Profile - Paul Carberry: Prodigiously talented jockey and well-known joker Paul Carberry won't be laughing at the two-month sentence imposed on him for setting fire to an Irish Times on an Aer Lingus flight, writes Brian O'Connor
It's almost 12 years since Paul Carberry was a member of the Irish jump jockeys team for a series of challenge races in Australia. But the memory remains fresh for those who witnessed him show up for duty one day at a country track near Adelaide.
"We'd been given these Stetsons to wear and everyone was nicely kitted out as expected, only for Carberry to show up in the jockeys' room with this massive ghetto blaster blaring like bejaysus," remembers another member of the Irish party. "It looked like there was about half a tonne of equipment up on his shoulder, and somehow he'd still managed to cram the whole thing under the Stetson!"
The idea of a pale, skinny rapper invading racing's holy of holies was as welcome down under as it would be here. An official was delegated to have a word in Carberry's ear. Peace quickly returned and the home boy proceeded to do what he does best: ride winners.
"The thing was nobody could get upset with him. There isn't an ounce of malice in the guy, no badness at all. He's just a madman when he gets going," another party member recalls.
Unfortunately for Carberry the word in his ear this week was considerably louder and more threatening. A two-month jail sentence imposed on Wednesday for setting fire to a copy of The Irish Times on an Aer Lingus flight from Malaga to Dublin last October left the former champion jockey visibly shocked at Swords District Court.
An appeal against the sentence, which also included a €500 fine, was quickly lodged and Carberry will be able to continue riding while on bail and until that appeal is heard. But for the fun-loving jockey, what had been regarded before as just another incident of roistering horseplay has turned very serious indeed.
Dealing with it will be quite a new experience. Not surprisingly for a man whose nickname is "Alice" (a debt to his love of the song Living Next Door to Alice) Carberry doesn't normally do serious. In a sport that has had little difficulty throwing up characters through the years, he remains a true original.
Wings have no doubt grown on many of the exploits Carberry has been credited with over the years. But even plucked to the bone they make up quite a litany - so much so it's almost a wonder how the man squeezed in the time to become one of the country's top jockeys. And at 32, the pursuit of a good time hadn't appeared to be slowing down.
After winning the prestigious Lexus Chase at Leopardstown last Christmas with another impeccable display of courage and skill, Carberry gleefully accepted the sponsor's special prize of a year's use of one of their cars.
A prominent senior racing figure looking on was heard to mutter: "I wouldn't like to be the poor bugger who buys that second hand!" The habit within racing over the years has been to throw eyes to heaven and grin indulgently at the latest story about the sport's wild child. And after Wednesday's sentence the general view is that Carberry is still of more danger to himself than anyone else.
"We're talking about a lovely fella who wouldn't hurt anyone. He wouldn't hurt a fly. It's very unfortunate and I'm sure Paul will regret it for the rest of his life. He's always been half-mad but that's Paul," said his friend, and another former champion jockey, Charlie Swan.
But what the sport has also recognised is that behind the fun lies the substance of a major talent for probably the toughest game of all. No less a judge than the Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle winning rider Conor O'Dwyer insists Carberry has the greatest natural ability for riding horses he has ever seen.
"I don't think anyone could argue with that," he insists. "He has unbelievable talent. Everything is so easy for him, almost too easy in a way. He doesn't have to work at it."
Another fan is the former British champion Richard Dunwoody, who was stunned by his young rival's appetite for throwing his horses at fences as if his life depended on it. But for Carberry such reckless courage over a fence is as natural as breathing.
He has always found riding horses easy. Hardly surprising, considering he is a member of possibly the most remarkable family in Irish racing. In a sport where pedigree counts, the Carberry genes are gold.
Paul's father, Tommy Carberry, was a legendary champion jockey who could also burn the candle at both ends. He won the Aintree Grand National in 1975 on L'Escargot and then trained Bobbyjo to win the famous race 24 years later with his son on board. Paul's grandfather Dan Moore trained L'Escargot, and the family's impact on racing has been taken to another level again with the recent success of his siblings. Younger brother Philip won the Irish Grand National last month while his sister Nina is the current champion amateur and is generally regarded as the best female jockey this country has ever produced.
But despite all that rampant family talent, Paul Carberry has always managed to stand out. Stories about his prodigious ability began almost as soon as his career began. A short spell riding on the flat put the final touches on a riding technique that is as stylish as it is effective. But the more lucrative summer game was quickly dismissed by the jockey as "boring".
At 17 he started riding for the Co Meath trainer Noel Meade and, apart from a short spell riding in England in the late 1990s, the partnership has remained intact and become one of the most successful in the country. During that time Carberry has been Irish champion jockey twice, with 113 winners in the 2001-2002 season and 116 in 2004-2005.
Big race victories have been plentiful throughout his career and that continued at this year's Cheltenham festival, when the Meade-trained Nicanor won the SunAlliance Hurdle and Hairy Molly was a long-priced winner of the Champion Bumper.
Such big events can make other jockeys nervous but anxiety doesn't seem to figure for Carberry. In 2005 he was heavily criticised in some quarters after Harchibald was narrowly beaten in the Champion Hurdle by Hardy Eustace. Some critics suggested Carberry was at fault for only applying pressure on the famously tricky horse in the final 100 yards. His response was simple: "I should've waited longer."
However, life in the saddle now looks to be much less complicated than it is off it. Even for such a famously easy-going character, this week's jail sentence will come as a serious blow. All the more so because it was unexpected.
"I don't think anyone saw it coming. Most people thought he might get a suspended sentence," says Conor O'Dwyer. "There isn't a bad bone in his body. It's just he is what he is, a messer. He always has to be doing something. He can't sit still for a minute."
It's four years since another Irish jockey, Timmy Murphy, received a six-month sentence in Britain for being drunk and sexually assaulting a flight attendant on a flight from Japan. At the time it looked like the death-knell for a promising career but Murphy emerged from jail a wiser man and steadily rebuilt his fortunes to the extent that he is now one of the leading riders in Britain.
Carberry is already at the peak of his profession but could yet have to face a similar sort of challenge in the near future. And even for a man with a prodigious appetite for fun, there's very little in that to laugh about.
The Carberry File
Who is he? Champion jockey and Aintree Grand National winner.
Why is he in the news? Received a two-month jail sentence for setting fire to a newspaper on an Aer Lingus flight last October.
Most appealing characteristic? The punters' pal. One of the best of a vintage group of Irish jockeys.
Least appealing characteristic? Not the ideal neighbour on a long-haul flight.
Most likely to say: "Mine's a pint."
Least likely to say: "I'm a fire-starter!"