RACEHORSE owner Lar Skelly passed away last weekend after a long illness, bravely borne. From The Ward in North County Dublin, he owned horses with Jim Dreaper and Paul Stafford.

Dreaper said: “Lar’s father Christopher ‘Kit’ Skelly was a great friend of my father. He would find homes for slow horses and was a man who could source anything you were looking for.

“Lar was very entrepreneurial and had his share of luck in racing too. He would take a chance on anything, and he was a rare commodity in that he would contact his trainers on the 28th of every month to see what he owed. Payment always arrived promptly. “

The Dreaper-trained Shopping Around won two races at Clonmel for Lar and his wife Kitty in the space of a week, shortly before racing was shutdown in March. “They were probably his last days at the races, so that was lovely for him,” said the trainer.

“Lar was a good footballer in his day for Donaghmore, scoring the winning point in a County Final in 1959. He was one of nature’s gentlemen. If Lar said he would do something, it was done. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with Kitty and the family at this time.”

MC