IT is hard to believe that it is more than four decades since Golden Cygnet had the racing world at his feet, only to be cruelly robbed of a glorious future when he fell in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, failing to survive his injuries. Though his hurdling career consisted of just one season, such was the impression he made that the venerable Timeform organisation rate him among the best hurdlers of all time.

Raced in the colours of Galway man Ray Rooney, and owned in partnership with Christy Feerick, Hubert Hardiman and the late Dr Tony Browne and Pat Butler, Golden Cygnet was trained by Edward O’Grady who had purchased him at Goffs as a store for less than 1,000gns. From the first crop of Deep Run, later to be a multiple champion sire and an enduring influence on the breed, Golden Cygnet was bred by John O’Brien and was the only produce of his unraced dam.