Pat and Frances Smullen: thanks to all who helped in cancer trials effort

Longines Irish Champions Weekend has always been one of our favourite weekends on the racing calendar, but this year's renewal had an extra special meaning for us and our family.

We chose this weekend as an ideal opportunity to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer and raise essential funds for Cancer Trials Ireland, and we hoped that people would get behind it and help us achieve our aims. What has happened since has been nothing short of incredible and we are so overwhelmed and grateful to everyone for their support, monetary or otherwise.

We have so many people to thank that if we start listing them individually we will have to write a novel, so please know the difference you have made to cancer trials is game-changing and your support means more than words can say.

Thanks to all the team in Horse Racing Ireland, the Longines Irish Champions Weekend Committee, the Irish EBF and to all the owners who 'nailed their colours to the mast' for Cancer Trials Ireland.

We were blown away by the generosity shown by those of you who contributed and purchased all the incredible auction items. It was brilliant fun watching all the bidding which raised a phenomenal amount of money.

The specially designed reusable cups really caught the imagination of racegoers and were a novel but important way to support the cause. Every €10 added up to a significant amount of money.

Thanks to all at Leopardstown and the Curragh for their help and encouragement last weekend, and to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) for assisting us in staging the Champions Race for Cancer Trials Ireland on a busy day for their teams. Thanks also to the print, broadcast and online media for their generous promotion through the weekend and the fundraising plans.

We were really humbled by all the stable staff donating their best-turned-out prizes and the jockeys donating their riding fees, and the stall handlers and racecourse staff who worked so hard over the weekend.

To the nine wonderful weighroom colleagues who came out of retirement to ride in the Champions Race, you are champions in every sense of the word and you gave us a very special race that we will never forget. We just can't believe a jump jockey won on our home patch! We're acutely aware the preparation involved a huge effort and that made their gesture all the more incredible.

Pat lines up with the nine jockeys before Champions Race for Cancer Trials at the Curragh last SundayCredit: Alain Barr (racingpost.com/photos)

Thanks to the trainers and owners who showed remarkable generosity in providing runners for the race and to the sponsors Adare Manor and JP McManus, Ballymore Properties and Sean Mulryan, Bar One Racing and Barney O'Hare, Betfair Exchange, BetVictor, the bookmakers in the ring under the umbrella of the Irish National Professional Bookmakers' Association (INPBA), Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Sky Bet who all sponsored the jockeys, while the support of the The Underwriting Exchange as insurance sponsors, The Patron Group and Fox Valeting Services for the jockeys' breeches, and Racing TV as broadcast sponsors is greatly appreciated.

To all the volunteers who worked tirelessly and the racegoers who came racing to make the weekend so special and created such an amazing atmosphere, it means so much to us.

Longines Irish Champions Weekend was all about raising awareness and funding two cancer trials. We can assure you that plans are already in place to action the two trials which we hope will make a big difference to people's lives.

We are just so humbled and grateful how everyone supported the weekend, and please be assured that your donations and efforts are going to a thoroughly deserving cause.

We hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as we did. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Pat and Frances Smullen

If you would like to donate to Cancer Trials Ireland you can do so here