LIAM Wallace has been a leading figure in Irish harness racing since the modern day revival in 1969. In that year Hughie Richardson opened Portmarnock.

A screenwriter could not make up some of the twists and turns of the next 50 years as Hughie played the role of sherriff with ‘Tommy Boy’ Quinn as his deputy.

Liam was the swashbuckling bandit with a supporting cast including Christy ‘Blackjack’ Reid, Larry Connors, Messy Larkin and Anthony Haughan to name but a few.

Liam was at pains to point out his respect for the late Hughie Richardson. Both men came from the generation that clung to trotting horses as lorries and vans took over the streets of Dublin and the city-based saddlers, farriers and working yards became a thing of the past.

A steady stream of horses came in from Roy Willis of Kent, Davy Morton and Tommy Marshall up in Scotland and breeders such as Mrs Cole of Wolverhampton and of course JS Jones of Saunders Stud. Liam, although busy with a sizeable coal trade ,was a frequent visitor at British tracks and was the only Irishman to drive at Chasewater, near Birmingham.

In roughly chronological order, Saunders Rhythm, Smoke Away, Scoot, Newtown Roughseas, Magneto Star, Vyrnwy Bret, Bodean were some of the top-class performers to benefit from Liam’s confident touch at the track, close his Belcamp base.

Liam Wallace was dealt a cruel blow in 1985 when he took a shot in the back, during an abortive robbery which left him paralysed from the waist down in his late thirties. In true Hollywood style, he had a sulky designed in the close season and beat the odds by driving a winner when racing resumed.

The Governor

Having proved he could still do it, ‘The Governor’ as he was known in racing circles, gradually retired from active driving. Sons Liam junior, Alan and Gary took over the mantle. A stud with better facilitieswas bought at Cloghran, even closer to the track.

The nineties and noughties saw no let-up in the Newtown Stud output. The grey Young Commander wowed the crowds wherever he raced, the mare Velvet Beauty became the first horse to break two minutes at Portmarnock.

End Of All, a trotter, broke the British 10-furlong record. Newtown Rascal, Sure Cam and Scarlett And Gold ensured that the blue and white of the Wallace barn were still in the winner’s circle. In 2019, Newtown Jody now trained by John Gill at York, was BHRC Horse of the Year.

Liam’s wife Emily is currently keeping all visitors at a safe distance from Liam, who recently turned 76. Thankfully, he was in sparkling form on the telephone during the week.

Dan Carlin: What are your earliest trotting memories?

Liam Wallace: I saw racing at Chapelizod Stadium when I was 10. I met the well-known Rashers Byrne who owned another track near the Phoenix Park when I was young. He moved on to the thoroughbred world.

DC: Who was your first winner?

LW: The Invader at Jimmy Barry’s track at Blackchurch on the Naas Road.

DC: What can you remember about Saunders Rhythm?

LW: I drove him for the late Gerry Harris of the Hino truck franchise. He gave £1,100 for him – good money in the early ‘70s. Roy Willis raced him in England for me because Ireland had trouble getting affiliated.

DC: Smoke Away – tell us about him?

LW: A lovely little horse, like an Arab. He had trouble with a spavin, which is nothing nowadays. We used to rub it up and race away. He could beat most of them at that time but couldn’t handle Billy Adios.

DC: Can you recall one or two horses that were not willing pupils?

LW: There was an old villain of a mare called Dolly Gray who would do plain nothing. She was by old Christy Dunne’s horse Sir Gentle Boy. For years afterwards, the lowest grade race on the card was known as The Dolly Gray Pace.

DC: What drivers did you admire as a young boy?

LW: Frank Healy was the top man – he drove right into old age. Captain Wentges was very handy as well. He drove a great horse called Luxor. His daughter rode three-day eventing for Ireland in more recent years.

DC: Who were the toughest drivers to race against?

LW: Harry Murdock was always in my way. Jimmy Barry could drive a horse as well.

DC: Outside of your own family, name some of the young guys coming up who you think are making a good shape?

LW: Jonny Cowden, from the north is the bee’s knees. Buster Gilligan is putting in some effort. Sean Kane is very good with a trotter.

DC: Yours had a name as a gambling stable. Any clever moves that came off or flopped?

LW: We backed a horse once to win seven grand with Terry Rogers and he let the rest of the queue on as well. The horse won but I can’t remember his name. It wasn’t Stay Trew – he used to fly in his mid-week work and then let us down on race day.

DC: Was there ever a horse that you couldn’t bring yourself to sell?

LW: (Not even a split second of hesitation) No (pauses) although I somehow managed to hold on to Lady Rep – she died here.

DC: Of the many stallions you stood which one or two will leave their mark on Irish pedigrees going forward?

LW: Flight Messenger left great stock, Newtown Rascal, Another Rascal, Air Mail. Direct Current left Direct Dream who won Musselburgh twice and is the broodmare sire of Deans Alibi – a 1.56 horse.

DC: Do you ever regret not moving to North America in your younger days?

LW: Not really. There were 27 bookies at Portmarnock at one time, so I could always get money on.

DC: Of all the great trotting nations – France, the US, Australasia, etc – which is the best model?

LW: I’ve had an involvement in most of those. The French have the best system. For speed you need to go to New York, Pennsylvania or Ontario.

DC: Ian Pimlott a fortnight ago mentioned driving for ‘Fat Bob’ Kennedy – I bet that was an education

LW: He was something else – so good for the game. He just loved building tracks. He built a fine track with banked turns at Silloth, Cumbria. He buried hundreds of old tyres under the turns he believed it would give the track more bounce. I was at the venue and it was some surface but a poor location. There’s no Bob Kennedy fighting for trotting now, that much I do know.

DC: Three horsemen from the past 50 years that you would love to spend two hours with?

LW: I was lucky enough to know these four personally. In the US, Bill O’ Donnell and Del Miller. At home I loved talking to Tommy ‘Boy’ Quinn and Jim Breslin.

DC: The best pacer you drove?

LW: Saunders Pleasure and Magneto Star. Pleasure might just shade it. A guy came to buy her and I sold him the mare and a brand new car.

DC: The best trotter?

LW: I drove many decent trotters but you asked me about Lady Rep. She was a very special mare – she never broke in all the years I raced her. She could hold her own with top-class pacers. At stud she threw Mark Lobell who was by the pacer Sly Heel. He won loads of races for Bob Kennedy and finished up in Germany.

DC: You were part of a consortium which opened White House Raceway. Do you ever regret that venture? Did anything positive come out of it?

LW: It served a need at the time. I suppose one good thing is that lots of new faces got involved at that stage, some of whom are still racing.

DC: Harness racing in Ireland – are we at our level or could it make the much talked about breakthrough?

LW: I still think there’s a resistance in the corridors of power. The influence of France may move the government.

Also, the fact that we are once again exporting top-class pacers shows that there’s an industry.