Kevin Prendergast will be 87 next Friday. Ireland’s most senior trainer racehorse trainer has won eight Irish classics during his career but the Irish Derby has so far eluded him. Today he could fill that gap with Madhmoon. Earlier this week the trainer faced the racing press at a Curragh Racecourse breakfast and looked ahead to what could be the crowning moment in his 56 years as a trainer.

I’ve been very lucky to live as long as I have and to be lucky in the business that we chose. Horse racing has been in Ireland long before our time. It has always been very prominent and we are lucky to be able to continue and keep up the good work that our forefathers did before us.