He helped shape the careers of a host of top-class riders and his contribution to Irish racing was immense and lasting

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Liam Browne was a three-time champion Irish apprentice jockey before becoming a Classic-winning trainer, who also had the distinction of training winners at both Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival.

He was renowned for his influence in helping to shape the careers of a host of top-class riders.

Operating on a "strict but fair" principle, based on his own experience as an apprentice with Paddy Prendergast, Browne cultivated an ethic of discipline and hard work.

• 'He was a perfectionist but very fair and he got me going' - Mick Kinane leads tributes to Liam Browne following his death at 89 

Browne discovered Tommy Carmody on the Irish pony-racing circuit and guided him to a share of the apprentice to the championship in 1973. He won the next three titles, followed in quick succession, by stable apprentices Stephen Craine, Mick Kinane, Pat Gilson, Mark Dwyer, champions between 1977 and 1981. Later, Warren O'Connor and Jamie Spencer added their names to a distinguished list of graduates that also included David Parnell.

Born in 1937, Browne was champion apprentice in three consecutive seasons from 1956 to 1958, compiling a fine tally of 29 in the final year, hinting at a big future in the senior ranks. He recorded his first significant success on But Why for Cecil Brabazon in the 1957 Leopardstown November Handicap.

The following season was marked by a remarkable set of victories. He completed a notable treble by winning the Madrid Handicap, the Tetrarch Stakes and the Gallinule Stakes on Tharp for Cecil Brabazon, as well as sharing in big-race success with two of Ireland's top trainers.  

For Prendergast, he landed the Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown, the race now known as the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, on Alberta Blue in the colours of Canadian newspaper and oil magnate Max Bell. He also won the Pretty Polly Stakes on the Mickey Rogers-trained Owenello.

In 1959 Toss Taaffe entrusted him with the ride on the strongly fancied Bright Talk in the Irish Lincolnshire. Owned by Colonel Dan Corry, one of the top Irish showjumpers of the 20th century, the six-year-old mare justified 2-1 favouritism in a field of 20.

As a senior rider, Browne failed to build on the phenomenal success of those early years, and was merely a modest presence on a 1960s Irish scene dominated by eight-time champion Johnny Roe, along with Liam Ward, George McGrath and a steady stream of talented Australian-born riders.

For a while, he drifted out of racing and worked for a spell in a factory in Britain before returning to start training on the Curragh in 1971.

Success came quickly. Within a matter of years, with stable numbers rising, he had purchased Maddenstown Lodge, from where Jim Parkinson had once supervised an enormous string, and which had also housed Dorothy Paget's formidable Irish operation. 

In 1978 he made a breakthrough on two fronts, landing the Sun Alliance Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham with the heavily backed Mr Kildare, ridden by his protegee Carmody, and recording major Flat success with Slaney Idol in the Nijinsky Stakes at Leopardstown. Two years later Carmody rode Slaney Idol to beat Daring Run in an Irish-dominated edition of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle back at the festival.

Mr Kildare also landed major bets when gaining back-to-back victories in the Leopardstown November Handicap in 1976 and 1977. The trainer's ability with juveniles was underlined when he won the Moyglare Stud Stakes with Ridaness in 1977 and Daness in 1979.

In 1981 he saddled 5,000gns purchase Dara Monarch to a 66-1 success from the Vincent O'Brien-trained Americus in the Anglesey Stakes. Down the field in the 2,000 Guineas after winning the McCairns Trial at Phoenix Park on his first start at three, Dara Monarch brought off a 20-1 shock under Kinane to beat Tender King in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. 

Carrying the colours of Browne's wife Anne, he upheld the form with the runner-up in the St James's Palace, but lost form after his sale as a prospective stallion to Tim Rogers, who later stood him at Grangewilliam.

Carlingford Castle finishes second to Teenoso and Lester Piggott in the 1983 DerbyCredit: Gerry & Mark Cranham

Browne's 1983 Gallinule Stakes winner Carlingford Castle finished second to Teenoso in the Derby. In the same year he won the Phoenix Stakes with King Persian and the Champion Juvenile Hurdle with Grateful Heir, a 20-1 shot ridden by son Dermot.

Later in the decade, he had big-race success with Toca Madera (Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial 1986) and Fair Of The Furze (Tattersalls Gold Cup, 1986).

The stable's fortunes took a sharp decline after his son was warned off for ten years in 1992, a penalty extended by a further 20 years in 2002 after a Jockey Club hearing in which he admitted 23 individual doping offences in 1990.

The affair took a mental toll on the trainer and the winners began to dry up. After a brief resurgence towards the end of the 1990s, the final years offered a depressing reminder of how his riding career had petered out after the rich promise of his apprentice years.

After a couple of winnerless campaigns, it was fitting Browne had a final big-race win when Helen Keohane, the last in a long line of protegees, won the 2003 Saval Beg Stakes on Queen Astrid. He retired the following year.

Tough and uncompromising on the surface, Browne had a generous side to his nature as well and devoted much of his training career to bringing on the riders of the future. In that respect, his contribution to Irish racing was immense and lasting. 

Read more:

'He was a perfectionist but very fair and he got me going' - Mick Kinane leads tributes to Liam Browne following his death at 89