ALISON Baker, daughter of TK and Mary Baker, whose lifelong interests were hunting, horseracing and breeding, passed away recently in her 100th year. Described as an elegant lady who was wonderful company, she was generous and always prepared to give her opinion without fear or favour.

Her lifelong friend Phyllis McDowell described her as a lovely kind person, and they enjoyed many great days hunting and racing together. Trainer Jim Dreaper, whose family trained horses for the Bakers as far back as the 1940s, recalled visiting the Baker farm at Malahow as a child and remembered Alison as being so kind to visiting children. He described her as a person who had a wonderful love of humanity and who understood animals. The last horse Jim trained for Alison was the winner Hannah Maud. He pointed to an amazing string of coincidences – Alison Baker was born on April 19th and their wonder horse Arkle was born on April 19th, Arkle won his first Gold Cup on April 19th and the Arkle statue in nearby Ashbourne was unveiled by Jim on April 19th 2014, some 50 years after Arkle’s first Gold Cup win.