By Daithi Harvey
Former six-time champion jump jockey Martin Molony has passed away at the grand age of 91.
His son Peter Molony, who runs the family's Rathmore Stud in Limerick as well as being the Irish representative for Qatar Bloodstock and Racing, announced on Monday that his father had died peacefully just short of his 92nd birthday.
Despite being forced to retire from race riding due to injury at only 26 years of age, Martin Molony was hugely successful in his relatively short career in the saddle. As well as being champion jump jockey in Ireland over six consecutive years from 1946 to 1951, Molony also finished runner-up in the British jockeys' table in the 1949-50 season when his brother Tim Molony was champion.
Molony rode the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Silver Fame in 1951 but he also rode with significant success on the flat and he held the rare distinction of being a Cheltenham Gold Cup and Classic-winning rider. In all, he won three Irish Classics: the Irish Oaks in 1947, the Irish 1000 Guineas in 1950 and the Irish 2000 Guineas in 1951.
In 2015, both Martin and Tim Molony, who died in 1989, were honoured at Limerick Racecourse where a lifesize bronze sculpture of the brothers was unveiled.
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