Obituary: an era in Irish racing ends with the death of Curragh legend Kevin Prendergast

Kevin Prendergast, who has died aged 92, was the doyen of the Irish training ranks. He started training on the Curragh in 1963, stepping out of the shadow cast by his legendary father Paddy to forge a reputation that earned him a rare combination of respect and affection across a wide spectrum of the sport, from the ordinary racegoer to owners of wealth and influence, and many constituencies in between.

Prendergast was a passionate and dedicated practitioner. He was known for his forthright opinions and was a brilliant mentor to a stream of top-class riders who passed through his hands over six decades. Charlie Swan and Kieren Fallon were fellow stable apprentices at a formative stage. He insisted on high standards in the yard; generations of loyal and devoted staff carried out his wishes with exemplary professionalism.

Born in 1932,  Prendergast broadened his horizons after leaving school with a spell in Australia, mostly spent as head lad to Frank Dalton, a successful trainer in Sydney. He returned to Ireland in 1956 and spent six years as assistant to his father, a major force in Irish racing from the late 1940s.

Prendergast was a talented amateur rider. In 1959, he rode Rising Spring to win the inaugural running of the Galway Corinthian Stakes, the precursor to Galway's prestigious amateur handicap.

In 1963, the year his father became champion trainer in Britain for the first time and won a sixth Irish championship, Prendergast went solo. He soon began to rival his father in his ability to produce early juveniles and developed a talent for targeting valuable handicaps.

A major breakthrough came in 1972 when Pidget, a grey filly by Fortino, became his first Classic winner, landing the Irish 1,000 Guineas at 20-1, ridden by Wally Swinburn for colourful Irish-American owner Norman Butler. Bill Williamson was aboard when she won the Pretty Polly. She crowned a memorable season by beating the colts in the Irish St Leger, with TP Burns in the saddle.

The old guard: Kevin Prendergast (left) with fellow Irish racing greats Dermot Weld (centre) and Jim BolgerCredit: Patrick McCann

To win three important races over such a range of distances was a terrific feat. To do so with a filly with a reputation for waywardness marks Prendergast's handling of Pidget as one of his outstanding training performances.

His father employed Australian-born jockeys at various stages. Prendergast followed suit when teaming up with Paul Jarman, who gave him a second Irish St Leger with Conor Pass in 1973. The same year, the rider won the first running of the Moyglare Stud Stakes, before it gained Pattern status, on the stable's Milly Whiteway.

Laurie Johnson was another Australian retained by the stable, and he rode several significant winners, including Areola in the colours of Moyglare Stud owner Walter Haefner in the 1970 Phoenix Stakes. Johnson helped to groom Gabriel Curran to take over the stable jockey role, and the pair enjoyed a notable early success with Tekoah in the Anglesey Stakes in 1972.

Four years later, Prendergast took a leaf out of his father's book when Nebbiolo became his first major two-year-old winner in Britain, landing the Gimcrack Stakes at York under Curran.

Owned by Danish businessman Niels Schibbye, Nebbiolo failed to meet his reserve at the yearling sales. Besides the Gimcrack, he won four races in Ireland at two, and finished second to Tachypous in the Middle Park.

The following spring, after making his seasonal debut at Phoenix Park, he contested the 2,000 Guineas, starting a 20-1 chance in an 18-strong field in which The Minstrel was favourite. Sent to the front by Curran around a furlong down, he won by a length and the same from Tachypous and The Minstrel. 

Prendergast, who therefore became only the third Irish trainer after his father and Vincent O'Brien to win the Newmarket Classic, attempted the Guineas double at the Curragh but Nebbiolo managed only third behind Pampapaul and The Minstrel after meeting trouble in running. Fears he would fail to stay were borne out when he finished sixth behind The Minstrel in the Derby. He was retired after a below-par run in the Sussex Stakes.

The Curran-ridden Northern Treasure won the Irish 2,000 Guineas in 1976, and Curran was also aboard Arctique Royale, carrying the trainer's late father's colours, when she won the Irish 1,000 Guineas in 1981. The stable continued to thrive through the 1980s and 1990s, though further Classic success proved elusive until Oscar Schindler captured successive editions of the Irish St Leger in 1996 and 1997.

Oscar Schindler wins the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1996

Oscar Schindler also won the Ormonde Stakes and Hardwicke Stakes in 1996. At the same Royal Ascot fixture, Prendergast won the Coventry with Verglas.

Rebelline was a top-class filly for the stable in the opening years of this century, landing the Tattersalls Gold Cup in 2002 under stable jockey Declan McDonogh. In 2006 Willie Supple rode stable outsider Miss Beatrix to win the Moyglare Stud Stakes, and the filly gave owner Bill Durkan a massive payday by adding the Goffs Million under McDonogh the following month. 

In 2009 the trainer and jockey completed a notable Group 1 juvenile double with Kingsfort in the National Stakes and Termagant in the Moyglare. In 2011 Prendergast won a fourth Phoenix Stakes with La Collina, who gained further Group 1 honours when capturing the 2013 Matron Stakes. 

In 2016, at the age of 83, he saddled his eighth and final Irish Classic winner, Awtaad in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Kevin Prendergast with Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Awtaad at Friarstown StablesCredit: Patrick McCann

His father's long quest to train a Derby winner ultimately failed, so there was an air of poignancy surrounding the 2019 Epsom showpiece in which Prendergast was represented by Madhmoon, a Group 2-winning juvenile who had finished fourth in the 2,000 Guineas. 

However, he had to settle for the runner-up spot behind Anthony Van Dyck. The colt, owned by his long-time patron Hamdan Al Maktoum, was his final Pattern winner, taking the Desmond Stakes later that season.

Prendergast was renowned for being occasionally voluble about the handicapping of his horses. However, for all those brief and entertaining outbursts, nothing interested him more than the overall good of Irish racing, a cause to which he was passionately committed. 

There was no stauncher supporter of the collegiate atmosphere of the racing and breeding communities on his beloved Curragh plain. An era has ended with his passing.

Kevin Prendergast 1932-2025:

'A legend of his lifetime' - trainer Kevin Prendergast dies at the age of 92 

'He's a legend and still absolutely loves the game' - Kevin Prendergast at 90