LAST Sunday, a well-known Irish broadsheet carried an extensive obituary to Raymond Poulidor ,‘the eternal second’, a professional cyclist who died recently at the age of 83.
I had not heard of the much loved rider until the interaction between the IHRA and Le Trot began around six years ago.
Raymond Poulidor was placed eight times in the arduous Tour de France without ever winning the race.
Madame Emmanuelle Morvilliers head of the international department of Le Trot christened Sean Kane ‘Pou Pou’ after the luckless Poulidor when Sean was halfway through a long sequence of second-place finishes in races in France.
Eventually the 25-year-old reinsman ran up four second placed finishes before last Sunday’s France v Ireland trotting match at Argentan, Normandy.
On Sunday, I actually took a photo of the obituary and was about to send it to Sean. At the last moment I resisted the temptation as I figured that the joke might be wearing a bit thin for the affable Kane!
The entire Irish harness racing community got a lift as news came through on Sunday that the young driver had finally whipped his hoodoo subject in Normandy.
To put the icing on the cake for Ireland our apprentices finished second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth in a 16-runner race. For the record, masters Quill, Kavanagh, Caffrey, Cowden and Broughan were the successful quintet behind French driver Quentin Michel,
‘’It was great to finally beat the curse,” Sean told The Irish Field. “It was my fifth or sixth race around Argentan. I thought the leader went off a bit too quick. The kilometre rate was 1.12 which is a strong clock. ‘’
Sean becomes the first Irish national since the great Charlie Mills ‘Le cocher des dieux/Coachman of the Gods’ to drive a harness racing winner in France. Mills retired from driving in the sixties.
Sean’s winner Delsa Derangere is a six-year-old mare by Saphir d’Haufour and was almost friendless in the PMU pool.
On the same card, Kenmare’s Oisin Quill who is also Ireland’s leading apprentice for 2019 led a 2-3-4-5-6 formation in the apprentice race.
‘’I was drawn 16, on the outside of two rows of eight,‘’ explained Oisin. (Large fields are the norm in France and the tracks are built to cope.) ‘’I followed live cover down the back and got a tow into the race. I thought he was some horse.”
Long shot
Over in Mons, Belgium, the previous afternoon, Billy Roche drew a real long shot in the race for Europe’s leading drivers of Trotteurs Français. The pair finished well down the line, but Billy enjoyed the experience.
Tadhg and Christine Murphy from Baltimore received the award for Trotteur Français of the year, earned by the teak-tough 13-year-old Silvano Bello.
A sizeable Irish contingent of supporters made the trip including Mark Flanagan and James O’ Sullivan of the IHRA, Nadina Ironia and veteran horseman Seamus Corey.
On Sunday night I had the courage to send Sean Kane the newspaper cutting about the passing of Poulidor.
Hopefully, Sean’s win rate will earn him a new nickname. Maybe ‘Merckx,would fit the bill!.