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Pat Smullen had a cycling career to match and surpass many of today’s riding greats.
He also fought with so much heart and dignity after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2018. Doctors’ advice regarding a return to running fitness eventually led him to hang up his riding boots, and it wasn’t a surprise at the moment when the tributes to his talents poured.
For Smullen, who lost his valiant fight at the age of 43, not only was he a nine-time Irish champion horseman and winner of almost every great race worthy of the name, he was a man universally regarded as a gentleman. The complete professional.
Frankie Dettori summed up the feelings of many in the racing world when he said of his retirement: “He is 100% professional and he was a great driver. He won almost everything there is to win, including the Epsom Derby. “
That Epsom win came in 2016 through Harzand, trained by Dermot Weld. The pair secured the Irish Derby and cemented the legacy of a cyclist who enjoyed his first victory at Dundalk on June 11, 1993.
Born in County Offaly on May 22, 1977, Smullen, the son of a farmer and who became involved with horses at the age of 11, formed a formidable alliance with Master Trainer Weld, replacing another great knight in Mick Kinane. .
An apprentice to local trainer Tommy Lacy, his early years saw him riding for Erwan Charpy in Dubai and he also spent two years with Tommy Stack, who gave him his first Group One winner with Tarascon at the 1997 Moyglare Stud Stakes.
That would be an appropriate one, as he was presented with many major race victories in the Moyglare colors so closely associated with Weld, including Refuse To Bend at the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in 2003.
Their first Clásico was provided by the brilliant Vinnie Roe at the 2001 Irish St Leger. Amazingly, they would win that race three more times in a row.
Married to Aidan O’Brien’s sister-in-law, former coach Frances Crowley, with whom he had three children, Hannah, Paddy and Sarah, Smullen dominated the Irish championship at the peak of his powers, first winning the title in 2000 and following one year later. He claimed what would be his last championship in 2016.
Ascot Gold Cup glory was won with Rite Of Passage in 2010, Gray Swallow added the 2005 Tattersalls Gold Cup to his Irish Derby win 12 months earlier, and there were two Irish 1,000 Guineas wins, with Nightime (2006) and Bethrah (2010).
Casual Conquest (2009) was another Tattersalls Gold Cup winner, while Free Eagle, with a light but brilliant run, did well in the 2015 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal meeting.
Many other great racing triumphs graced his CV, and he earned unrelenting respect from the racing world and beyond with his fundraising efforts for charities, with the Pat Smullen Champions Race For Cancer Trials Ireland in Curragh in September. last year, a great success.
Perhaps Weld summed it up best when he discussed the jockey’s plans when the news of Smullen’s illness was made public: weather. time (as stable riders).
“They are two brilliant men.”
A brilliant man indeed.
PA media
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