BURNING IT UP

Teen sensation Nicola Is hungry to learn and keep delivering inthe saddle

- BY BRIAN FLANAGAN

RACHAEL Blackmore may have retired last May but one Mullingar teenager is doing her best to fill the void left by Ireland's greatest ever female rider.

17-year-old Nicola Burns is a flat apprentice jockey, and has a long way to go before reaching the heights that Blackmore summited, but less than a year into her career she is lighting up this season on the level.

Burns is the daughter of Co Westmeath trainer Robbie Burns, and having finished her Leaving Cert in June, she has enjoyed a really successful summer and is very much in contention to be crowned champion apprentice later this year.

Her first winner only came at the Curragh last October but this season she’s passed the winning post in front 15 times so far, and has greatly impressed many shrewd judges with her skill and bravery in the saddle.

Burns is an apprentice at Ger Lyons’ yard in Meath but she is in high demand and top yards like Paddy Twomey, Donnacha O’Brien and Jessica Harrington are among the many stables she has ridden for this season.