IN their magisterial history of the Irish Derby, published in 1980, Guy Williams and Francis Hyland do not mince words:

The inaugural running of the Irish Sweeps Derby constituted the greatest sports spectacular that had ever been staged in Ireland. Three years of planning, promotion and hard work had produced an international field to contest the richest race ever run in Europe. Besides being the best-quality horse race ever to take place in Ireland, the Irish Sweeps Derby had caught the public imagination as one of the most glamorous social occasions of the year. A glorious summer’s day drew a crowd estimated at between 40,000 and 70,000 people, including HE President de Valera, everybody who was anybody in political, social and business circles in Ireland, as well as Turf celebrities and dignitaries from all over the world. The vision of Joe McGrath, allied to the promotional genius of Spencer Freeman, had combined to elevate Irish racing to the international status that Irish-bred horses had gained many years before.

The lion’s share of the credit for connecting the Irish Hospital Sweeps and the Irish Derby is usually given to Joe McGrath, who had been instrumental in setting up the sweepstake in the early 1930s, generating a phenomenal level of interest in racing. In her fascinating book The Irish Sweep (2009) Marie Coleman describes the draw process:

The sweepstake draw took place a week before the race upon which it was based. A large drum held all of the subscribers’ counterfoils while a smaller drum contained the names of the horses entered for the race. Counterfoils were drawn to match horses and the prizes would then be decided on the basis of where the horse corresponding to the counterfoil was placed in the race. From 1931 three draws were held each year, on the Aintree Grand National in March, Epsom Derby in June and one of the principal autumn races – the Manchester November Handicap, the Cambridgeshire or the Cesarewitch.

Given the amounts of money which could be raised, it is no surprise that the ceremonial surrounding the draw should be loaded with razzmatazz such as elaborate parades through the streets of Dublin, and in those early days each draw was given a particular theme – those making the draw for the Derby, for example, might be dressed as jockeys, or in hunting clothes when the theme was ‘The Horse in Ireland’. Well-known artists became involved in decorating the Plaza Hall in Dublin, where the draw was made; in 1932 the noted equestrian painter Lionel Edwards designed the backdrop.

As well as hugely popular on the domestic front, the Irish Sweepstake attracted many purchasers from other countries, as Coleman explains:

The population of Ireland was too small to generate the substantial funds needed for the Irish hospitals, so the promoters looked to the Irish diaspora, especially in Great Britain and North America, where millions of tickets were sold, generating significant foreign capital for Ireland. For much of the sweepstake’s existence gambling was illegal in those countries and the promoters established an intricate system to smuggle and distribute tickets unnoticed by the legal authorities.

This was a controversial situation and a 1934 Punch cartoon headed Charity Begins Abroad showed John Bull proffering a large sack labelled ‘Irish Sweepstake Fund’ to President de Valera, who says: ‘Thank you once again for being more kind to our hospitals than you are to your own.’

PRIZE MONEY

Following the arrival of commercial sponsorship of horse races in Britain in the late 1950s, with the Whitbread and Hennessy Gold Cups in the vanguard, the Irish Sweeps started contributing to the prize money of the Grand National – £5,000 a year for the runnings between 1958 and 1963 – but later in the 1960s funding was switched to the other big race in the Spring Double’, the Lincoln Handicap, given the fears for the future of the National and of Aintree racecourse itself.

In June 1960 a joint press conference was called by the Turf Club (Irish racing’s equivalent of the Jockey Club in England), the Racing Board (which had been founded in 1945 to control the finances of the sport among other responsibilities) and the Hospitals Trust Ltd. The remarkable news was broken that from 1962 the Irish Derby would enjoy an injection of cash to the tune of £30,000, which would make it the richest race in Europe. The Irish Sweeps Derby Co-ordinating Committee, which would oversee the promotion of this major event, would be headed by Joe McGrath and Captain Spencer Freeman, and as an early indication that these people knew what they doing, it was announced that the race would be moved from its traditional Wednesday and from 1962 would be run on a Saturday.

Since the race was a turning point in Irish racing history, its conditions are worth quoting in detail:

A sweepstake of 10 sovs. each for yearlings entered on 27th July, 1960, or of 30 sovs. for those entered on 2nd November, 1960; 40 sovs. extra for all if not struck out on 25th October, 1961; an additional 100 sovs. for all if not struck out on Wednesday, April 25th, 1962, and an additional 100 sovs. for all if not struck out on 20th June, 1962, with 30,000 sovs. added, to be contributed by the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes. The winner will receive 75%, second 15%, and third 10% of the whole stakes after deduction of bonuses of 500 sovs. to the breeder of the winner, 300 sovs. to the breeder of the second and 200 sovs. to the breeder of the third. For three years old entire colts and fillies. Colts, 9st; Fillies, 8st 11lb. One mile and a half.

NOTE – Subject to the usual conditions the Racing Board will pay special allowances as follows towards the transport costs of runners from abroad in this race: Great Britain, £200 per horse; other European countries, £250 per horse; other countries, £500 per horse.

