Multiple champion associated with two of Ireland's greatest trainers

Liam Ward, who has died at the age of 92, was champion Flat jockey in Ireland six times, including a four-year sequence between 1956 and 1959.

Ward's career was highlighted by his association with two of Ireland's greatest trainers, Paddy Prendergast and Vincent O'Brien, for whom he rode the brilliant Nijinsky to win three of Ireland's major juvenile races in 1969 and the 1970 Irish Derby.

His triumph on Nijinsky at the Curragh provided solace for the shock defeat he suffered on the Epsom winner Sir Ivor in the same race two years earlier, with Lester Piggott delivering a stunning two-length victory on 16-1 chance Ribero for Fulke Johnson Houghton.

Ward rode ten Irish Classic winners and also partnered Sicilian Prince to win the 1962 Prix Royal-Oak for Curragh trainer Stuart Murless.

Born on May 18 1930, Ward served the early part of his apprenticeship with Roderic More O'Ferrall at Kildangan before moving to Martin Quirke at Mountjoy Lodge.

His first major success came on Beau Sire for Cecil Brabazon in the 1950 Blandford Stakes. The following year he won his first Classic, the Irish St Leger on Do Well, giving former top jockey Morny Wing the biggest win of his training career.

He won the 1952 Irish 2,000 Guineas on the Mickey Rogers-trained D.C.M. and in 1953 dethroned Johnny Mullane as champion jockey, riding 53 winners, including Sixpence for Prendergast in the prestigious "1500" (now the Phoenix Stakes) and in the Anglesey Stakes.

Ward succeeded Mullane as Prendergast's stable jockey at Rossmore Lodge and came to wider public attention on the stable's frequent raids to Britain.

In 1958, drawing on his previous links with Kildangan, he teamed up with the former Mrs More O'Ferrall, the colourful American heiress now styled as Anne Bullitt Biddle, to ride her Michael Dawson-trained colt Sindon to a short head victory over the Epsom runner-up Paddy's Point in the Irish Derby.

Ward's growing reputation was evident when Alec Head entrusted him with the ride on Amante, on whom he won the 1958 Irish Oaks in the colours of Prince Aly Khan.

Ward won several major Irish handicaps in the second half of the 1950s including successive editions of the Irish Cesarewitch for Paddy Sleator on heavily backed favourites, Havasnack in 1958 and subsequent Champion Hurdle winner Another Flash in 1959.

In 1960, not long after Biddle had removed her horses from Dawson and installed Tommy Shaw as her private trainer at Palmerstown near Kill, Ward won the Irish 1,000 Guineas for her on Zenobia. Further high-profile wins followed in the familiar navy and white colours, including Mystery and Partholon in the National Stakes in consecutive years.

In 1963, riding Ionian for the Biddle/Shaw team, he came closest to winning an English Classic, agonisingly denied in the 2,000 Guineas by Jimmy Lindley on Only For Life. It took fully five minutes for the judge to call the Jeremy Tree-trained colt the winner.

By the mid-1960s Vincent O'Brien, who had initially favoured Australian riders in the years after making Ballydoyle an exclusively Flat yard, turned to Ward as his main Irish-based rider.

Vincent O'Brien: made Liam Ward his main Irish-based rider in the 1960s

He was never the stable jockey in a formal sense – and often pointed out that he never won the Irish championship during his time at Ballydoyle, having gained his sixth and final title in 1961.

However, starting off with Aurabella in the 1965 Irish Oaks and White Gloves in the 1966 Irish St Leger, he enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the training maestro.

In 1967 Ward rode Sir Ivor to a brilliant National Stakes win before Piggott took over for a Grand Criterium triumph which made the Raymond Guest-owned colt a prime fancy for the 1968 Classics. He duly won the 2,000 Guineas and Derby under Piggott and was sent off 1-3 favourite when Ward was back aboard for the Irish Sweeps Derby.

Bitterly disappointed at having missed out on seeing Sir Ivor at Epsom owing to his commitments as the United States ambassador to Ireland, Guest shared in the public confidence in his colt and planned a celebratory dinner at his magnificent Dublin residence.

However, things did not go according to plan, with Piggott the architect of Ribero's shock win. O'Brien's wife Jacqueline memorably described the evening's social event as "the worst party ever". Ward wryly recalled a miserable occasion, though he was grateful for O'Brien's unqualified exoneration.

