Owner thanks late jockey for playing part in win

A JOCKEY who died following a horrific fall last summer helped his former horse win the big race on the first day of the Cheltenham festival, the horse’s owner claimed yesterday.

Laurence Byrne, owner of Smurfit Champion hurdle winner Hardy Eustace, a long shot at 33/1, thanked the late jockey Kieran Kelly for the win.

Byrne from Tullow in Carlow said he only decided to enter the horse in the race after talking to the late 25-year-old jockey. Kildare-born Kelly died four days after a fall in Kilbeggan last August.