That last paragraph is noteworthy, given that the international dimension of the upgraded race was a crucial element in its conception.

No fewer than 627 yearlings were entered for the 1962 Irish Sweeps Derby, 500 in July and a further 127 in November.

In the days leading up to 30 June the occasion was relentlessly promoted in the press, even in the New York Times, whose reporter Robert Daley set the scene on Irish Derby eve:

The day of the quaintly interesting European horse race – classic lineage but piddling purses – is ending fast.

The Irish Derby, first raced in 1866, will be raced again tomorrow. Last year this race was worth £8,000 ($22,400). Tomorrow it will be worth £68,000 ($190,400), with the winning three-year-old colt earning 75 per cent for a mile-and-a-half romp over turf …

The Irish Railroad has laid on six special trains, ten trains altogether, each carrying about 1,000 persons. The round trip ticket price was upped from the equivalent of 84 cents to $2.45 and the papers here are full of outraged letters to the editor.

Meanwhile, out at the track, Pat Walsh, secretary of the Racing Board, and Paddy Connolly, manager, and a staff of 300 worked for two years to get everything ready.

Rest rooms, parking lots, restaurants, tote boards, betting windows – all were added. Paint was slapped on. A quarter mile of bar was put in, and 150 barmen hired. One bar is one hundred yards long and is called the longest in Ireland, if not in the world. Two days ago eight trucks drew up there and unloaded crate after crate of drinks. `

TV COVERAGE

As that lengthy bar was being stocked, high up in the roof of the stands technicians were installing a mass of television equipment, for the race was being broadcast live both by Telefis Éireann and the BBC’s Grandstand, with Peter O’Sullevan – who usually on this day would have been at Newcastle for the Northumberland Plate, calling the race. O’Sullevan later recollected that the decision to cover the Irish Derby had been delayed until the deadline for Radio Times billing, as the powers that be were concerned that the race might not have sufficient appeal for British viewers.

A few weeks after the race, producer Alec Weeks told him: “Our one fear on Grandstand was the loss of Wimbledon viewers to Commercial [ITV] when we went over from tennis to the Curragh at 2.30. Our fears were needless as figures have proved that 5¼ million viewers tuned in at two o’clock and stayed with us until 4.15.’’

After two years’ anticipation and preparation, on 30 June 1962 a field of twenty-four colts assembled for the 3.00 at the Curragh, second race of the afternoon. The back cover of the racecard (price one shilling) introduced a welcome initiative:

For this Meeting, unless the Stewards order otherwise on account of unfavourable weather, the Racecourse itself will be used as a Parade Ring so that everyone present may have an opportunity to see the horses before each race …

In addition, before the Irish Sweeps Derby, the horses will parade mounted in the order they appear on the Race Card, before cantering to the Start and, after this race, the first four jockeys will dismount in the area of the Winning Post.

As a vehicle for a sweepstakes draw, the 1962 Irish Derby proved a great success, with gross proceeds of £5,545,804 (almost as much as the Grand National earlier in the year) and a prize fund of £3,171,500. And on the racing front, the combination of entry fees and the £30,000 sponsorship from the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake had generated a huge purse.

The winning owner pocketed £50,027 10s., which compared more than favourably with the £34,786 won by Raymond Guest, US Ambassador to Ireland, when his colt Larkspur won the Epsom Derby three and a half weeks earlier. At a stroke, the Irish Derby had become the most valuable race in Europe.

Larkspur was in the line-up again, his presence in itself a significant achievement for the race organisers, for not since Orby in 1907 had the winner of the Epsom Derby gone on to run in the Irish version.

Trained for Raymond Guest by Vincent O’Brien, Larkspur had won the Derby under Australian jockey Neville Sellwood, but that had been a highly unsatisfactory race, with no fewer than seven horses – including the favourite Hethersett – falling on the run down Tattenham Hill.

So the quality of the Epsom form was very uncertain, and then three days before the Irish race came potentially bad news: as had happened before the Epsom race, Larkspur had suffered a setback in training. In his must-read Daily Express column, Peter O’Sullevan reported that the scheduled betting ‘callover’ of the Derby ante-post betting market at the Victoria Club in London had been cancelled: “This was in consequence of the announcement that the favourite, Larkspur, had again injured a hock. However, Vincent O’Brien, commendably forthright in keeping the public informed, was optimistic last night.’’

FAVOURITE

Larkspur was a son of 1954 Epsom Derby winner Never Say Die, and O’Brien always maintained that horses by that sire had soft bone and could be difficult to train, but in this case his optimism was rewarded by Larkspur’s swift recovery. On the day he started 9/4 favourite, with Sebring, another O’Brien charge who had finished fifth at Epsom, second in the betting at 6/1 in a field that featured an overseas challenge of four runners from Britain and two from France.

French-trained Arcor, runner-up at Epsom without ever troubling the winner, joined Sebring in taking on Larkspur again. Pat Glennon, who had ridden Sebring at Epsom, remained loyal to that colt in Ireland, although he could have been on Larkspur. Neville Sellwood, winning jockey at Epsom, opted to ride Arcor for the Irish race, leaving the Derby winner to be partnered by yet another top Australian rider in Scobie Breasley.

