2013

ALL of Irish racing united this week in paying their respects to RTÉ sports broadcaster Colm Murray, who died on Monday.

The 61-year-old was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) over three years ago.

One of the most popular figures in Irish media, Colm was a devoted lover of horseracing and ensured that the sport received more than its fair share of television coverage when he was presenting the sports news on RTÉ. Colm was a regular MC in racecourse parade rings and at racing functions.

He was also involved in racehorse ownership, enjoying numerous winners in his own colours and as a syndicate member, the horses usually trained by Willie Mullins.

It was Willie who convinced Colm to return to work at RTÉ a few months after his fateful diagnosis. Colm was soon back reading the sports news, and embarked on a series of in-depth radio profiles of sporting figures such as Alex Ferguson, Brian O’Driscoll and Johnny Murtagh. His journalistic professionalism and desire to assist others also saw him embark on an RTÉ documentary to highlight MND and assist in developing treatment for those diagnosed.

Such was the impact of the programme, and his tireless efforts on behalf of those with MND, that Colm was honoured with a People of the Year award in September 2012 in recognition of his efforts to further medical research into the debilitating disease. A reading from Colm’s funeral mass appeared to sum up his determination and perseverance: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”

Colm was a native of Moate, Co Westmeath, and graduated from University College Galway in 1972 with a BA degree in French, English and History. For the next three years he taught at secondary schools in Athlone and Tullamore, having completed his Higher Diploma in Education at Maynooth University. In 1975 he moved to Dublin where he taught French, English and History in Ballymun Comprehensive School.

In October 1978, Colm changed career direction and moved to RTÉ Radio, where he took up a post as continuity announcer. Then, having presented various programmes, including the long-running Hospitals’ Requests, he became a newscaster in 1983. In 1988, when RTÉ introduced its hour-long Six One News format, he moved into sports broadcasting as a presenter, and a founding member of the sports news unit on the Six One news. Colm, together with his late friend Vere Wynne Jones, pioneered sports coverage for RTÉ. and remained an integral part of the unit until illness forced him to stand aside in 2012.

In the course of his sports broadcasting career, he has covered a large number of national and international events, including the Cheltenham Festival since 1990 and the Olympics and Paralympics in Sydney, Athens, and Beijing.

In 2000 he was presented with the ESB Media Award as Sports Broadcaster of the Year for his coverage of the Irish team and their participation in the Sydney Paralympics. However, he regarded his assignment with Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland soccer team in Italia Novanta (the 1990 World Cup in Italy) as the highlight of his sports broadcasting career.

His unswerving support for Irish racing was recognised in 2010 when Horse Racing Ireland presented him with a Contribution to the Industry Award for “his engaging and eloquent reports, illuminating the sport in a constantly positive and entertaining manner”. A year later NUI Galway presented Colm with an Alumni Award for Sports Achievement and Leadership.

First victory for Charlie Appleby

2013

ASCOT’S Sunday fare saw some highly creditable performances, none more so than Expressly’s easy victory in the Ascot Lawyers Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over the straight mile.

This was a first winner for Godolphin’s new trainer Charlie Appleby (though he has been a member of the team for a long time) at the fifth attempt, and he never had a moment’s worry.

The daughter of Street Cry, equipped with a hood for her racecourse debut, eased into the lead well before the furlong pole and coasted home for Mickael Barzalona, beating Mu’Ajiza by four and a half lengths.

By Ascot standards, this did not look a very strong maiden, but Expressly (7/2), now over a minor setback, is a half-sister to Rio De La Plata and may make her mark in better company. “Hopefully it’s the first of many to start repaying Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin for giving me this opportunity,’’ said Appleby, who has taken over from the disgraced Mahmood Al Zarooni.

[Champion trainer in 2021, Charlie Appleby has become one of the best trainers in the world in the past decade, enjoying a host of Group/Grade 1 successes.

His growing list of big race wins include the Derby (Masar and Adayar), 2000 Guineas (Coroebus), St Leger (Hurricane Lane), Coronation Cup (Ghaiyyath), Dewhurst Stakes (Pinatubo and Native Trail), Platinum /Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Blue Point and Naval Crown), Eclipse Stakes (Hawkbill and Ghaiyyath), Juddmonte International (Ghaiyyath), King’s Stand Stakes (Blue Point twice), King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Adayar), Lockinge Stakes (Modern Games) and St James’s Palace Stakes (Coroebus).

Internationally, he has also won the Grand Prix de Paris, Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, Prix de la Forêt, Prix de l’Opéra, Prix Jean Prat, Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix Maurice de Gheest and Prix Saint-Alary in France, and the Grosser Preis von Baden, Bayerisches Zuchtrennen, Grosser Preis von Berlin and Preis von Europa in Germany.

Three of Appleby’s five Group 1 wins in Ireland have been gained in the National Stakes, with Quorto (2018), Pinatubo (2019) and Native Trail (2021), while the latter also won the Irish 2000 Guineas. In 2021 he won the Irish Derby with Hurricane Lane.

Appleby has amassed nine Grade 1 victories at the Breeders’ Cup, a third of them coming last year, while other Grade 1 wins in the USA include the Diana Stakes, Just A Game Stakes and Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes.

Across the border, in Canada, he has won seven Grade 1 races, while his three Group 1 wins in Australia have been with Cross Counter in the Melbourne Cup, Jungle Cat in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, and Polarisation in the Sydney Cup].

Knight Errant lands the Galway Hurdle

1958

THE customary huge crowds attended the Galway fixture on Wednesday and Thursday last, and, taken all round, the sport was well up to standard.

Wednesday’s racing was favoured with fine weather, but on Thursday it rained quite heavily until after the Hurdle. The two big races provided contrasting results, the Plate going to the 20/1 chance, Hopeful Colleen, who came from ‘out of the blue’ after the last fence and got to the front close home for what, in the end, was a clear-cut win.

On the other hand, the Hurdle was won by the 5/2 favourite, Knight Errant, owned by Mrs Biddle and trained by Paddy Sleator, who provided the runner-up in Wednesday’s Plate, Amber Point.

The Plate proved to be yet another big-race win for trainer Jimmy Brogan, who won this year’s Irish Grand National with Gold Legend. Hopeful Colleen’s rider, 17-year-old Jimmy Mahony, was visiting Galway for the first time, and this notable victory was his 10th winner since he started riding in public two years ago.

The Galway Hurdle on Thursday proved to be yet another important win for Mrs Anne Biddle, who out of seven runners at Galway in the last few years has won two Plates, and now the Hurdle with Knight Errant. Last year Knight Errant won the Plate and he is the first horse to bring off the Plate and Hurdle double since Blancona in 1925 and 1926.