CREDIT to Navan Racecourse who have renamed today’s apprentice handicap in memory of a superb jockey who had all but been forgotten by Irish racing.

When 14-year-old Patrick Francis Conlon from Kilmessan, Co Meath, decided in 1946 to become an apprentice, he wisely chose trainer Dick McCormick, my father, in nearby Kildalkey as his mentor.

Between 1944 and 1946 Dick McCormick had trained 40 winners, including Lady’s View to win the 1944 Phoenix Stakes, known as ‘the 1500’, and Linaria to win the 1946 Irish Oaks.

Conlon was known to all as ‘Mutt’, after the smaller of the two characters in the Mutt and Jeff cartoon series.

He weighed in at a mere 4st 6lb (28kg) at the beginning of his apprenticeship and, even though flat racing was confined to a few days a week, he was moulded by Dick McCormick into the champion apprentice of 1949.

That year Conlon won 35 races including the Royal Whip and the Anglesey Stakes, the Irish Lincolnshire and the Ulster Cambridgeshire, the Maher Nursery and the National Produce Stakes.

This record was achieved in the era of Michael Beary, Aubrey Brabazon,Tommy and T.P. Burns, Martin Molony, Liam Ward, Georgie Wells and Morny Wing. The record stood for 27 years.

On completion of his apprenticeship Conlon left McCormick’s employment and in February 1952 joined the stable of A. Riddle Martin in Kentstown, Navan.

Riding a horse for him named Timber Topper at Kilbeggan on May 12th, 1952, Conlon was tragically killed when he was caught up in a nine-horse pile-up in a 16-runner flat race.

How awful to lose such a young rider who could justifiably be considered the best apprentice of the 20th century in Ireland. Who can dispute those statistics of 1949 when he rode 35 winners from little more than 400 opportunities.

He is buried at Kilmessan, Co Meath, and his spirit will no doubt be keeping an eye on those riding in his race today.