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John Gleeson was one of the stars of the Cheltenham Festival on both track and TikTok in 2023 and he is hoping for a similar impact this time around.

Gleeson’s Champion Bumper win on A Dream To Share became a standout story from Prestbury Park, with the precocious jockey gaining notoriety having claimed the previous day he prioritised a win in the race over a good result in his Leaving Cert.

In the end, he achieved both, with Gleeson now combining his burgeoning racing career with studying at college in Cork.

“I’m enjoying juggling everything and it’s going well so far,” he said.

“It was a great season last year with A Dream To Share but I’m just keeping my head down and riding away. Hopefully its onwards and upwards again now.

“We were happy with the run at DRF, his first run in a while. Hopefully we have plenty more to look forward to with him.”

A Dream To Share, trained by John and Thomas Kiely, was sixth in his Grade 2 bumper at Leopardstown earlier this month having gone off as odds-on favourite.

Connections have indicated there is unlikely to be a return to Cheltenham, or perhaps at all this season, with a future over hurdles being mapped out.

One horse who is planning a trip over the Irish Sea in March is Henry de Bromhead’s Slade Steel, who Gleeson steered to victory at Punchestown in the six-year-old’s first race under rules in December 2022.

Rachael Blackmore has more recently taken the ride on a horse who finished runner-up to the impressive Ballyburn at the Dublin Racing Festival and has entries for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle next month.

“He’s a progressive type of horse,” Gleeson said. “He won his bumper well at Punchestown and he’s a nice horse for the future.”

Blackmore’s achievements are among those Gleeson wishes to emulate but for now the jockey, son of RTE pundit Brian, is simply building his knowhow with the assistance of as many wise guides as possible.

“I get into John [Kiely]’s a couple of weeks, go to Henry [de Bromhead]’s twice a week and Joseph [O’Brien]’s on a Sunday,” he said.

“I try and get into different places and the more experience I gain, the better.

“I grew up around racing with my dad and it was always instilled in me. I was going into John Kiely’s from a young age so racing was always going to be the route. To get riding was all I wanted to do.”