Irish Derby Hero Grey Swallow Dies at 20

Dermot Weld has hailed his 2004 Budweiser Irish Derby (G1) winner Grey Swallow  as an extremely talented and tough performer after the classic hero's death at the age of 20 in the United States.

A five-time stakes winner—including twice at the highest level—he memorably provided the late Pat Smullen with a first win in the Irish Derby and spent his final years at Willow Hill Equestrian, a Virginia operation run by Dublin-born Tommy Doyle and his wife Sarah.

"It was a joy to see him finish his days there and I was very proud of how well he was maintained into his old age," Weld told the Racing Post.

"The nice thing was that the Doyles kept in touch with me regularly, sending photographs of the horse via email, and I have to emphasize that he looked magnificent. He was having a very happy semi-retirement and just seemed to have a heart attack and died."

He added: "One thing that stood out about that particular Irish Derby was that the 1-2-3-4 from the Derby (G1) at Epsom were all in the line-up at the Curragh. It was a brilliant ride from Pat Smullen and a fantastic performance."

Weld is no stranger to taking the wraps off a top-quality 2-year-old at the Galway festival and Grey Swallow's first start at Ballybrit resulted in a sensational 10-length success before going on to land the Killavullan Stakes (G3) by eight lengths on his next outing.

"He was unbeaten in both his starts at 2, ending the season as the champion juvenile of Ireland, and his winning debut at the Galway festival was hugely impressive," said the Rosewell trainer.

"He came up that hill like few horses have ever done at Galway. I can remember Brendan Sheridan was the judge that day and he said it was one of the most spectacular performances he'd seen at Galway.

"He was always an extremely talented and tough horse and he was bred by my mother (Marguerite) at Springbank Way Stud. She also part-owned him during his racing career."

Weld added: "He managed to beat the previous season's Arc (G1) winner Bago when winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup (G1) on his first start at 4.

"The following season I took him to California where he won a grade 2 at Hollywood Park (Jim Murray Memorial Handicap) and he was later sold to Australia as a stallion. He also stood at Calumet Farm in America in more recent times."