Only two other runners started at single-figure odds. The blinkered Tambourine II, trained in France by Etienne Pollet for Mrs Howell Jackson and now ridden by top French jockey Roger Poincelet, had finished a close-up fourth behind Val De Loir, Picfort and Exbury in the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly – French equivalent of the Derby – while Arctic Storm, locally trained by John Oxx senior and ridden by yet another crack Australian in Bill Williamson, had won the Irish Two Thousand Guineas at the Curragh from Saint Denys, with Sebring fifth. Of those considered to have a minor chance, mention must be made of 33/1 outsider London Gazette, who had once been offered as a prize in a golf club raffle.

At 3.27pm, seven minutes later than the advertised starting time, starter Hubie Tyrrell pressed down his lever, the tapes went up, and a new era in Irish racing had begun.

The early pace was made by Saint Denys and Joe McGrath-owned Gail Star with London Gazette, Cyrus and Trade Wind in close attention but on the approach to the home straight the picture was about to change. Over to Williams and Hyland:

Turning into the straight Saint Denys started to weaken and it was at this point that the race was won and lost. As Poincelet shot Tambourine II into a clear lead, Larkspur and Sebring lay fifth and sixth, with Arctic Storm, drawn on the wide outside, now pocketed on the rails in tenth position. Having stolen first run, Tambourine looked like coming home an easy winner, for neither Sebring nor Larkspur were making any impression in pursuit. Suddenly Arctic Storm, extricated at last by Williamson, came flying through his field with a blistering late run, which brought him level with Tambourine II in the final strides. Amid intense excitement the two colts flashed past the post together, inseparable to the naked eye. Some lengths further back Sebring outran Larkspur for third place, followed by Atlantis and Saint Denys. Amid scenes of feverish excitement the judge’s verdict was announced: Tambourine II by a short head. Both the winner and the second returned to a rousing reception, leaving one to reflect what might have happened if the short head had gone the other way.

Sebring finished third, five lengths behind Arctic Storm, with Larkspur, subsequently described by Vincent O’Brien as “very shin-sore’’, another two and a half lengths back in fourth.

The race time of 2 minutes 28.8 seconds set a new course record.

In the immediate aftermath John D. Schapiro, driving force behind the prestigious Washington DC International, invited both Tambourine II and Arctic Storm to Laurel Park, Maryland, in November. Tambourine’s owner Mrs Howell Jackson had been unable to attend the race and the Curragh executive had thoughtfully arranged a phone call to her Virginia home so that she could hear news of her great victory directly from Etienne Pollet. But in her absence no decision was made about the American race, and in the event neither horse made it to Washington.

Tambourine II raced only once more – runner-up to Kistinie in the Prix de Chantilly – while Arctic Storm ran third behind Match III and Aurelius in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, and then finished sixth in the Irish St Leger before ending his career in fine style when decisively winning the Champion Stakes at Newmarket from Hethersett and Vienna.

Of the Vincent O’Brien pair who finished third and fourth, neither Sebring nor Larkspur won another race.

OUTSTANDING SUCCESS

With a huge crowd, international field and a thrilling finish, the occasion had proved an outstanding success, as was quickly demonstrated in press reports. The American sports writer Barney Nagler struck a lyrical note:

This morning a motorcade streamed out of Dublin headed for the Curragh, some thirty miles away, as though a plague were on this town. It moved slowly down a narrow road no wider than the Holland Tunnel, past stone walls that marked green fields and into one hamlet after another, a long motorised snake that would have defied even St Patrick. This is an ancient land and the trouble it has seen should have marked it with despair. Instead, everybody smiles, even the lowliest. There was laughter in field and town and vale today.

Two days after the race, Peter O’Sullevan wrote in the Daily Express: “It remains to congratulate the Curragh authorities and all associated with this great Irish enterprise upon a triumph of organisation which set a new standard for international racing.’’

Roger Mortimer struck a similar note in the Sunday Times: ‘From eleven in the morning traffic began to swarm down on the Curragh and by the time the first race was run there had assembled the biggest crowd ever seen on an Irish racecourse. Judging from my experience the organisation over which so much trouble had been taken was faultless, and everyone seemed happy and contented.’’

And the Sunday Telegraph correspondent declared: “The Irish Sweeps Derby was a fitting triumph for the organisers, who have worked untiringly to put this classic race on a level with its status and prize money for almost three years.’

Newspapers closer to home were no less complimentary. Tony Power wrote in the Irish Press: “Ireland’s first international race, the Irish Sweeps Derby, is over, and the overseas visitors left with a feeling that they had seen one of the finest and best organised race meetings ever held anywhere.’’

And Eddie Boyle went into capital letters to shout: “FROM WHAT I WAS TOLD AT THIS FABULOUS MEETING, IT WILL GO ON UNTIL KINGDOM COME.’’

There was no doubt about it. At the end of one glorious, unforgettable day, Ireland had taken its place at the top table of world racing.