FORMER trainer and rider Martin Brew died this week, aged 70. He worked in racing all his life and was previously head lad for James Burns and Michael O’Callaghan. He also worked for Paul and Jack Doyle.

Michael O’Callaghan said: “Martin had been in poor health in recent years but he still called in to me regularly to watch work. He went suddenly in the end.”

Bill Lanigan, a good friend of the deceased, said: “I knew ‘Brewser’ since he was 12. We first worked together in Doyle’s in Shankill and he came with everywhere I went after that.

“Martin was an exceptional horseman and a great judge of a piece of work. As a trainer, he gave Ted Walsh a vital winner on New Year’s Eve one year which sealed the amateur title for Ted.

“Martin was also instrumental in buying the foundation mare for the Conroy family’s Glebe Lad bloodline. The mare was bought for a few hundred pounds in Mountrath.”

Martin is survived by his wife Nuala, daughter Edel and sons Richard and Khalib.

Reposing at Mahers Chapel of Rest Portarlington (R32 X5XV) on Sunday evening from 5pm with Rosary at 7pm. Requiem Mass in the Church of The Assumption The Heath, Portlaoise (R32 TN88) on Monday at 11am. Funeral afterwards to the Garden Chapel at Mount Jerome Creamatorium for committal service at 2.15pm.