‘Fairly surreal' – Irish racing festival sees dad and daughter jockeys compete against one another

The Irish Sun

2 days ago

Patrick Breen hadn't raced in 23 years and lost a considerable amount of weight to compete against his daughter
FAMILY AFFAIR 'Fairly surreal' – Irish racing festival sees dad and daughter jockeys compete against one another
PATRICK Breen and his daughter Sarah raced against each other at Tramore's August Festival.
The festival served as great entertainment for the 26,000 people who attended over the four days, but one race in particular caught the eye of many horse racing fans.
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The pair were still friends after the race
Credit: @hriracing
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Patrick didn't look like a jockey who'd been off the saddle for 23 years
Credit: @hriracing
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Sarah has learned a thing or two from her father when it comes to horse racing
Credit: @hriracing
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The father and daughter often ride together on the beach
Credit: @hriracing
In the closing Majestic Hotel Flat Race on the Friday, Sarah and Patrick raced against each other on two horses trained by the family.
Both horses went into the race at the same odds of 28/1, but it was Patrick who got the family bragging rights with a third place finish on Lord Lackendarra.
Patrick was confident he would get the better of his his daughter before the race when he was speaking to RacingTV.
He had said: "This is Sarah and she is not as good as her father, but she's working on it. Eventually when I retire I hope she is as good as me."
Sarah finished in a respectable sixth place aboard Goodmancon as she enjoyed the rare spectacle.
The 18-year-old spoke to Horse Racing Ireland this week, reflecting: 'It was fairly cool when we pulled up, I knew turning up the straight that I wasn't going to beat him this time.
'He was fairly happy, and I was as happy as I could be seeing as he finished in front of me! It was fairly surreal pulling into the parade ring together."
Patrick is a jockey and horse trainer from Waterford. Having broken his neck aged 29, he had to put his jockey career on the back burner.
He hadn't raced in 23 years before competing in Wexford last month in preparation for this dream race.
It was his goal to race against his daughter and his inspiration for returning to the saddle.
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Sarah said: 'That was always dad's goal, he wanted to ride against me, so it was always the plan to ride against each other when he took out the license.
'I didn't see it any different until we weighed out. We ride out together every day. I didn't take any notice of him until we were both in the same colours, then it dawned on me that we were racing against each other in an actual race.
'We are fairly competitive at home, so it was a bit annoying now that he finished in front of me, but I'll definitely get him the next day. He's been soaking it up - I didn't hear the end of it on the way home!'
Patrick had to dust off his silks as well as lose three stone to reach an appropriate weight to ride Lord Lackendarra.
The pair are not the first father-daughter duo to race against each other, as Willie and Rosemary Rooney have also been in the same boat.
While the feet had been a goal of Patrick's for some time, his daughter never fully believed it would happen.
Sarah added: 'I didn't really think it was going to happen, I thought it was an unrealistic goal but when we found a race in Tramore we thought it would be ideal.
"Both horses had course form and it's our local track. We said it would be best to go there.
"He had to do a lot of work to get back riding. He put in a lot of work at home as well as getting the horses ready. Getting both horses ready for the same race is not that easy.'