Pat Smullen

When we wrapped up last Flat season, the lofty assumption was that by the start of this new one we would be back to some semblance of normality. How wrong could we have been? After a brutal winter, the pandemic is only now easing to the point where a limited number of owners were permitted to attend racecourses in England and Scotland from yesterday (Monday).  There are not too many areas within racing in which Britain is ahead of Ireland or France—witness the Irish domination of the Cheltenham Festival and...

The first day of the new season of racing at Newmarket will feature a race named in honour of the multiple Irish champion jockey Pat Smullen, who died last September at the age of 43. The Pat Smullen Memorial H. is a Class 2 contest for 4-year-olds and up on the opening day of the Craven meeting on Apr. 13. It is to be run over the Rowley Mile, where Smullen recorded his first British Classic victory aboard Moyglare Stud's Refuse To Bend (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) in 2003. The race...

Following a directive by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Deputy Chief of Dubai Police and Public Security, the Pat Smullen Conditions S. will be held at Jebel Ali on Feb. 19, the racecourse announced on Tuesday. The late Smullen, a multiple champion jockey in his native Ireland, passed away from pancreatic cancer last September. During his career as a jockey, he was the retained jockey for Jebel Ali Stables in Dubai from 2000-2002, and was also a stable jockey for His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al...

In memory of the late champion jockey Pat Smullen, Irish racing stars have pledged their support in the fundraising efforts of the Children's Health Foundation Crumlin, which aims to purchase a spinal cell saver auto transfusion device for the children's hospital, CHI at Crumlin. In the coming weeks, jockeys and racing personalities will call on racing and sports fans for donations towards the essential blood transfusion equipment. John Butler, Jockeys' Sports Physiotherapist and Paul Quish, Racecourse Announcer, who spearheaded the campaign in 2019, both agreed: "Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, everyone...

Nine-time Irish Champion Jockey, Pat Smullen, who lost his battle with cancer last month, will be honored at Dundalk Stadium with the inaugural running of the five-furlong G3 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Pat Smullen Mercury S. Oct. 16. The €50,000 event is sponsored by Al Basti Equiworld, a UAE distributor of horse feeds and supplements. Smullen held a long association with the brand as well as a long-standing friendship with the brand's founder, Malih Al Basti. "Pat was a terrific horseman and a great friend, said Al Basti. "I hope...

In St Peter's Church, which was bedecked with flowers from the garden at Moyglare Stud, Pat Smullen was laid to rest on Friday near his home in Rhode. The family service, restricted in numbers because of Covid-19 protocols, was streamed via Zoom and was joined by 700 mourners from around the world, including many of the multiple champion jockey's friends from the weighing-room. Paying tribute to her husband during the service, Frances Crowley referred to the fact that his death came exactly a year after the Pat Smullen Champions Race,...

Aidan O'Brien described Pat Smullen as "irreplaceable" on Thursday, two days after his brother-in-law and nine-time Irish champion jockey lost his battle with pancreatic cancer aged 43. While Smullen's and O'Brien's wives Frances Crowley and Annemarie O'Brien are sisters and highly accomplished horsewomen, Smullen spent much of his career in rivalry with O'Brien as stable jockey to Dermot Weld. "Pat was one very special person--one of these people you meet once in a lifetime," O'Brien told Sky Sports Racing. "He is irreplaceable. He was genuine, tough, consistent--an unbelievable horseman and...

The world-renowned Keeneland September Sale has been a long time coming this year. With the coronavirus pandemic canceling and postponing much of the sales season, all eyes are on Lexington this week as Keeneland hosts its first live in-person auction since COVID-19 first hit American shores. Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Wednesday as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss the obstacles faced by the company in conducting the sale and his early impressions of the trading. "We've...

Minutes before the start of Book 2 of the annual Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell joins the TDN Writers' Room to recap Book 1 and discuss expectations for the remainder of the sale.

Editor's note, the following is a letter sent from Cancer Trials Ireland to the family of Pat Smullen, who passed away from pancreatic cancer on Tuesday evening. To the family of Pat Smullen It is with a very heavy heart that, on behalf of the staff and members of Cancer Trials Ireland, we put pen to paper in remembrance of our friend, and benefactor, Pat Smullen. Pat was a friend like no other. Almost a year ago to the day, Pat and his supporters raised a game-changing €2.6m for pancreatic...

At a time when the planet seems more divided than ever, there came a moment on Tuesday night within the notoriously conflicted world of horseracing that gave us all pause for thought. Thought and utter sadness. The news of the death of Pat Smullen at the age of just 43 was followed by a flood of heartfelt tributes. They came both from within the racing world, united for once in sentiment, and from those outside its sphere, including the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. As befits a man of...

Pat Smullen, Irish Champion Jockey nine times throughout his career, passed away on the evening of Sept.15 at St Vincent's Hopsital in Dublin, Ireland. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2018, he was 43. Smullen began riding out as an apprentice for Tom Lacy, and made an immediate impact, being named champion apprentice both in 1995 and 1996. He also rode for Joanna Morgan and after serving his apprenticeship, Smullen rode for various other trainers, including John Oxx, and Tommy Stack before joining forces as first call rider for...