Latest news with #PaddyPrendergast
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kevin Prendergast dead at 92: Legendary trainer and multi-Classic winner passes away after 60-year racing career
Legendary trainer Kevin Prednergast has passed away at the age of 92 - just two weeks away from his 93rd birthday. Prednergast is regarded as one of the all-time great trainers, first enjoying success at the now-defunct Pheonix Park in May 1963 as he carried on the legacy of his late father. Paddy 'Darkie' Prendergast was a champion Flat trainer in Britain three times in three years in the 1960s and passed away exactly 45 years before his son. Kevin, meanwhile, enjoyed a career spanning longer than 60 years, winning his first Classic in 1972 with Pidget in the Irish Guineas, before the filly won the Pretty Polly Stakes and the Irish St Leger. When he won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in 1977, he became just the third Irish trainer to win the Newmarket Classic after his father and Vincent O'Brien. He has now passed away, with fellow Curragh stalwart Dermot Weld leading the tributes. 'He was a legend of his lifetime,' he said. 'Not only was he a wonderful trainer, but every single one of his horses was always turned out beautifully. 'He was a wonderful horseman and an outstanding trainer and he will be sadly missed on the Curragh. I would like to send out my sympathies to Kevin's family. He was a great man and a great trainer.' Champion trainer Aidan O'Brien added: 'Kevin was a very special man. It's desperately sad news and he will be missed by everyone. 'He was brilliant to me when we were starting out and was always great for advice. If you wanted to sound him out about anything, he was always great to bounce things off. The best way to describe him is special, he was a special man.' Prednergast was perhaps most famed for his success with Oscar Schindler in the 1990s, and his final Classic winner was in the 2016 Irish 2,000 Guineas with Awtaad. Prednergast enjoyed more than 2,000 winners in his career, with the veteran selling his Friarstown base on Curragh in the latter years of his life. His final winner was Copie Conforme, ridden by Chris Hayes, at Bellewstown last year.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Kevin Prendergast, influential trainer, dies aged 92
The death has taken place of the classic winning trainer Kevin Prendergast. He was 92. He enjoyed a more than 60-year career as a trainer based on the Curragh during which time he won eight Irish classics and became the doyen of his profession. Prendergast also won the 1977 English 2000 Guineas with Nebbiolo. Part of one of Irish racing's most famous racing families, Prendergast was a son of Paddy Prendergast, a figure that helped transform flat racing in Ireland during the last century and was champion trainer in both Ireland and Britain in the 1960s. Prendergast's eldest son, Kevin, was born in Australia on July 5th, 1932, but grew up in Ireland and became one of the country's leading amateur riders while assisting his father. READ MORE He trained his first winner in 1963 and put well over 2,000 winners through his hands during a lengthy career that continued up to his death. His last runner was in Cork last Friday. The Irish Derby was the sole Curragh classic Prendergast failed to win but one of the best horses in his later career was Awtaad who landed the 2000 Guineas in 2016. He also saddled Madhmoon to finish runner up in the 2019 Epsom Derby. Prendergast was also instrumental in developing the careers of a long list of top jockeys over the decades including Charlie Swan, Kieren Fallon and in more recent years, Chris Hayes.
