Irish jumps jockey Luke Dempsey finds home in Queensland after incredible weight loss to ride flat

Luke Dempsey came to Australia on a working holiday to see what the jumps racing scene was like. More than a year on he is now a flat racing jockey.

Irish jockey Luke Dempsey has made a name for himself in Queensland. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

Irish jumps jockey Luke Dempsey made the move to Queensland on a wing and a prayer, now he is looking to jump for joy as a lightweight flat rider in the Sunshine State.

Dempsey made a name for himself in his homeland as a fearless rider, who tasted success at the world’s biggest jumps racing carnival and has quickly caught the attention of some of Queensland’s leading trainers after arriving last month.

The hurdles of the Cheltenham Festival couldn’t be further away from a Queensland summer carnival, but Dempsey has put in the hard yards to shed the kilos to make it as a flat jockey.

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“I was able to eat and drink whatever I really liked when I was doing jumps, so I am a bit more disciplined now,” he said.

“The weight has come off OK, I have been strict with my diet and there has been a lot of running.

“At 16 I was an apprentice to Johnny Murtagh, I was with him for two years when I was riding on the flat.

“I started getting a little bit heavy, my dad was a jumps jockey and then a jumps trainer, so I grew up around jumps.

“As I got heavier, I started leaning towards it a bit more, so I mixed them both up, but then I concentrated on the jumps from there on, it was really 10 years.”

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Coming to Australia on a two-month working holiday last year, Dempsey never envisioned being in Queensland, after originally setting up shop in Victoria.

“I was looking for a change, I was initially going to go to Sydney, which was the plan,” he said.

Irishman Luke Dempsey is becoming known as a fearless rider in Queensland. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

“I got to Sydney, I was there for a couple of days and didn’t really like it, so I just kept driving up to Brisbane really.

“I have been doing some work up here and some stuff for Barry (Lockwood), just by chance and it has really gone on from there.

“Barry has been an unbelievable supporter, I have been lucky to have him in my corner.

“Jumps racing isn’t as big over here as it is back home, it is four or five times a week back home, there are only a few in Australia.

“So I thought I’d work on getting my weight down and would see how I go on the flat and it has actually gone better than I thought.

“I was only coming on a little holiday for a few months, I wanted to see something different and get a feel for it, there was no plan to stay.

“I was supposed to go home last July, then July came around and I thought I’d push it back to September and then that came around, so I thought I’d do a year – now it has been a year and a half.”

Riding for the likes of Joseph O’Brien and Willie Mullins back home, Dempsey saw his fair share of injuries riding over the jumps and says flat racing has been a welcome change.

“I broke my back, my shoulder, my leg and there have been plenty of concussions, there are plenty of injuries going over the jumps,” he said.

Originally published as Irish jumps jockey Luke Dempsey finds home in Queensland after incredible weight loss to ride flat