The Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund

During 2019, we were fortunate to have Pat Smullen as a regular and immensely popular columnist for TDN. The struggle the former champion jockey faced in his life at that stage never coloured the effort and enthusiasm he put into reporting his weekly thoughts and valuable insights on racing.  One aspect that really shone through was how much he was dedicated to encouraging the younger members of the weighing-room, not to mention boosting the profile of the sport as a whole. That determination to help others was seen again in...

Four summers ago, TDN had the privilege of having Pat Smullen as our weekly columnist. It would be easy to imagine that someone with as much knowledge of the racing game as the nine-time Irish champion jockey would just reel off a few thoughts and consider it job done, but that was not the way with Smullen. It was clear in our weekly chats that he took this new role every bit as seriously as he took race-riding, which he had to give up, reluctantly, at the age of 42,...