David Pim:DAVID PIM, who has died aged 79, was one of the most esteemed and well-liked individuals in Irish racing.
He was the auctioneer who made an art form of the profession – in him, the theatre lost a great performer, although he did star in amateur musicals. His timing during bidding was remarkable; he knew when to hold a silence and when to jockey along an uncertain buyer with witty off-the-cuff remarks.
A friend to the vendor rather than the buyer, it was astonishing how he could squeeze that little bit more, bid by bid, out of the buyers.
He was born into a well-known Quaker family who had been in and around Mountmellick since the mid-17th century since John Pim came there at the age of 18. The Pims have been associated with many industries, including soap, glue, candles, tobacco, snuff, baking, brewing and malting.
David Pim’s father was the fourth generation at Anngrove where he had a dairy farm and was also a director of Jacobs Biscuits which had been founded by his wife’s family.
Pim went to school at Newtown, the Quaker school in Waterford, and to Leighton Park in England, then on to Trinity to study agriculture. He was a good rugby player, as are his two sons, Christopher and Alistair. He played for Wanderers during the 1950s and gained a number of Leinster caps in the back row, before moving to Old Wesley in the early 1960s.
After a year in the US working in a racing stables in Kentucky, he came back to set up the stud at Anngrove, where his first stallion was Lucifer. Other stallions to stand there were Arctic Lord, Monksfield, Prince Regent, Sexton Blake and Welsh Term.
In 1975, Ballsbridge Bloodstock Sales was recruiting auctioneers so, after having practised in the bath, he applied but was told he would need to have elocution classes. He was a little miffed by this for, as he said: “There was I, the only one who had been to a public school!”
In spite of this cavil, he was offered a job and when Ballsbridge Sales became Tattersalls, Ireland, he joined the new company at Fairyhouse. He also sold at Tattersalls in Newmarket in England.
His theatrical style captivated audiences, and people who were not directly involved with the sale would come just to hear his one-liners. “Probably the best walker since Ian Botham,” he said once of an expensive yearling he was selling – it was the time that England cricketer Ian Botham was walking from John O’Groats to Land’s End for charity.
The high spots of his time on the rostrum included selling Tattersalls’ first ever seven-figure yearling for £1.12 million in 1983 (he kept the gavel as a memento) and selling two back-to-back million-plus yearlings.
He was very knowledgeable about the horses he sold and was always active with anything to do with their welfare.
Pim also served twice as senior steward of the Irish Turf Club and sat on the stewards’ panel at the Galway festival.
He retired from the rostrum at Newmarket in 2004, although he continued selling at Tattersalls Ireland for two more years.
He remained a staunch Quaker, holding to its tenets. When away from the public arena, he was a very private man who will be much missed.
He is survived by his wife Jean and his sons, Alistair (who has taken over the stud and is an auctioneer at Tattersalls) and Christopher, and his daughter, Ruth.
David Pim: born June 11th, 1931; died July 9th, 2010