Ward said of his relationship with O'Brien: "He never told me I had ridden a good race, and never told me I had ridden a bad one".

Ward was back centre stage the following season, ironically on a colt who carried the Ribero colours of Charles Engelhard. From the second crop of Northern Dancer, Nijinsky carried all before him as a juvenile in 1969, with Ward in the saddle for four Curragh outings, including the Railway Stakes, the Anglesey Stakes and the Beresford Stakes.

In the same year, Ward rode two more Classic winners for O'Brien, the Irish Oaks on Gaia and the Irish St Leger on Reindeer.

Nijinsky's 4-11 victory in the 1970 Irish Derby helped to ease the pain of Sir Ivor's tumultuous defeat two years previously and cemented his connection with the last winner of the Triple Crown whose evolving career he had nurtured at two and on his three-year-old debut in the Gladness Stakes.

Ward and O'Brien shared a final big-race success that season with Nijinsky's brother Minsky in the Beresford Stakes. The pair combined for his final winner Cambrienne in a two-year-old maiden at Leopardstown in October 1971.

Ward ran Ashleigh Stud, near Clonee, with his wife Jackie, daughter of composer, band leader and impresario Jack Hylton, prior to their divorce. His ex-wife relocated to the US where she married former jockey Frank Ramos, transferring the Ashleigh name to a farm at Paris, Kentucky.

Ward moved to Castlesize House, a fine country house on the banks of the Liffey near Sallins, enjoying shooting and fishing during a long and active retirement.

Liam Ward (left) pictured with Jim Gorman at the Curragh in 2010Credit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Following his election to the Turf Club he became an acting steward at Naas, the Curragh and Leopardstown, and was highly respected in the role. In an unassuming way, he drew on his vast store of race-riding experience and adjudicated with wisdom and a sense of fairness.

Ward is survived by his wife Veronica, and two children, Bill and Nicola, from his marriage to Jackie Ramos.

Liam Ward

Born May 18, 1930

Apprenticed to Roderic More O'Ferrall, Kildangan 1945-46; Martin Quirke, Kildare 1946-49

First winner Andorra, Phoenix Park, April 5, 1947

Two wins on Sir Ivor 1967 Probationers' Stakes, National Stakes

Six wins on Nijinsky 1969 Erne Maiden Stakes, Railway Stakes, Anglesey Stakes, Beresford Stakes, 1970 Gladness Stakes, Irish Derby

Irish 2,000 Guineas winner D.C.M. (1952)

Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Zenobia (1960)

Irish Derby winners Sindon (1958), Nijinsky (1970)

Irish Oaks winners Amante (1958), Aurabella (1965), Gaia (1969)

Irish St Leger winners Do Well (1951), White Gloves (1966), Reindeer (1969)

Prix Royal-Oak winner Sicilian Prince (1962)

Irish Champion Stakes winners Do Well (1951), March Wind (1962)

Ballymoss Stakes winners White Gloves (1967), Selko (1969)

Pretty Polly Stakes winners Atlantida (1956), Iskereen (1967), Rimark (1968)

Blandford Stakes winners Beau Sire (1950), Do Well (1951), Jongleur (1956), Wenona (1968), Riboprince (1970)

Gladness Stakes winners Western Wind (1965), Nijinsky (1970)

Phoenix Plate winner Sixpence (1953)

National Stakes winners Mystery (1961), Partholon (1962), Sir Ivor (1967)

Beresford Stakes winners Kildoon (1953), Carezza (1955), Scissors (1963), Hibernian (1967), Nijinsky (1969), Minsky (1970)

Rockingham Handicap winners Milesian (1957), Half Time (1958), Irish Gambol (1961 dead-heat)

Irish Cambridgeshire winners Vaquero (1956), Hibernian (1968)

Irish Cesarewitch winners Havasnack (1958), Another Flash (1959)

Big-race winners in Britain Milesian (1957 Salford Borough Handicap), China Clipper (1960 Seaton Delaval Stakes), L'Homme Arme (1963 Ladbroke Gold Cup Handicap)

British Classic runner-up Ionian (1963 2,000 Guineas, beaten a short head)

Last winner Cambrienne, Leopardstown, October 23, 1971

Irish Classic wins 10

Most wins in an Irish season 64 in 1956

Champion jockey in Ireland six times 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961

Compiled by John Randall