The death has taken place of the legendary former Irish champion jockey Martin Molony. He was 91.
Co Limerick-born Molony was Ireland’s champion jump jockey between 1946 and 1951. In 1949 he was also runner-up in the British jockeys championship, behind his brother, Tim.
Molony won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Silver Fame in 1951 and landed the Irish Grand National on three occasions.
Acclaimed as one of the most stylish riders of his generation he also enjoyed major success on the flat and rode three Irish classic winners.
In 1951, the same year he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, he also finished third in the Epsom Derby aboard Signal Box.
Molony rode for top trainer Vincent O’Brien and won the Irish Cesarewitch in 1950 aboard the triple-Champion Hurdle winner, Hatton’s Grace.
He retired from race-riding, aged just 26, after a fall at Thurles in 1951 and ran his Rathmore Stud near Kilmallock, Co Limerick.
