funeral

The Irish diaspora in the Bluegrass has lost one of its foundation stones with the death last Sunday of Roger ("Roddy") O'Byrne, who presided for many years at McCarthy's Bar in downtown Lexington. O'Byrne, together with co-proprietor Peter Kiely, made their bar an institution not just for local horsemen but for the international bloodstock community. During an era when phoney "themed" bars round the world sought to exploit the national tradition of good craic, O'Byrne created a little piece of home for those compatriots of his own generation who served...

Racing will not go forward in the UK on Monday, Sept. 19, due to the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Saturday. Everyone involved in British racing will then have the opportunity to mourn Her Late Majesty's passing. More information on the cancelled fixtures will be announced in the coming days. On Sunday, racing resumes in Britain, with the exception of Musselburgh, as The Queen is lying in state in Edinburgh.

Friends and former colleagues of David Hawes, who died on Friday, 16 October, will have the chance to pay their respects from outside Tattersalls on Wednesday as his funeral cortege passes by the sales house. A longstanding and popular member of the Newmarket racing community and the sales circuit, Hawes, who was 59, was diagnosed with cancer in March. Born in Yorkshire, he started his career with Peter Cundell in Berkshire after graduating from the Goodwood racing school. Following a stint as a jump jockey, he joined his brother Kevin...