Irish Daily Mirror

AP’S got his mojo back..

Chanelle says racing hero focused on horse yard

- BY SHARON MCGOWAN Showbiz Reporter

Chanelle launches Pakman awards

YESTERDAY

CHANELLE Mccoy has revealed her racing legend husband AP has “got his mojo” back after retirement by opening a rehabilita­tion yard for racehorses.

The former jockey hung up his saddle in 2015 after an illustriou­s career but recently admitted he still misses the rush of the sport.

However, his Dragon’s Den star wife Chanelle said she’s delighted to see he’s rediscover­ed his focus.

She told the Irish Mirror: “He does miss the buzz, absolutely, but he has no regrets about retiring and no regrets he retired too early.

“That’s nice when you have no regrets as regret isn’t a nice thing to carry around.

“That sense of missing it and being a bit lonely, that feeling’s going away now and it’s getting a bit easier for him.

“He set up a rehabilita­tion yard and a pre-training breaking yard at home. There’s about 35 horses here.

‘He set that up in January and that’s definitely got his mojo back. I’ve noticed a big difference in him now.

“It’s great because there’s that excitement of riding the young horses and getting thrown off the odd time. He’s quite enjoying that… That element of contentmen­t is back.” Chanelle splits her time between her home in the UK and Ireland as the pharmaceut­ical company she runs with her father is based in her home town of Loughrea in Galway.

They employ 500 people but Chanelle revealed there are still dozens of vacancies.

She said: “At the moment we actually have 38 open positions in the company but we’re finding it really difficult to recruit because there’s a talent shortage in Ireland at the moment.

“The rate of unemployme­nt is the lowest it’s ever been at 5% and you’re always going to get a few percent of the workforce who can’t work.

“To attract people to the west of Ireland when there is a talent shortage is very difficult.

“When I speak to business leaders, this is a problem right across Ireland – especially outside Dublin.

“I saw recently the Government released 800 work permits for the farming industry.

“The Government needs to be open to issue further work permits to allow foreign talent to come into Ireland.”

Chanelle was recently in Ireland to launch Repak’s Pakman Awards, which recognise excellence in waste management and recycling in organisati­ons, businesses, community groups and individual­s

Nomination­s close on July 3 and the awards ceremony will take place on October 25.

He set the yard up in January & there’s been a big difference CHANELLE MCCOY

 ??  ?? POWER COUPLE Chanelle and AP Mccoy at awards bash RECYCLE OF LIFE
POWER COUPLE Chanelle and AP Mccoy at awards bash RECYCLE OF LIFE

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