Johnny Murtagh joined Off the Ball at our Friday Night Racing special in the Leopardstown Inn ahead of a big weekend of action.

The famed jockey spoke to Ger about his transition from the saddle to the trainer's yard, saying: "I built the yard at home and I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen. I didn't know if I was going to breed a few or go into training. 

"And then I met Andrew Tinkler and he had a few horses in England and I started riding for him a bit and I was kind of saying 'I'd do well with these horses of yours in Ireland - would you not send over a couple and we'll race them in Ireland in Dundalk?' 

"So he sent over five and I was getting a feel for it then. You know, we had five horses and a little team around me, I was still riding at the time and a few people were looking at me thinking 'Well, you can't do both'.

"And, I remember William Haggas sitting in my house saying to me 'Well Mr. Murtagh...what's it going to be - riding or training?' 

"I says 'I think I'll do both' - 'You cannot do both!' (said Haggas). So as he said that I was saying to myself: 'I can do both' and I had a great year that year. So, he came back to the stables the next year and says 'Do you remember when I was sitting in your kitchen and I said you couldn't do both? - Well how wrong was I? 

"But, I got a feel for it then and it seemed like a natural progression - it seems like the same: Get up early, I work until half one and I go back to the horses in the evening, I go to the races but now I can eat! 

"Fellas say to me 'What's the greatest thing about retirement?' I can eat! And it's strange the reaction and people look at you but that's the way it is. I seem a bit more funnier, a bit happier - probably a bit more easier to live with but that is the one thing (eating). It didn't seem like a big change," he added. 

Catch the full discussion here: