Paddy Woods, Work Rider Of Arkle, Dies At 93

Paddy Woods, who once rode three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Arkle (Ire) (Archive {GB}) to victory, has died at the age of 93, according to published reports.

The Irishman was born in 1930, and began his career in racing at Dan Moore's yard before a few years with Charlie Rogers before returning to Moore. However, he is best known for his association with Tom Dreaper's Greenogue stable which began in 1956. Besides riding work aboard Arkle each morning for Dreaper, the jockey did capture the 1963 and 1965 Irish Grand Nationals for that trainer–with Last Link (GB) (Fortina {Fr}) and later Splash (GB) (Fortina {Fr}) among other victories. Arkle won the 1964 edition of the race, but Woods was not in the irons. He did receive a leg up on the champion in a race once, the 1962 President's Hurdle, and prevailed that day. Later in life he became a trainer. Woods's riding gene carried over to his son Frannie, who also won two editions of the Irish Grand National, in 1994 and 1996.

Jim Dreaper, who took over the training licence from his father before handing it off to his own son Tom, told the Racing Post, “Paddy was a great, cute man. He'd known when a horse was right and when a horse was wrong. He was a pivotal part of the team when there were proper horses here.”