FEW races in Ireland can claim to be as historic as the 1916 Irish Grand National and indeed, it is believed that one of the instigating factors behind the Rising taking place when it did was the knowledge that many of the British Army were in attendance at Fairyhouse that Easter Monday.

With lines of communications very different to what they are today, the activity in Dublin City didn’t filter back to Fairyhouse until the last race of the day and didn’t interfere with All Sorts claiming a famous win for trainer Dick Cleary.

The majority of both horses and people who were among the crowd of 25,000 at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday 1916 got there by train to the nearby station at Dunboyne but on the discovery of events at the GPO, the soldiers in attendance at Fairyhouse commandeered any mode of transport available at Fairyhouse, including horse transporters, and shut down all the railway lines leaving those in attendance to walk home and that included the horses.

The winner All Sorts had to be walked back to Bishopstown in County Westmeath and Connie Cleary, granddaughter of winning trainer, Dick, recalled stories she was told growing up.

“The race was at 2.40 in the afternoon but there would have been no phones at Fairyhouse back then so there was no way to get the news to the track. Racing kept going and even the races after the National were run,” Cleary recalled.

With the railways shut down and the transport commandeered, All Sorts had to walk back to Westmeath after winning the race, a journey which took him five days.

“My grandfather had three horses that ran that day and they had to ride them from Fairyhouse back to Maynooth because when they got to Maynooth they thought they’d be getting the train down to Streamstown.

“But of course there were no trains. They then had to walk the horses down by the canal and they came to Clonard where my family had some friends and they took the horses and the riders in for a couple of days because they needed some rest. It took them five days to eventually get back the 60 miles to Bishopstown.”

All Sorts wasn’t the only horse who faced a lengthy trip home. One of the runners took two days to get to Naas, which was described as “quite local” and another of the horses that ran in the Grand National had to return to County Clare. It is said that the trainer’s wife assumed her husband to be dead as he had no way to contact her on the way home until he arrived back into the yard days later on horseback.

Despite the events taking place in Dublin that would rewrite Irish history, any talk of 1916 in the Cleary household revolved around the Grand National.

“They didn’t worry about what was going on in Dublin, it was all about winning the race and that was it,” Cleary added.

As much as Dick Cleary is described as the Willie Mullins of his time, similar comparisons can be made to the 1916 winning jockey Jackie Lynn and Ruby Walsh, with Lynn described as “a jockey that never stopped trying”.

His obituary stated; “Lynn’s desperate tenacity oftentimes gave a shock to the other jockey, who ought to have won but didn’t, because he took things too easily.”

Lynn’s career spanned 34 years and although his son, Jackie (89), doesn’t remember much of his riding career as he was 10 when his father retired, he is thrilled to have the 1916 race remembered.

“Back in those days when they were riding they could be away for days,” Lynn recalled. “There was no coming home in the evening like they would now. I remember getting a lift on a bike to go and watch his last ride but he didn’t talk much about being a jockey. Most of what I know about the Grand National in 1916 is from the snippets I read in the newspapers. I’m just absolutely thrilled to be alive to see this day.”

Johnny Lynn had to promise his mother that he wouldn’t follow his father’s footsteps and become a jockey as the family endured a number of deaths in the sport.

Jackie Lynn’s brother, Willie, who rode Civil War to finish fourth in the 1916 Irish Grand National, was later killed in a fall at Gowran Park, while his son Johnny was also killed in a fall at Southwell.

According to Johnny Lynn, his brother Mickey was described by Capt. Gerald Balding, the grandfather of broadcaster Clare, as “one of the best jockeys he ever had,” but he was killed in a fall at Sandown Park in 1955 at the age of 23.

With the help of the Ward Union, Fairyhouse will recreate the 1916 race on Monday.