THURSDAY marked the anniversary of one of the most perplexing and damning diplomatic acts carried out in the name of the Irish people.
It was on that date 74 years previously that Éamon de Valera offered condolences to the German legation on the death of Adolf Hitler. De Valera defended the decision, referencing German diplomat Eduard Hempel: “I certainly was not going to add to his humiliation in the hour of defeat.”
Different times, as they say (often to excuse someone). To yours truly, World War II may as well have happened 200 years ago.
Which gets me to Kevin Prendergast. I always have to double-check when the Curragh trainer was introduced to this world, a son of the legendary ‘Darkie’, he who won 17 Irish Classics.
When Kevin Prendergast was born, the German dictator had yet to even come to power in Germany. The US was in the midst of the Great Depression, while an Irish trainer winning the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket was fanciful – something that would not change for 28 years.
By then, in 1960, Seán Lemass had replaced De Valera as Irish Premier. In the colts’ classic of that year at Newmarket, Darkie Prendergast sent out 18/1 outsider Martial to become the first Irish-trained horse to win the 2000 Guineas in the 152-year history of the race.
Darkie passed away 20 years later. His son, who turns 87 this summer, will greet the dawn tomorrow morning in the knowledge that he has to jet off to Suffolk to see if he can emulate his father’s achievement from 69 years previous by winning the English Guineas. It is 42 years since Kevin snared the race for the only time, with Nebbiolo.
I’ve only once been to Kevin’s Friarstown stables, whilst doing a “stable tour” for the Racing Post. Photographer Patrick McCann and I were instructed to arrive at 6.30am. We failed.
Kevin chastised us on arrival, cracked jokes to defy morning fatigue and asked us did we like duck eggs as if we didn’t there would be no breakfast.
He asked me did I smoke and recalled his father, nearing death, counselling him: “You better give them bloody things up.”
That was back in 1980. Kevin would never smoke again but, even now, loves a few pints of an evening and a spot of fishing when the weather allows.
Another abiding recollection of that morning was how taxing it was to realise my assignment: I probably had around 3,000 words to type, yet Kevin had few horses worth taking about and he had very little to say about what he had. Little did he think that, come 2019, he would be going to Newmarket for the 2000 Guineas with a 7/1 chance.
Winner of both of his starts as a two-year-old, Madhmoon was probably beaten by a combination of fitness, relatively easy terrain and the inadequate seven-furlong trip on his reappearance at Leopardstown last month. Moreover, there is talk that he had another little excuse, and that his practise work coming into Saturday’s test (3.35pm) has been sparkling.
Kevin had passed pension age when Donnacha O’Brien was born. There is every chance the aspiring trainer will saddle a horse to beat one of Kevin’s in the near future but before weight dictates that he go that route, the brilliant 20-year-old is bidding to win his second successive Classic aboard his father’s Magna Grecia.
Magna Grecia is by a sire that might be named after Kevin Prendergast, Invincible Spirit. Prendergast’s stamina is astounding but Magna Grecia’s stablemate Ten Sovereigns, the mount of Ryan Moore, has to prove that he can last the distance and that is the question-mark.
Having only raced over six furlongs at two, few would be shocked if the mile proved beyond him at three, but he is out of a winner over 10 furlongs and if he can save some gas for the final furlong, he has a stomp-style stride that is capable of devouring everything in his path. He gets the nod.
Another pensioner, Nicky Henderson, has been enjoying the Irish hospitality at Punchestown this week, showing little signs that his own powers are waning. He has won both of the big spring juvenile hurdles so far and is fancied to take the other with the exciting Fusil Raffles (4.25pm) as the Festival concludes on Saturday.
It will be one of the last races of a week in which one of the greatest legends of the turf, Ruby Walsh, decided that he would go out on his own terms. As he walked through the crowd on Thursday, a little bruised in another way from the night before, it was telling how his litany of injuries over a career spanning nearly a quarter of a century has adversely influenced his ability to walk.
One last recollection of that morning at Kevin Prendergast’s those years ago was Patrick McCann and I struggling to keep pace with the trainer as he dragged us around his historic yard in the early-morning light.
If Madhmoon walks the walk on Saturday, Ruby’s retirement, somehow, will no longer be the iconic racing story of the week.
Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to discuss all the week’s rugby news.:
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