TOSS Taaffe, twice Ireland’s champion jockey and a member of one of racing’s best known families, died last Tuesday. He was 86.

Son and namesake of Rathcoole trainer Tom Taaffe, ‘Toss’ – as he was ever known – followed his older brothers Bill and Pat into the amateur ranks in 1949. His sister Ann married Peter McCreery and he was predeceased by his sister Lu Keane.