Death of Mary Rose Hayes

MARY Rose Hayes of Pheopotstown House in Kilcock, Co Kildare, passed away on Wednesday. Her funeral Mass is at 11am today (Saturday) at St. Brigid’s Church, the Curragh, followed by internment at Holy Cross Cemetery, Suncroft.

Her father, George Robinson, trained racehorses at Pheopotstown, where Mary Rose and her brother G.W. (Willie) rode together from a young age, hunting and show jumping. Unfortunately, at that time, ladies were not allowed to ride under rules, so Mary Rose rode in point-to-points.

She rode for Mr FitzGerald and Mrs McDowell with great success on ponies and horses alike, including the great Mossicon and Sweet Control. She was immensely proud to ride for Ireland alongside her husband, the legendary Seamus Hayes.

Green River was one of her favoured horses, who famously ran in Leopardstown on the August public holiday and show jumped in the RDS the following week.

Mary Rose had a great feel for the horse, she knew when they were fit enough and how to allow them to reach their full potential, including teaching young horses how to jump.

Mary Rose was also very successful in breeding many blacktype horses from her mother, Maeve Robinson’s line, which is still going strong today in Pheopotstown.

She was very proud of her grandchildren’s many achievements in and out of the saddle. She will be fondly remembered as a fiercely independent horsewoman, one of the best of her generation.

She is survived by her daughter Sheila, son William, sister Teresa, her grandchildren Niamh, Róisín, Tara, Liam and Áine, her son-in-law Declan and daughter-in-law Fiona.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

SEC/NCC