Horsing around with ex-Wolves keeper Matt Murray

Matt has always been keen to broaden his experiences since leaving the ranks of professional football.

After being forced to retire from the game at the age of 29, he made a seamless transition into coaching and the media and has become a familiar face on Sky's Soccer Saturday programme.

Now, aged 35, he is training to become a professional jockey.

Many riders enjoy careers well into their 40s, with Lester Piggott riding on until he was 59, so Matt feels he has plenty of time to make the grade.

When I caught up with him earlier in the week he explained the inspiration behind his decision.

"I know many people will think that horse racing is a small person's domain but I've always been a great believer that size doesn't matter," he said. "A number of years ago I went pony-trekking on holiday in Wales and loved it so much. Ever since then I've had this strong desire to get back on the horse and prove myself in this sport."

Matt joined a small stable on the outskirts of Uttoxeter last month and he is combining jockey training with his coaching role at the Nike Academy and his media commitments.

Owing to his six-foot-five-inch frame, the horses he has been riding have been fitted with a special saddle and stirrup to accommodate his long legs.

When deciding whether or not to concentrate on flat racing or the jumps, Matt said the decision was never in doubt.

"I had a few trials on the seven furlong flat at our stables but in truth, owing to my weight, it took the horse so long to work up a head of steam that by the time I'd reached the four furlong post all the other horses had crossed the finish line," he said. "But when I went out on the jumps I felt so much more at home.

"I'm a tall lad anyway so when my horse goes over the fences I feel like I'm up in the clouds. It's a wonderful experience."

Matt's initial training hasn't been without hurdles of a different sort.

On the first day of mucking out at the stables, he stepped on a rake while clearing up the hay bales in the yard, causing him not only a punctured toe but also a broken nose when the handle flew up and hit him in the face.

Then on a weekend trainee jockeys' retreat at Newmarket, he fell out of the upper berth of his bunkbed sustaining a badly-bruised elbow. But none of this has put him off.

"It's all part and parcel of becoming a jockey, I guess," said Matt. "There will obviously be a few mishaps on the way but I wouldn't swap it for the world.

"There are plenty of perks in the job too. We get to keep any of the unwanted manure from the stables and I've taken a few bags of it home for the garden. The rose beds are coming up a real treat."

Matt's first race will be as an amateur rider in a maiden hurdle at Ludlow later this month on a highly-rated horse called Pliar Loof!