DR Fred Kenny, an orthopedic surgeon renowned for treating injured jockeys, passed away peacefully earlier this month.

From Dalkey in Dublin, he qualified as a medical student in 1954 before spending some time in Britain, where he spent much of his free time going racing. He returned home to take up a consultant position in Our Lady’s Hospital Navan in 1976 and quickly garnered a good reputation for dealing with various jockey/equestrian injuries.

Aidan O’Brien, Christy Roche, Robbie Power, Barry Geraghty, Mick Kinane and Frank Berry are just some of the well-known names he treated.

“Fred was a great man for jockeys,” Berry said yesterday. “He understood the problems and the main thing was to get you back on the road as quick as possible. He was always only a phone call away.

“No matter where you got hurt down the country, you’d always be making your way back up to Navan to see Fred. He’d always make time to see you during the day or night. He was a great man to have around.

“All jockeys want to get back on the road and Fred understood the job so well. He wouldn’t let you back unless he felt you were right but he was always there to get you back on the road. He was a lovely man.”

Kenny became a member of the Turf Club and acted as a raceday steward for a number of years after he retired from his profession, and his son Paddy now treats many jockeys. He was also a prominent owner. The Dessie Hughes-trained Do Tri Cuig was his most successful horse and his most recent winner was Laura’s Light, who won in Galway in 2008.

The Fred Kenny Lifetime Services To Racing Ladies National Handicap Chase, which takes place at Fairyhouse on Easter Saturday, was named in his honour, and will now be known as the Fred Kenny Memorial Ladies National Handicap Chase.