EAMON Fitzpatrick of Kilminfoyle House Stud passed away on Friday, June 28th, 45 years on from selling the top lot at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.

Fitzpatrick was reputed as a shrewd judge, a talent he passed down to sons Johnny and Michael, with the latter now running the family farm outside Ballacolla in Co Laois. The farm sold a Goliath Du Berlais gelding for €160,000 at the 50th Derby Sale on Thursday, just a day before Eamon’s sad passing.

Reflecting on his father’s achievement in 1979, Michael said, “It was quite a big thing, you can imagine, selling the top lot in Dublin back in 1979, and it made the mainstream news. There’s a newspaper clipping at home from the Irish Independent with a picture of my father, my grandfather and my mother. It was a different era.”

The path less taken

Eamon started off in the cattle trade with his father Jack and soon progressed into trading horses, Michael explains. “Looking back, all of the young people were all in a hurry to achieve something, whereas he took a different approach. He took his time and was always conservative with what he spent, working away at a level he was comfortable at. Not a lot of people do that.”

Eamon sold at the first breeze-up sales, which were far removed from the blockbuster events they have become. Michael recalls: “Back then, people were giving £800 to £2,200 for yearlings and brought them to Doncaster and Tattersalls where they’d breeze at barely more than a canter. They’d get £18,000 to £20,000 for them, which was a huge addition to a farm’s income.”

Michael continued: “He saw so much change in a lifetime in the business. He could never get over the prices some people spent as time went on. If he bought a horse for £20,000 and got £100,000 for him, he’d be delighted, but he’d say it was too much money- he’d have been happy with £50,000. He never got his head around someone giving a hundred grand for a foal.”

Setting records

Eamon’s conservative approach often paid dividends, a highlight coming at Goffs UK in 2002 when he sold a half-brother to Best Mate for £185,000 - a record price for a store horse at the time. Bought as a foal for Ire£31,000, the son of Roselier was later named Inexorable and went on to win a pair of Grade 3 novice hurdles for Gigginstown House Stud.

One of Michael’s recollections is particularly appropriate when reflecting on his father’s success. “A good few years ago, Malcolm Bastard asked my dad if a certain person was a good judge of a horse. Eamon said any man who stands the test of time buying and selling horses is a good judge.” Eamon could have been speaking about himself that day.

The respected breeder and pinhooker is survived by his wife Anne, sons Johnny and Michael, daughter Fiona, daughter-in-law Caroline and grandson Jack.