There was an extraordinary story to the closing bumper at Limerick today as 66-year-old jockey/trainer Liam Burke ended a 35-year wait for a winner when storming to success aboard Teuchters Glory (9/2).

The seven-year-old, also part-owned by Burke, finished five lengths to the good as the Cork trainer fulfilled his dream having returned to the saddle two years ago when taking out an amateur licence once again.

Burke, father of Cheltenham Festival-winning rider Johnny, rode his last winner in May of 1988 but the 12,723-day famine is over for the Mallow native as he became the oldest winning rider under Rules in Ireland in 100 years.

“They all thought I was nuts but you have to be to do this job, don’t you?” Burke beamed of his return to the saddle. “It isn’t easy but it’s the buzz that gets us going.

“I just wanted to get that buzz. I wanted to get that winning feeling if I could. I was struggling to get it but at least we got one. It felt good. The last hundred yards was long, though.

“I was hoping someone wouldn’t come to me. You’re hoping to get the winning pole back to you but he stayed travelling for me.”

There is no sign of retirement either for Burke, who only turned 66 last week, and he might just have got the taste for more having defied two knee replacements to return to the saddle.

“I might ride a few more. While I’m enjoying it and I’m still at the weight, I might do it. I might stop either, you wouldn’t know, depends on what humour I’m in,” he quipped.

Burke becomes the oldest winning jockey in Ireland since Harry Beasley won at Punchestown, aged 71 in 1923.

The last time Burke rode a winner (in ‘88), second-placed rider Jamie Codd was just six-years-old while none of the other three jockeys involved in the five-runner finale were even born.