WE were sorry to hear that Willie Kelly is leaving his racing career after 41 years in the betting ring. The Newry man has worked for the O’Hare family since 1980 but, still only 57 years of age, he has decided to take a career change.

“I suppose you could say I just fell out of love with the game,” he told us this week. “We had so much time off during Covid that, like a lot of people, I had time to think about the miles I had been doing every week. I enjoyed spending more time with my family and I’d like to do something where you had evenings and weekends off.”