The Northern Echo has expanded its racing team with Niall Hannity joining to write an Inside Racing column every Monday. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson met the former jockey and assistant trainer to find out what lies in store.

WHEN it comes to getting inside racing, few have done it as fervently or as successfully as Niall Hannity.

A professional jockey for ten years and assistant trainer to Ferdy Murphy for more than three, the Irishman has been a popular figure on North Yorkshire's racing scene for more than a decade.

Today, he is employed as a respected analyst for William Hill Radio and Sky Sports and, from his base in the village of Thornton Watlass, near Bedale, buys and sells horses for some of the leading traders in the country.

From Monday, he will write a weekly column in The Northern Echo in which he will provide a unique insight into the horse racing world. But doesn't he sometimes wish at least a small part of his life didn't revolve around horses?

"To be honest, I've only thought that once," said Hannity.

"I was having a particularly busy night speaking to trainers and jockeys on my mobile, and all of a sudden I answered a call from my wife. She was sitting in the same room.

"It gets a bit like that from time to time, but I honestly wouldn't swap it for anything. Horses are all I've ever known, and I know how lucky I am to have been able to make a career out of them.

"Most children want to be footballers or firemen, but when I was growing up in Ireland, everybody wanted to work with horses.

It sure beats working for a living."

Born in County Down, Hannity's first equine experience came as the owner of a donkey. He had wanted a pony but, after his elder brother lost interest in the one he had been given, his father was understandably reluctant to fall into the same trap twice.

He need not have worried, as a teenage Hannity quickly progressed to pony racing and was crowned Ireland's champion novice jockey before his 16th birthday.

He rode in point-to-points and amateur races after leaving school, and was offered a post of conditional jockey with Middleham trainer George Moore.

"I had ten great years working out of Middleham, but it was always a battle against my weight and, eventually, it just became too big a struggle," he said.

Hannity rode over 100 winners at tracks up and down the country, with his greatest day coming courtesy of a treble at Sedgefield and arguably his biggest success coming aboard Patriarch Express at Cheltenham.

Within six months of hanging up his colours, he had been appointed as Murphy's assistant at West Witton, and the pair enjoyed a series of notable successes together, including a one-two in the Scottish Grand National and numerous victories at both Cheltenham and Aintree.

His decision to move on to pastures new was a difficult one but it has not meant an end to his relationship with racing.

From next week, he will be writing about his experiences in The Northern Echo.

"It's amazing how many people in North Yorkshire and the North-East are connected to racing in some way, and I want to bring that out a bit. And if I can point people in the direction of a few winners along th