From Limerick Pony racing to champion apprentice: the rise of Paddy Harnett
When the 2026 Irish Flat season ended at the Curragh on Sunday, both championship trophies were going home to Co Limerick. Billy Lee, from Ballingarry, was crowned champion Flat jockey at the age of 40, after three runner-up finishes. He signed off with his 99th winner of the campaign on Thread Of Gold in the Listed Finale Stakes. A few hours earlier, 24-year-old Paddy Harnett from Abbeyfeale had settled the apprentice championship in the very first race.
Harnett had a message from Lee earlier in the week. “Billy text me the other day saying it’s Limerick’s year!”
The title-clincher
Harnett’s mount was Choctaw Nation, a Sea The Stars colt trained by Aidan O’Brien. He went off the 4/9 favourite in the Irish EBF Maiden after finishing second on his debut at Navan. He led before halfway, quickened from the two pole and won by three and a quarter lengths. It was Harnett’s 29th winner of the season.
“The amount of people here roaring me on was unbelievable,” he said. “When I passed the line I could hear them all. It’s absolutely class. I’ll save a couple of pictures and put them on the mantelpiece.”
Farm, ponies and Tralee
Harnett grew up in a farming family in Abbeyfeale. Like so many of Ireland’s top riders, he learned his trade on the pony racing circuit, where he rode winners well into double figures. His rivals there included Mikey and Danny Sheehy, Shane Crosse, Andrew Slattery, Dylan Browne McMonagle and Joey Sheridan. “It was all very competitive,” he said.
His first proper riding was at Tom Cooper’s yard in Tralee. “I started out with Tom first while I was in school and mum and dad used to bring me down there, whenever I could.” Tom’s son, the jockey Bryan Cooper, was his hero. “He was a big influence on me when I was starting out. I always remember him winning the Triumph Hurdle (2013) on Our Conor in Cheltenham — he was probably my favourite horse at that time.”
Pony racing also opened the next door for him. He met trainer Andy Slattery there and moved to Slattery’s yard in Killenaule, where he spent three years.
A schoolboy’s first winner
His first winner came at Tipperary on 29 August 2019, his first day back at school in fifth year. “I was in school that morning and I remember I couldn’t eat much,” he said. “Dad took me out of school and brought me up to Tipperary and it was brilliant to win for Tracey.”
Rule The Sea was trained by Tracey Collins and sent off at 20/1. He made all to win the apprentice handicap by two and a quarter lengths. “When I got to the furlong pole, I could hear nothing behind me,” the teenager said afterwards. “I just gave a look back and the lads were two lengths off me.” The next day he rode a second winner, at the Curragh.
The slow build
His next move was to Donnacha O’Brien’s yard, where he has now spent nearly four seasons. The winners took time to come. As a 10lb claimer, he finished third on Sheila Lavery’s Magnetic North at Galway, one place ahead of Donnacha. His first double came at Dundalk in January 2023, and one of the two winners was Teutates for Donnacha. He reached double figures for the first time in 2025, with 11 winners.
“At the start of the year the title was a hope,” he said. “I had 11 winners last year and my main goal was to better that.”
Forty-eight hours
He did far more than that. In 2026 he rode winners for 16 different trainers, with Donnacha O’Brien supplying the most, and he won on Imposing at Punchestown for Aidan O’Brien. The title race with Sam Coen and Reese Holohan stayed close all year. On the Wednesday morning of the final week, Harnett was three winners behind Coen.
He rode a double at Dundalk that evening. Galway was abandoned and the meeting was moved to Punchestown, so he rang round trainers and got five rides instead of two. He rode a treble there and went two clear.
“I never gave up when I was suspended, there’s lots of bumps in this game,” he said. “When I came back I just tried to keep everyone happy and get on the best horses.”
Harnett turns 25 in April, so 2027 will be his last season as an apprentice. For now, the boy who was driven to Tralee before and after school has the title. “It’s crazy,” he said, “and to have everyone from home up here as well is brilliant.”
Billy Lee was right: it was Limerick’s year.
Photos © Healy Racing Photos.
