SINCE Tuesday Irish racing has been in mourning following the news that Pat Smullen, one of the country’s great jockeys and a truly outstanding man away from the sport, had passed away.

During this time in the saddle, Smullen was an absolute colossus as evidenced by his big race record, his championship haul and his global standing but out of the saddle he was a simply immense figure.

The selfless manner in which he faced up to the most awful of diseases was nothing short of inspirational and he was quite simply a class act on all fronts.

Pat may have been out of sight for the last few months but he was never out of mind as evidenced by an outpouring of emotion, sadness and sympathy earlier this week. In short, he set a standard in and out of the saddle that we should all aspire to but very few can actually reach.

That his passing should come almost exactly a year on from one of the most memorable days on an Irish racecourse makes everything feel all the more acute.

The day in question was the second leg of Irish Champions Weekend which featured the Pat Smullen Champions Race For Cancer Trials Ireland.

Great stories

The build up to this race all the way through to its special aftermath was one of the great stories in Irish racing over the last few years. The race and the occasion were worthy of the man whose name it carried and the level of interest and enthusiasm generated by the initiative offers a telling illustration of the respect, regard and affection that Pat Smullen commanded.

Rare indeed is the issue that can get the entire racing community working in the one direction with universal agreement but that is exactly what happened this time last year, such was Pat Smullen’s standing.

From the moment the news of Pat’s illness became public, the nine-times champion jockey began his battle with illness with an incalculable depth of goodwill that spanned racing across the globe. Indeed that same level of goodwill has been in evidence throughout the week.

Another example of his standing was highlighted by his attendance at the Curragh on Irish 1000 Guineas day in 2018 which came around two months after he his diagnosis.

The delight that so many people took from Pat’s mere attendance on the racecourse offers yet further and compelling testament to a man who was quite simply world class both in and out of the saddle.

The stories, the anecdotes and the heartfelt recollections of Pat Smullen throughout the week, all of which were underpinned by respect and affection in equal measure, serve to emphasise how poorer the sport is for his passing.