{"id":4678,"date":"2026-04-03T16:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=4678"},"modified":"2026-04-03T16:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:16:15","slug":"there-was-my-dad-serving-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=4678","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;There was my dad serving tea!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>Some fantastic stories this week!<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>This week on your favourite horse racing podcast, The Paddock, we\u2019re joined by Rishi Persad, Oli Bell and jockey great Mick Fitzgerald. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The panel dives into Mick&#8217;s Grand National memories including winning it, ending up in a nightclub the night before and THAT famous quote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>There&#8217;s an emotional tribute to his father as well as harrowing discussion on the horror fall that ended his career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Opening up about the fledgling beginnings of his career, Mick told the others how a growth spurt had forced him to leave Ireland when he was just a teenager with very little to try and make it in England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The 55-year-old explained: &#8220;I was 15 and I thought I was going to be the next best thing. I was really light, when I had my very first ride I was 6st 9lb at Gowran Park and I thought I was going to be a flat jockey then because I was small.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;Then obviously I grew and got too heavy to ride in the flat so I said &#8216;right I&#8217;m going to have to go to England&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;And I can remember, my dad brought me to the airport, to Dublin, and it was one of the first Ryanair flights going to Luton, and it was sixty quid, and it&#8217;s all I had.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Grand National Memories with Mick Fitzgerald | The Paddock Season 2 | Ep 6\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NzC59Q_3omQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;And my dad turned around and he had tears in his eyes, I can see it now, my dad was hard as nails.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Mick gestures that his dad went to give him money, but he replied, &#8220;&#8216;dad I don&#8217;t want it, it&#8217;s going to work&#8217; and that was it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>He also spoke about his winless 18-month period during which he &#8220;thought the dream was over&#8221; but he said he kept morale high by telling himself &#8220;this is what I was put on this earth to do and I&#8217;m going to do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The Cork man talked more about his Grand National experiences as well as his dad, who he admits &#8220;loved a drink&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>He told the story of how he ended up with &#8220;no sleep the night before the national&#8221; after he brought his dad to the big race the night before to &#8220;spend some quality time&#8221;, but that while Mick was out sweating his weight down, his dad was enjoying a few tipples, and couldn&#8217;t help himself snoring in the hotel room all night after getting back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Mick shared the special moment of meeting his dad near the gates after he had won the race with his dad &#8220;wandering&#8221; over to him with his thumb up before telling him, &#8220;you did it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;That moment is frozen in time for me. It&#8217;s probably one of the most precious moments in my life,&#8221; the former jockey said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Mick also shared a lighter side of the 1997 Grand National bomb scare, concerning his dad again, during which the venue was evacuated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>He explained how the good people of Liverpool had opened up their homes for the thousands of spectators, staff and jockeys to drink tea and eat cake while they waited for the situation to blow over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Mick explained: &#8220;There was a lady called Edie Roach who is now in the Hall of Fame for what she did. The people of Liverpool opened their doors to all and it was amazing, and it would only happen in that city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;I walk into this random lady&#8217;s living room and she said, &#8216;Oh, come on. Come in. Have a cup of tea and sit down and bit of cake and everything.&#8217; And the place is rammed. I mean rammed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;Every little bit of space is taken with people from all walks of life and countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;So anyway, I&#8217;m sat down in walks this lad serving the tea. Who is it? Only my dad! He&#8217;s serving the tea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;I had no idea he was there, not a clue. Not a Scooby-Doo!&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Mick&#8217;s dad sounds like a right laugh!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p><strong>Watch the full episode of The Paddock on\u00a0YouTube\u00a0or listen wherever you get your\u00a0podcasts.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#dad #serving #tea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some fantastic stories this week! This week on your favourite horse racing podcast, The Paddock, we\u2019re joined by Rishi Persad, Oli Bell and jockey great Mick Fitzgerald. The panel dives into Mick&#8217;s Grand National memories including winning it, ending up in a nightclub the night before and THAT famous quote. There&#8217;s an emotional tribute to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4812,3632,4810,4811,1170,1422,4813,3352],"class_list":{"0":"post-4678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-dad","9":"tag-horse-racing","10":"tag-mick-fitzgerald","11":"tag-paddock-podcast","12":"tag-serving","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-tea","15":"tag-the-paddock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}