THE Irish racing and bloodstock world lost a huge supporter this week with the news that Trevor Hemmings had passed away. He was 86.

Hemmings is best known in racing as the owner of three Grand National winners – Hedgehunter, Ballabriggs and Many Clouds. But behind that success was a mammoth investment in National Hunt foals and stores, the vast majority sourced in Ireland.

His Irish base was, up to recently, the 200-acre Monymusk Stud in Kanturk, Co Cork. Damian Murphy had the job of breaking in his stores, while local trainers Eugene O’Sullivan and Mick Winters trained for him, though most of his runners were based in England.

Bloodstock agent David Minton said he could not possibly estimate the number of horses he had bought on behalf of his longest-standing client: “I bought horses for him for 30 years, and almost all of them were Irish. We bought one or two from France and a few from New Zealand, and they were disastrous! After that we always looked for names like Deep Run, Supreme Leader and Bob Back in the pedigrees. He just loved those staying chasers.

“He never missed a Derby Sale, save for the past two years. He sneaked into the August Sale this year and bought four horses on his own. I spoke to him last Sunday morning and he was talking about going back to Fairyhouse to buy foals next month. It’s a blessing he went so quickly – he won’t have known a thing.”

Prolific winner

Eugene O’Sullivan trained most of his Irish winners, the most prolific being Arctic Times, who won 28 point-to-points.

The trainer said: “I first met Trevor 24 years ago (1997) and I had my first runner for him the following year. He was a regular visitor to the area and was even here three times in the past three months. He would arrive by helicopter and stay for a few days at a time. After he sold Monymusk, he bought a house in the area, so he could see the horses he has with me, Mick Winters and Damian Murphy.”

O’Sullivan continued: “He was a gentleman. We never had a cross word and he never said boo to me on how his horses should be trained. He was very interested in people. His first question would always be asking after my mother, and how was all the family. He wanted to be sure that everyone was well.”

It was Jerry O’Leary who initially brought Hemmings to Ireland, the pair having been introduced in the home of Harvey Smith. “He asked me to have a look around for a farm in Ireland, where he could keep his mares and youngstock. I told him that there were lots of equestrian properties in Kildare and Meath, but he wanted one down south.

Irish ancestry

“I remember him asking me if I lived anywhere near Clonmel and I later found out that’s where his grandmother was from. In my opinion that’s one of the reasons he chose Ireland as a base.

“It was 30 years ago I showed him farms in Askeaton, Mallow and Kanturk, and he chose Monymusk, which is on 200 acres in Kanturk. He bought it from two brothers who were cattle dealers, but it had originally been a stud farm built by Mrs Nelson, a Scottish woman who stood My Swanee at Waterloo Stud near Mallow.

“Trevor became part of the town. He traced his Irish cousins and became very friendly with the locals. They followed his horses because they knew him. He was entertaining, witty, loyal, generous to a fault, and I would describe him as an ordinary man’s man.

“He developed Monymusk and that’s where he kept his stores, mares and foals until five years ago, when he sold the property to Kate Jarvey, who has a lot of good eventing horses.”

Damian Murphy, best known as the rider of Cheltenham Festival winner Whyso Mayo, broke in countless horses for Hemmings over the past 25 years, including Grand National winner Many Clouds. Murphy said: “Trevor was very good to me and a lot of people in the area. I was very lucky to meet him and grateful that he trusted me to break in such beautiful horses.

“He was here just two weeks ago and was in great form. He was planning to come again next week. I’m just glad he didn’t suffer – we would all like to go that quickly.

Understood horses

“He was an absolute gentleman, a really lovely person who was very easy-going. If a horse was lame, he understood that it happened some times and he would let you get on with it. Horses got all the time they needed. If they were no good for racing, he would try to find another job for them.

“One of his racehorses ended up in the Olympics as an eventer, ridden by a Brazilian.

“You’d never have guessed he had been so successful in life, he was that normal. And he really cared about people. One of my team suffered a bereavement last year and I don’t know how many times Trevor called me to ask how she was. When he next met that girl, he said ‘you can name that filly for me’. How many owners would do that?”

Hemmings scaled down his racing interests a year ago, selling over 50 horses at Goffs UK. Murphy said: “Trevor felt he couldn’t justify having so many horses, when he had to let people go in business due to Covid-19. But he couldn’t resist buying more stores this year. He loved the sales and he just loved his horses.”

Outside of racing, Hemmings’ other great sporting passion was football. He owned Preston North End FC and recruited several players from Cork City to go to his club. This weekend all tickets for Preston’s match will carry Hemmings’ image and £5 from each ticket sale will be donated to his charities. David Minton added: “I hear the supporters are all going to wear cloth caps in memory of Trevor.”