Irish Sports
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derek o'sullivan of r.a.c.e. is remembered today ...a truly wonderful man whos death is still fresh in my memory...many of todays jockeys owe their place in scheme of things to his foresight and endless working on their behalf ...when we arrived in kildare in 1972 the life of a jockey was to say the least distressing ..often belittled by certain trainers and treated with scorn , conditions were old world many jockeys were left to make do with very little ...there were some trainers who had jockeys welfare in mind and looked after them very well indeed...others left them to their own devices and cared little about what was going on in their lives ..as long as lads turned up for work of a morning nothing was said
..many of these lads and jockeys suffered greatly from wasting and over indulgence in alcohol...michael osborne and derek noticed this and vowed to do something about it ..hence r.a.c.e. came into been ...i remember derek driving me back to kildare one monday morning and his passion about why something had to be done to help young lads and lassies coming to the curragh stills fills me with awe...his determination to better the lives of others of young people was simply inspiring ...even though i had just turned 20 myself i saw in him a grown man though i doubt he was more than 3 years my senior ...to end ..one day i brought a teaser out into the field to test if a mare had come in season ..the mare was called ..say .ann...a very well bred mare derek was passing and decided to stop and have a chat ...well say ann was well in season and as i idly chatted away to him she dropped down on her knees and charlie the connemara was in seventh haven and tried to mount her ..i pulled and pulled till the bridle broke and both of them galloped off into the distance with me and derek running after them...after awhile i looked around to see where derek had gone only to see him bent over double laughing his heart out at the madness of it all...thanks for the memories friend.... may you..r.i.p.
..many of these lads and jockeys suffered greatly from wasting and over indulgence in alcohol...michael osborne and derek noticed this and vowed to do something about it ..hence r.a.c.e. came into been ...i remember derek driving me back to kildare one monday morning and his passion about why something had to be done to help young lads and lassies coming to the curragh stills fills me with awe...his determination to better the lives of others of young people was simply inspiring ...even though i had just turned 20 myself i saw in him a grown man though i doubt he was more than 3 years my senior ...to end ..one day i brought a teaser out into the field to test if a mare had come in season ..the mare was called ..say .ann...a very well bred mare derek was passing and decided to stop and have a chat ...well say ann was well in season and as i idly chatted away to him she dropped down on her knees and charlie the connemara was in seventh haven and tried to mount her ..i pulled and pulled till the bridle broke and both of them galloped off into the distance with me and derek running after them...after awhile i looked around to see where derek had gone only to see him bent over double laughing his heart out at the madness of it all...thanks for the memories friend.... may you..r.i.p.
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nice piece workrider, sounds an admirable fella.
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he was a super guy neill...those guys who are creaming it atm owe him plenty...he fought tooth and nail to get lads rides in races ...then made sure they were looked after....
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I can imagine there was big resistance to improving the lot of prospective jockeys, I'd say there were plenty in the hierarchy that wanted to keep them in their place as it was, even today, some of that superiority complex still comes over in interviews with certain trainers.
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true neill very true..what these self same trainers forget is that its not that long ago they were treated like dirt themselves ....
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long way before my time I'd say wr, I remember being told a story about a prominent English NH trainer and his interaction with the Queen at Ascot where he was discussing the prospects of her horses for the coming winter, I can't remember the exact details, but the gist of it was, from the mannerisms and behaviour of the Queen and the trainer, if an alien came down from space and viewed it, he wouldn't be sure which one was supposed to be royalty.
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a lot of english trainers born with a silver spoon in their mouths ...sadly many of them unable to train horses...private schools and so forth ...it gives them the confidence to speak in public and appear as if they know what they are doing ...the things that went on in racing in the 40s and 50s ..before my time i might add ...would make your blood boil....the irish trainers of the era were as bad ...
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