcourt Lodge just outside Naas and you could almost be fooled into believing that it is always like this in Ireland, always summer. For Andrew Lynch
one of Ireland's busiest jockeys, this is one of his favourite times of the day. His Mazda6 rolls into Denis Cullen's yard - the clock on the dashboard reads 7.30am - and he is ready for another day's graft.

"I ride out about ten horses every day and I enjoy it. I don't drink very often and it doesn't really interest me, so it makes it easier to rise every morning," he says.

Lynch rides out all over the country, but at Cullen's you get the sense that he's almost like a stable jockey each morning. He sets off to ride the first lot as horses and jockeys amble along the beautiful tree-lined road towards the gallops.

Robbie Colgan, one of Lynch's best mates in the weighing room, is riding out too. Lynch puts bay filly Combustible Lady through her moves and she pleases him. Then he gets the leg up on juvenile hurdler Total Reality, before pacing over towards the stable of Cullen's two-year-old Umindme. He gets him out of his box and the pair set off for morning work. Lynch is here to do as many jobs as needs be.

10.30am We're in the car again. This time he is off to the Curragh   on a balmy morning. He chats with Willie Supple, before getting the leg up on winning hurdler Qeasy, who has a spin over the EasyFix fences. Because Lynch rides out so much, he has a learned the value of any piece of work. "I consider it vital that you can relay something to the owner and trainer - then we can all work out what is best for the horse."

On this occasion, he is happy with Qeasy, who has very little experience over fences at home. There is no time to linger though; he is bound for the Daw Gallops deep in Meath's countryside and he's running late.

11am We set out for the Royal County, all three of us; jockey, reporter and hardback diary. The book serves an important role for its author. "Last year, I decided to write down notes about all the horses I rode work on," says Lynch. "It just helps that bit to refresh your memory about something you may forget over the course of the year."

We speed down the N2 before Lynch tackles the winding roads leading to the Daw Gallops with a confidence befitting a man who knows them well. "I am on the road a lot - it could be Henry de Bromhead's one morning, Michael O'Hare's another, the next day at Paul Gilligan's and then Tony Martin's." The Mazda6, which he bought as new last year, has 120,000 miles clocked up and counting. He plans to sell it soon.

11.30am The Daw Gallops - nestled close to Bellewstown - are particularly busy this morning, with the Carberry parents and daughter Nina among those present. It is windy and colder now, the landscape consistent with the local racetrack and its ancient hill of Crockafatha. Barry Potts, working on behalf of owner Pat Conway, has arrived with Notre Pere his four-year old half-brother, Telenor and an unraced filly. Lynch had some famous days on Notre Pere and he's hoping for some more aboard Jim Dreaper's grand chaser this season.

Potts, who trained a few winners not long back, sits on the filly and Lynch settles in behind him on the Dreaper's stable star's half-brother. He is green and eager, but Lynch restrains him; he has to learn. About 15 minutes later, they return from the hills. "He is raw but went well," says Lynch.

Somewhat taciturn (good man johnny..Doe's he not know most of us left school by 14) but to the point, you know where you stand with him.

Potts and Lynch wash down the pair before Telenor and Notre Pere set off, Lynch on the former. When they return, he is pleased. "Telenor is probably a bit ahead of Notre Pere at this stage, but they're both getting there."

He helps load him into Potts' lorry and we are back in the car, bound for nearby Fairyhouse. For his cross-country journeys to meetings, he often avails himself of the companionship of his uncle Val Lynch and his friend Noel Ennis, who spares the jockey the burden of driving when he can.

1pm "Ahorsecalledmolly is my best one today," is his synopsis of his four rides and he knows the horse will like conditions, having walked the track last evening.

He would be happy with one winner, which is understandable when you look at his relatively modest strike-rate this season in Ireland (eight per cent). He has already ridden close on 300 horses in Ireland this season, far more than any other jockey here bar Andrew McNamara, Lynch's UK stat of six winners from 22 rides considerably boosts his overall strike-rate. For him, it is a numbers game. "I think if you work hard you get your rewards. My father told me you don't get anything in life for nothing."

His father Sean greets us as we arrive at the home of the Irish Grand National
Lynch is another youngster coming through the ranks making his first-team debut against Kilmarnock on 5 April 2006.  was a successful jockey himself back in the day, riding Paddy Bouler to Galway Hurdle success in 1977.

Before and since, Sean and Una have been happily married and later tonight they will celebrate 40 years together. Their son is looking forward to it and girlfriend Riona Teggert - Noel Meade's travelling head girl - will accompany him.

His first two rides are for Robbie Hennessy. Although he gives Soldier Bay sympathetic and patient handling in the second race, the four-year-old again disappoints, tailing off after briefly threatening to run into a place. Next up is Time Machine, who is given a similar hold-up ride in the handicap hurdle. He runs on into a place.

Lynch did not have to wait long for his confidence in Ahorsecalledmolly to be vindicated. Trained, as it happens, by the unrelated Andrew Lynch, the eight-year-old is as game as they come and his jockey knows him well, having partnered him six times this year. After jumping the last rather deliberately, defeat seems probable but Lynch galvanises the horse to go on and win by a length.

"They went very slow but he just keeps galloping for you," he reflects post-race before adding: "I'd have taken one winner before coming here."

His final mount, Benbradagh, weakens tamely in the handicap chase. He knows the trainer, Ian Ferguson from his days riding in points. Staggeringly, the 24-year-old has ridden for 69 different handlers in Ireland already this season, a statistic that, when presented to him, sees him raise his eyebrows in surprise.

5.30pm With that, he makes the short spin to what remains his home in his parents' house in Donaghmore. He is saving to buy his own place and accompanying land with a view to life post-riding. "Maybe I wouldn't be cut out for training, but I'd like to pre-train anyway."

He is already thinking of the future, working as hard as he can to make it better. Tomorrow, he will be riding out somewhere else before racing at Limerick. But he is dreaming, too, of big days on Sizing Europe this season, a horse who handed him his biggest success at Cheltenham last March.

Recently, a tabloid newspaper equated the notion of public servants upping their working week to five and a half days, with slavery. They should meet Andrew Lynch

majestic concorde???[smiley:crazy]

Noel Glynn (Becauseicouldntsee 10st 8lb): "I'd be happy with that, hopefully we get him there now as we had a setback the other week.
"He's only a week away from going back into work so he's going the right way. We wouldn't have time for a run so it will be straight there.
"I was expecting more so that's a pleasant surprise. He's only eight so hopefully he'll be going back for a few years yet.
"I led in Numbersixvalverde for my cousin (Martin Brassil) and we were drunk for a week after that!''