Ireland has a rich heritage when it comes to sporting documentaries and tonight sees the latest in the canon with TG4 showing the story of Jockey Paddy Merrigan as part of its Finné series.
The show goes out this evening and covers his rise to fame as a winning jockey in England, his retirement from the sport at the age of 21, his subsequent spiral in drink and drugs to a point where he considered taking his own life, and then the journey back to becoming a jockey again.
The physical training he went into in order to get that comeback on the track meant losing five and a half stone in weight.
He has had 21 rides since making his comeback at the start of the summer, the latest of them at Punchestown last week. He has had a couple of seconds but yet to get back on a winner.
Then again his story goes way beyond the result of any race.
Today’s daily Video gives us a taste of what life is like away from the bright lights of sporting success.
Image Credit: TG4
