Paddy Prendergast (racehorse trainer)
| Paddy Prendergast | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Trainer |
| Born | 6 August 1910 Carlow, Ireland |
| Died | 20 June 1980 |
| Major racing wins | |
|
Irish Classic Races wins as trainer: 2000 Guineas (1) 1000 Guineas (1) Epsom Oaks (1) St Leger (1) |
|
| Racing awards | |
| Irish flat racing Champion Trainer (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1963, 1965) British flat racing Champion Trainer (1963, 1964, 1965) |
|
| Significant horses | |
| Windy City, The Pie King, Martial, Floribunda, La Tendresse, Noblesse, Ragusa, Pourparler, Meadow Court, Bold Lad (IRE), Ballymore, Sarah Siddons, Nikoli, Ardross | |
Irish Classic Races wins as trainer:
Irish 2000 Guineas (4)
Irish 1000 Guineas (5)
Irish Derby (4)
Irish Oaks (1)
Irish St Leger (3)
Patrick Joseph Prendergast (1910–1980), known as Paddy "Darkie" Prendergast was an Irish trainer of racehorses. He won seventeen Irish classics and became the first Irish trainer to have a major impact on British flat racing. He trained the first Irish winners of the 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Oaks and was British champion trainer for three successive seasons.
Paddy Prendergast was born at Carlow in County Carlow, the eldest of a brotherhood of jockeys, but moved to Athy in County Kildare when very young. He was apprenticed to Roderic More O'Ferrall at Kildangan, County Kildare, but soon moved to Epsom where he rode under both rules but principally National Hunt. In August 1931 with his young bride he moved to Melbourne and obtained a licence to ride the following month. Their eldest son was born in Australia but though he rode there for a year he failed to ride any winners and returned to continue an unremarkable riding career in England and Ireland.
Prendergast began training racehorses in 1940. He had his first winner in Britain in 1945 and had his first champion five years later when Windy City was the top-rated two-year-old in Ireland, Britain and France. Prendergast soon became one of the leading trainers in Ireland, winning four Irish classics between 1950 and 1952.
In 1953 Prendergast had considerable success in Britain with The Pie King, a two-year-old colt which won the Coventry Stakes, Richmond Stakes and Gimcrack Stakes and was the top rated juvenile of the year. In October that year he sent another two-year-old called Blue Sail to England for a race at Ascot. The horse, which had run poorly on his last two Irish starts, showed improved form and was narrowly beaten into second place. The stewards of the Jockey Club, the governing body of British racing, took the view that the variation in the horse's form was unacceptable and refused to accept further entries for horses trained by Prendergast, effectively banning him from competing in Britain. Irish Racing's governing body, the Irish Turf Club declined to uphold the decision and exonerated Prendergast, marking the first time that a ruling of the Jockey Club had been challenged by another national organisation. The ban, however, resulted in several good horses, including Blue Sail, being removed from Prendergast's stable.
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