Retirements and Departures 2013

Also declared dead in the last two weeks

Gladiator King, Gradatim, Legs On Display, Monamintra, Riazan, Zaiman.
Absolute Heretic (AUS), Eirland, Kyle's Turn, Little Alma, Miss Spin, Regusci, St Bridget's Cross, Tintreach Geal (GB), Walk With Destiny, Where's The Dosh.
Christendom, Divine Steps, Duke Of Orange, Every Which Way (GB), How's Toby, Jumpy, Lake District (GB), Montferrat, Mudaffar (USA),
Queens Visit (GB), Tilthemidnighthour (GB), Troon (USA), Typhoon Lily (USA), Vic Liath.
 
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Dayjur; what a horse. I'll never forget that Breeders Cup race [in the days when it was on the telly]. What a horse. So glad he had a good retirement but the news makes me feel very old [yet again].
 
Genzy today. And I've got my Ebor betting slip in front of me with his name on which I was going to cash in tomorrow. That hurts.
 
Dayjur was brilliantly fast but the shockingly bad ride John Reid gave Royal Academy in the haydock Park Sprint Cup will live lomg in my memory - he was mowing him down at a tremendous rate of knots.
 
Latest casualties

Born In Fire (FR), Brendans Spruce, Cloud Maker, Direct Light, Edenshaw, Elysian Rock (GB), Heather Dew, Heroism, High Handel (GB), Lady Schmuck, Lindissima, Midushi (USA), Nancys Call, Olympus Moons, Second Guess, Turin Lady, Wilde Wit Pleasure.
 
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Yes, best entire for years. He was a real favour mine, still have a pic of him in my bedroom. Good age, but a shame :(

Nx
 
Calculating was put to sleep yesterday after the discovery of a large tumor which couldn't be removed.
 
HELISSIO, winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1996, died at Scarvagh House Stud in Northern Ireland on Tuesday after suffering from a suspected heart attack. He was 20.
The operation also last week lost Exit To Nowhere, the Prix Jacques le Marois winner who sired high-class hurdler and chaser Noland
 
Diamond Geezer said:
Patsy Byrne has died. Massive in the greyhound world, owner of Listowel winner White Star Line.
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HI never met him but he seems to have been an interesting man. He owned Tominator as well as White Star Line and sponsored at Cheltenham. RIP

Patsy Byrne – Cheltenham sponsor and lifelong racing supporter

Founded leading construction and engineering company with brother

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Patsy Byrne: A highly successful businessman, he was a sponsor at Cheltenham and a lifelong supporter of coursing



Sat, Oct 5, 2013, 01:01
First published: Sat, Oct 5, 2013, 01:01




Patsy Byrne, who has died at the age of 64, was well known and liked throughout the colourful world of horse and greyhound racing in Ireland and Britain. A highly successful businessman, he was a sponsor at Cheltenham and a lifelong supporter of coursing.


A native of Duagh, a small village near Listowel, he was a self-made man. Having learned carpentry at the local technical school, he emigrated to England in the late 1960s to join his brother Johnny.


From small beginnings as builders, they went on to create a leading construction and engineering company, Byrne Group plc.


From the time the group gained the first major contract at St Peter’s Hospital in Chelsea, it has been involved in a string of high-profile projects, ranging from the Canary Wharf development to Arsenal stadium, the Olympic stadium, the 87-storey skyscraper near London Bridge known as The Shard and, more recently, in the construction of the new centre court and number one court at Wimbledon.


Under Byrne’s style of management, the company developed a reputation of looking after its workers, paying them on time and completing contracts on schedule. With financial success came his interest in horses. Big in stature, he stood out in the crowd at race meetings.


A popular figure, he was universally known as Patsy. His time was divided between his home in leafy Surrey and Duagh, where local people also admired his support for charities, particularly the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in Vietnam and Mongolia.


Less than three weeks ago, Byrne’s familiar navy and pink silks were in the winner’s enclosure at Listowel where his nine-year-old horse, White Star Line, won the Guinness Kerry National. In June, his grey gelding,Tominator, trained by Jonjo O’Neill, regained the Northumberland Plate.


Greyhounds were a central part of his life since boyhood when uncles recruited him to walk their dogs on the roads of north Kerry. From growing up with hounds at his side, it was only natural for him to keep on the tradition. His involvement in the business was unstinting as owner, trainer, sponsor and investor. A director of Clonmel greyhound track, he was among its biggest shareholders. His many greyhound victories include the Irish Derby with Cool Performance, the English Derby with Ballinderry Ash and the Coursing Derby with Big Interest.


Paying tribute to his achievements, his friend of 30 years, greyhound trainer Seán Bourke, described him as “the straightest person I’ve ever dealt with. He loved his dogs and was a great sponsor in Ireland. Without him, the game wouldn’t have survived.”


In a tweet, champion jockey Tony McCoy said he was “a great man and friend. Big loss to the racing and greyhound world.”
He is survived by his wife Bridget, sons Michael and Seán, daughter Siobhán, brother Johnny and sisters Helen, Lizzie and Mary
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Hes Our Lad at Newton Abbot today. Seemed ok as he cantered past the post having fallen at the last, but sadly not, according to owner Andy Smith.
 
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