![\"Jane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4963610_1_articleinlinemobile_ECHO_20FEATURES_20WOW_20Jane_20Mangan_20at_20Ascot_20Picture_20Jane_20.jpeg\" "\\"Jane")
Jane Mangan at Royal Ascot last June. Picture with permission from Jane Mangan’s Instagram.\u00a0<\/p>\nGrowing up in rural Cork, Jane Mangan never imagined that some day she would \u201csew her threads into the fabric of Ascot\u201d – but she did exactly that last summer.<\/p>\n
The horse racing pundit and former jockey was the keynote speaker at The Echo\u2019s Women in Sport awards last week \u2013 a full circle moment of sorts for the Conna woman who was recognised at the same event 15 years earlier for her own success.<\/p>\n
It was not her sporting journey, however, that Jane shared with attendees, but the story of the hard work and sheer determination that led her to reach her ambition to become a part of Royal Ascot broadcasting history.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy earliest memory of Royal Ascot is watching the horse-drawn carriages through the wonder of a child\u2019s eye. I vividly recall guessing the colour of Queen Elizabeth\u2019s outfit with my Granny. She wasn\u2019t much into racing, but the Royal procession was never missed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Granny didn\u2019t watch movies but to her, that was Hollywood. It\u2019s as if for those 20 minutes, the rest of the world was in black and white and that was screaming colour,\u201d said Jane.<\/p>\n
To Jane, her Granny and Queen Elizabeth weren\u2019t all that different.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Queen and my Granny were the same age. In my mind, both were royalty, only their perspectives were different.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a child, it\u2019s quite something to see those who you admire most in the world watch in awe of someone else. At that point in my life, the magnitude of the event didn\u2019t resonate, but knowing it mattered to someone I worshipped, meant I knew it had to be special,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jane tried her hand at various sports growing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a teen, I had the athleticism of a wooden plank so it won\u2019t come as any surprise to know that I was bang average at camogie with St Catherine\u2019s, never had the attitude good enough for running, and my few attempts on a golf suggest I\u2019m better off in the caddy than on the green.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horses were always a part of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy pedigree is equine through and through. My parents are national hunt folk, so my brothers and I always had ponies growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Life growing up in rural Ireland then was very different to that of children of today, explained Jane, with \u2018dial-up internet\u2019 and \u2018corded phones\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the handful of channels on our TV, we were exposed to some of the best racing narrators of any era. From Clare Balding, Jim McGrath and Alaister Down on BBC to the \u2018Godfathers\u2019 Robert Hall and Ted Walsh on RT\u00c9 – they were Gods in our house.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Jane worshipped the broadcasters, she never saw it as a career she could pursue.<\/p>\n
The Conna woman said there was an expectation that as the only girl, and the youngest child, she\u2019d get the \u2018proper, pensionable job\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never wanted to be a broadcaster when I was a child because, I never considered that path to be an option on my journey.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHad I told my mother when I was in school that I was going to be the next Tracy Piggott or Miriam O\u2019Callaghan, she would have told me to \u2018catch myself on\u2019.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, subconsciously, I never considered a life in front of the lens. It just didn\u2019t happen to people like us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane pursued a business degree at CIT. She had great success as an amateur rider.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed a decent level of success in a short period of time: winners at the Galway, Fairyhouse and Punchestown Festivals were obvious highlights, a Grade 1 and a few premier handicaps. Sharing the Champion Ladies title with my childhood hero, turned Fine Gael MEP, Nina Carberry and any winner for my parents were stand-out memories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Whilst at the races one day, Jane did an interview that opened a door. A weekend job in radio followed. Two years later, in 2018, she made her television debut on RT\u00c9 Racing at the Galway Festival and just weeks later she began working with Racing TV.<\/p>\n
From the early days, though, there was one seemingly elusive event that Jane wanted to be a part of.<\/p>\n
The Cork woman first visited Ascot as an amateur rider in 2013. \u201c I don\u2019t remember the race but I can clearly recall waiting by the scales and watching the superstar jockeys leaving the weigh room for the preceding race, the King George. Legends such as Soumillion, Murtagh, Peslier and Ryan Moore all behaving as if they were about to have lunch, filtered out into the paddock for one of the marque races of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat perspective left a lasting impression on me. Here I was on one of the biggest days on the world horse racing calendar. I thought, I hope my grandparents have the TV on at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, she paid another visit to the Royal meeting after flying out there in a cargo plane with a horse who contested the Norfolk Stakes. \u201cI was a groom for this venture, buying a brand-new outfit just to lead up a runner in the ring at Royal Ascot. Again, I was a step closer to the epicentre – feeling the pulse but not yet in the heart of the action,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
However, Jane had a driving ambition to be front and centre of the broadcasting action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been broadcasting racing for six years. I\u2019d ticked the Cheltenham box; York is a regular in my diary, and Epsom is always blocked off for the Derby and the Oaks. But until last summer, the main event on racing\u2019s summer calendar remained elusive,\u201d said Jane.<\/p>\n
Jane Mangan at Royal Ascot last June. Picture with permission from Jane Mangan’s Instagram.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She questioned if she was good enough, if she hadn\u2019t got the call because of her accent, or she needed to know more.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t be human if you didn\u2019t ask yourself the questions,\u201d she said. When the call came from the Ascot team to cover the Royal meeting, which took place last June, Jane said she made sure she wasn\u2019t going to \u201ccome on for the run\u201d, adding: \u201cBroadcasting the world\u2019s best racing to 180 countries comes with responsibility – it\u2019s simple really – don\u2019t miss.\u201d The experience is one which Jane is likely to never forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you walk into the venue on those mornings, there is a hum about the place. Whether you are one of the 29 Michelin Star chefs on duty or the person handing over the jockeys\u2019 silks for the day – there is a knowingness that whatever role you play in this production, it matters that you are there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn advance of the week, I told myself to absorb the experience. The hair and make-up before production meetings, the comradery on site because everyone behaves differently under pressure. And make no mistake – there is pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
That Tuesday morning, at 10.55am Jane joined lead presenter Rosie Turner under the tree in the parade ring before the first race to preview the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the days that followed, we saw a \u00a316,000 yearling beat the best milers in the Queen Anne. We saw a 9,000 guineas purchase down the big boys in the Windsor Castle Stakes. The Gosdens\u2019 won the opening feature races across the first three days, capped by Trawlerman breaking a track record in the Gold Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the moments of the week from my perspective was watching Fethard trainer Joe Murphy, a man who has trained horses for over 50 years, proudly joining King Charles on the winners\u2019 podium after his David looked Goliath in the eye and won.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was on the final day, when Jane was returning from an interview at the parade ring , that she experienced a moment she is unlikely to ever forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned to make my way back to base only to be met by the Royal Guards who didn\u2019t speak but gave me the eyes to stay put! Wondering what the fuss was about, I did a 360 scan only to spot the King and Queen waiting in the shadows to make the trophy presentation.\u201d Another full circle moment. \u201cThe girl from Conna had sewn her thread into the fabric of Ascot. She sat within touching distance of the royal procession. She didn\u2019t just feel the pulse, she was in the beating heart of the action. That\u2019s what being even the smallest part of sport can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappenstance that once seemed otherworldly became real… more than real, it was normal,\u201d Jane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I checked my Aer Lingus flight status, relieved I had enough time to make the gate, I wondered what my Granny would think. How she would feel. Would she be proud? Of course, she would. I got solemn comfort from knowing that this time, both Queens were watching from the same perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up in rural Cork, Jane Mangan never imagined that some day she would \u201csew her threads into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80,61069],"class_list":{"0":"post-292025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-wow"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}