'There's nothing you cannot do'

His win at Cheltenham on Doran's Pride heralded a wonderful career, then one of Ireland's top young jockeys was paralysed from the neck down. But, as Shane Broderick tells Christina O'Rourke, he is now back - as a trainer

"There  is nothing that you cannot do," insists former jockey Shane Broderick, sitting in his electric wheelchair, "There is only what you don't want to do." His body may be sleeping, but inside still roars the fire of determination that created one of Ireland's top jockeys.

A fall on Irish Grand National Day in March 1997 changed Broderick's life forever. Paralysed from the neck down, the 22-year-old jockey whose name had become synonymous with the popular champion Doran's Pride, was denied his promising career as a racing star.

But Broderick is back. In late November, he made his return to Fairyhouse racecourse, this time as a trainer coming to watch one of his own horses race. "I still feel the same excitement as before, I'm just playing a different role now," he says.

Going back for the first time to the venue of his fateful fall was "no big deal" for Broderick, who has remained a constant presence within the racing community since his accident. He says that he felt as much a part of the atmosphere at Fairyhouse, as ever before, "It's all the same people there . . . they're nearly standing in the same places."

One thing Broderick misses about being a jockey is "the craic in the weighing room", before and during the races. "We would all get on so well. Some of us would travel together and then you'd meet up with the other jockeys and have a bit of slagging about each other's odds." Those fraternal relations that Broderick came to enjoy in the weighing room, proved not to be exclusive to the jockeys. In the wake of Broderick's fall, the whole racing community in Ireland rallied together to establish the Shane Broderick Appeal Fund, and firmly back one of its favourites.

"It was unreal," says Broderick. "I was still in hospital when all of the fundraising was going on, so at the time I wasn't thinking about it, but looking back I can see that it was massive." The head shaving event - "Go bald for Shane" - raised nearly £80,000. The fund had exceeded its target by over half, when it finally closed at £1.6 million. Along with the warmth of gesture, these sponsored racing and golf events, auctions, donations big and small, had provided Broderick with the financial support to set himself up in his new capacity.

Broderick now lives in his own purpose-built bungalow, in Rathcabbin, Co Tipperary, close to his family home. "There's a great atmosphere in the house," says Broderick, who has a roster of carers assisting him. "We all get on very well and have good fun."

Surrounding his bungalow are the stables and training ground. It is the same as any other training ground for horses, he says, "the only difference is that it has a very smooth surface to make it accessible for me". There are six horses in the stables, four of which are currently training. "I'd prefer to be consistent with a small number of horses," he says.

"I am really, really determined to train my first winner," says Broderick with stern conviction. "You have to say 'why can't I?'." He claims it was this very attitude that won him 100 races after just four years on the track.

The greatest highlight of Broderick's career as a jockey, was winning at Cheltenham in 1995, he says. "It was just unbelievable . . . a dream come true." At just 20 years old, riding alongside star jockeys such as Charlie Swan and Richard Dunwoody, Broderick partnered Doran's Pride to win the Stayers' Hurdle that day. "Even though I was quite young, I was quietly confident. Doran's Pride was top of the range."

Earlier that year, Broderick had won the Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown, one of the richest handicap races in Europe. With odds at 25/1, Broderick says he didn't expect to win that day. He surprised himself and everyone else as he rode Anousha to win by a couple of lengths. It was the season of his tragic fall however, that Broderick had clocked up his greatest number of wins. "The day of the fall, I had my 30th win of the season. I would have been fifth on the National Hunt Jockey's Table of Ireland."

The highlight of that fateful 1997 Easter racing festival at Fairyhouse, for Broderick, was to be the day after his fall from Another Deadly. "I was to ride Doran's Pride in the Powers Gold Cup the following day," he remembers, "that was going to be the big one." Doran's Pride ran the race and won it. Broderick lay in hospital, fighting for his life.

"I suppose I have a lot to thank Doran's Pride for," says Broderick, glancing at the eye-catching mirror, which hangs above a glowing fire. It features a picture of the duo at Cheltenham in 1995 and reads: "Shane and Doran's Pride". "It was him that kept me in the limelight and made me so well-known."

Broderick says it is now just as important for him to take on a horse that will help him make his mark. "It only takes one good horse to put you on the map. Then you get a good win, and from there, word gets around."

As a stable boy at Hourigan's yard in Limerick, Broderick says he "picked up an awful lot" about training horses. Trainer Michael Hourigan gave him "great opportunities" as a young jockey, before introducing him to Doran's Pride. "I get great satisfaction now, out of giving similar opportunities to young people," says Broderick, who has two people working the stables.

As a trainer, Broderick instructs whoever is riding the horse, and decides how it is to be fed and exercised. "Good jockeys don't always make good trainers," he says, "but if I do train a winner, being in a wheelchair doesn't matter." A horse trainer on his or her feet can do the job no better or no worse than he can, he adds. "It's about watching and observing, being able to spot things and having a good eye for it." Standing tall in the corner of his spacious but cosy living room, are Broderick's racing boots. "They're the ones I wore the day I won at Cheltenham," he smiles.

Broderick knows he won't ride at Cheltenham again,but he dreams of returning to the winner's enclosure as a trainer.