By Brian Sheerin
The racing and breeze-up communities in Ireland have been rocked by the news that prominent rider Valdi de Souza has died at the age of 49 following “a freak accident” at work.
The Brazilian native's finest hour in the saddle came when he partnered Rock Of Rochelle to win a Listed race at the Curragh for trainer Andrew Kinsella back in 2007.
He had been part of the fabric of Brendan Holland's Grove Stud for the past 11 years and the leading breeze-up handler paid an emotional tribute to de Souza on Friday evening.
“I've been in this game for over 30 years now and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Valdi was the most professional person that anyone could wish to work with,” Holland said.
“Working with Valdi was a pleasure and a privilege. He was just an absolute gentleman–the kindest, nicest and gentlest person you would ever wish to meet. He absolutely adored horses and, when he was on a horse's back, that was his home. He thought of nothing else but horses.
“I have been very lucky to have had lots of brilliant staff who have helped me make Grove Stud a success but there's no doubt that Valdi was a massive part of our story. My whole family, Vanessa and the kids, and employees past and present, are absolutely devastated.”
Brendan Holland: paid a heartfelt tribute to de Souza | Tattersalls
De Souza rode over a couple of hundred winners as a professional jockey in his native Brazil and also enjoyed stints on the Saudi Arabian circuit.
As well as Kinsella, for whom he enjoyed a fruitful relationship with, he also won a Listed contest aboard Majestic Times for Liam McAteer. De Souza also spent time working with trainers Ken Condon and Willie McCreery before honing his craft as one of the best riders on the breeze-up circuit.
“Valdi didn't have a bad word to say about anyone and always spoke very kindly of his time with Willie, Ken, Liam and all the other trainers he struck up a good relationship with. He was a very understated man. Everybody in the breeze-up community knew Valdi and he definitely didn't realise the standing he was held in.
“He has six family members working in racing here in Ireland–Fagner, Jair, Fernando, Adriano, Ramone and Ray–so they are a great family of horse people and horse lovers. I just hope that his family knows how special he was to us all and how much we're all going to miss him. Everybody who knew Valdi was the better for knowing him.”
Holland added, “He had some great friends in the business and was a very proud farmer back home in Brazil. He grew up with Silvestre de Sousa and I will never forget him comparing his cattle with Silvestre's. I think he was very disappointed with Silvestre's stock compared to his own and would be advising him as to where he was going wrong!
“But in all seriousness, the professionalism of the man is one of the things that marked him out as being such a great person to work with. He used to go home every year for a bit of a break but last year, let's just say he wintered a bit better than most.
“I can remember him coming back from his holidays last autumn and I just took one look at him and I shook my head because he was carrying more than a few pounds overweight. He turned to me and said, 'to be honest boss, I am more disappointed in myself!' We got a great laugh out of it–that's the type of fella he was. I am going to miss him so much.”
De Souza is understood to have died following “a freak accident” at Holland's base in County Cork. He has been on life support until Friday evening. Funeral details have yet to be arranged.
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