An Irishwoman's Diary

Even  the most dedicated historian may plead weariness in the face of royal genealogy. Exactly who cares about the crowned heads of Europe or elsewhere? Are kings and queens, wayward pouting princesses and ageing layboy princes at all relevant - particularly nowadays, with royalty almost a generic term for famous, idle, rich people unable to describe themselves as footballers, movie stars or rock singers?

Yet 'family' remains one of the great love/hate themes of human life, as well as fiction. And plenty of people care about the family trees recorded by Tony Sweeney.

This bibliophile supreme, author of Ireland and the Printed Word; 1475-1700 (De Burca, 1995), has now written and co-compiled a mighty volume spanning more than 600 pages that celebrates the most sublime of royal families - that of the thoroughbred horse.

The Sweeney Guide to the Irish Turf 1501-2001 (De Burca, €95) is a work of scholarship. It is also a history fraught with magnificent bloodlines, all pointing back to three legendary foundation stallions: the Byerley Turk, (an ancestor of The Tetrarch), a veteran of the Siege of Belgrade and later, the Battle of the Boyne; the Darley Arabian, from whom 95 per ceent of thoroughbreds are descended and whose own great-great-grandson was the famous Eclipse, born on April 1st 1764 as the moon covered the sun; and the Godolphin Arabian, a bloodline that ebbs and flows yet boasts the 1964 dual derby winner, Santa Claus.

Facts and statistics

The guide's admittedly functional title suggests it is a specialist reference text for the racing fraternity. This is true. There are enough facts and statistics, details about historic Irish races, winners, owners, trainers, jockeys, bookmakers, punters, rogue horse dealers, some 400 racescourses throughout Ireland where races were or are still held, and a focus on Ireland's record in the Aintree Grand National to keep racing fans punch drunk with joy.

But there is more to it than that. Sweeney and his team - his wife Annie together with Francis Hyland - have succeeded in making thousands of facts and cross-references part of an insider's unsentimental acknowledgement of the heroic horses which have elevated the heartbreaking business of horse racing above sport, above the ruthless big-money industry it undoubtedly is.

Horse racing can be an addiction; it is certainly a way of life; it is also social history, most especially Irish social history, contained within one context - performance horses specifically bred for winning. Its story, begun with kings and sustained by wealthy patrons, dreamers and gamblers, stretches from the time when horses were walked to their respective races to the present day, when many top horses could qualify for frequent-flier credits.

I will admit to being drawn exclusively to the horses, but such is Sweeney's wealth of information that the trainers and owners become characters - never as engaging as the horses, but interesting nonetheless. Consider the owner Denis Bowes Daly, who between 1777 and his death in 1821 posted 557 winners. Or the obese North American billionaire Charles Engelhard, owner of the English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, who loved ice cream, Coca Cola and his horses. Within six months of the Canadian colt's spectacular victories, Engelhard was dead, at 54.

Gentleman trainers

In 1872 Henry Eyre Linde "saddled his first winner to become the prototype of an entirely new breed of public trainer, the educated gentleman who would make it his profession". Like another gentleman, Vincent O'Brien, Linde initially concentrated on jumpers, constructing, as Sweeney records, the first private steeplechase course in Ireland, before moving on to specialise in flat racing. Even more remarkable was the Waterford man Jim "J.J." Parkinson, who trained as a vet in London, then returned to Ireland to practise at the Curragh in Co Kildare. Parkinson, one of Sweeney's relatives, purchased Maddenstown Lodge and, during a 50-year career as a trainer, had winners of 2,577 races in Ireland, as well as owning the 1917 Irish Derby winner, First Flier.

Sweeney writes that racehorse trainers, now superstars in their own right, were not named at the foot of each race result until 1935. So the horses rightly dominate his pages. Red Rum (1965-1995), the undisputed Grand National specialist - three times winner and twice runner-up - is duly honoured. Bred at the Rossenarra Stud in Co Kilkenny by Martyn McEnery, grandson of Lady Lavery, Red Rum was sold at Goff's Yearling Sales for only 400 guineas. Quite a bargain; after all, when Richard II visited Ireland in 1399, Art MacMurrough, the King of Leinster, was mounted on a horse that had cost him 400 cows.

The 19th-century rivals Birdwatcher and Harkaway, as well as Gallinule's fabulous daughter, Pretty Polly, winner in 22 of 24 starts, and later mother of nine English classic winners, are recalled. A collaborative top-ten list features Ragusa, Arkle, Santa Claus, Alleged, El Gran Senor, Dawn Run, Vintage Crop, Istabraq, Giant's Causeway and Galileo. But spare a thought for Brunette, a steeplechasing heroine who ran her first Grand National at 13 to finish sixth of 28 starters.

Many superb period paintings are reproduced and among the outstanding action photographs is Ed Byrne's magnificent head-on shot of Galileo and Michael Kinane en route to their 2001 Irish Derby triumph.

Treasure chest

Sweeney's compendium is a reference treasure chest, collating facts with enthusiasm and humour. Included is the film director Billy Wilder's attempt to sell Sam Goldwyn a quasi-prophetic movie idea based on the life of a Russian ballet dancer. "Are you gone crazy?" asked the mogul, "You want to make a picture about a man who thinks he is a horse?"

"Well," reasoned Wilder, "we could always have a happy ending - we could show him winning the Derby." The dancer was Nijinsky, and the Vincent O'Brien-trained stallion - son of the aptly named Northern Dancer - not only won the 1970 Epsom Derby; for good measure he also he took the 2,000 Guineas, the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the St Leger and the Irish Derby.