Pat Smullen

H

HawkWing

At the Start
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
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Seeing sad reports online about Pat. Hope they aren't true. Been a cynic all my life and his last few years have been genuinely inspiring.
 
This is such sad news, and my thoughts are with his wife and young family.

Pat was a great jockey in the saddle and a fine man out of it, even before he got sick. A few of us bumped into him that evening after he rode in the Cheltenham bumper, and he said how pleased he was to get to ride there. He also told us about an up and coming horse in Dermot Weld's called Famous Name.

He rode plenty of big winners but his finest hour came almost a year ago to the day when his fundraising efforts for cancer research culminated in a special day at the Curragh on Irish Champions weekend. Thanks to the esteem in which he was held, the entire Irish racing industry came together and did themselves proud. His own tragedy had become an opportunity to bring out the best in people.

Rest in peace, Pat.
 
RIP horrible disease,my grandfather died of the exact same thing and the great Bill Hicks..
 
He loved his family, his farm and his tractors; seemingly he would talk about them all day in the weigh room.
A fine humble human being who quietly went about being as good as he could be .
Some man. Some talent. We are the better for having witnessed him do his job as well as he did.
Rest in Peace.
 
I spent a day with the family some years ago - magazine article, racing's #1 power couple look forward to the new season stuff. I pulled the article today and was shocked to see it was April 2008! Wouldn't have thought it more like 7 or 8 years ago. Both Frances and he were solid - warm, but also authentic. I had a creative photographer with me and it took about 90 mins for him to be satisfied he had the correct shot - they never once complained.

My abiding memory of the day - they had automatic security gates at the yard and when I was leaving Pat said he'd click them open from the kitchen and did. Unfortunately something slowed my egress and the gates closed with my car halfway out. Crunch..... I considered my options for a moment and then just rang him on the mobile and said they hadn't opened - then click, gates open and off I went. I pulled over a couple of miles up the road to examine the damage. The repairs cost me twice what I 'd earned from the article.

But at least the great Pat Smullen never found out I was a gobshite.
 
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Very touching tribute to Pat Smullen on the Morning Line, really brought it home what a great person he was.
RIP
 
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