Death of Un De Sceaux owner Eddie O’Connell
Eddie O'Connell sporting the colours made famous by dual Cheltenham Festival winner Un De Sceaux. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
The death has taken place of popular racehorse owner and prominent businessman Eddie O’Connell.
A long-time sponsor of Sarsfields hurling club in Riverstown, Co Cork, O’Connell’s colours were carried to a number of big-race victories by 10-time Grade One winner Un De Sceaux, a horse who won a host of admirers for his enthusiastic front-running style of racing.
“He loved his racing,” Eddie’s son Colm said of his father.
“He had the racing bug for as long as I can remember, the late 80s, early 90s would have been the start of it. For over a decade we had horses with Michael Hourigan and Enda Bolger, with various success. We won races with both, Enda had a nice few winners for us in point-to-points and so did Mike.”
Eddie’s greatest racing days were provided by Un De Sceaux, a dual Cheltenham Festival winner who was brilliantly handled by champion trainer Willie Mullins. Though the association between ambitious owner and trainer got off to an unpromising start.
“We met with Willie one day by chance and I suppose we just clicked,” Colm recalled. “We sent two horses to Willie and after that Willie said: ‘Look, I’ll do the buying from now on if you don’t mind!’ He has his model of how he likes to buy them.
“It was just a miracle that we came upon Un De Sceaux. He was a dream horse and he gave Eddie dream days out. Willie would have sat down with him and asked: ‘What are you looking for?’
“All Eddie said to Willie was I’m looking for a festival horse. That was the criteria. He delivered in spades on that. Magic.”
But for all Un De Sceaux’s Grade One exploits, the memory Eddie cherished most was his Grade Two victory in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork Racecourse, Mallow.
“The race that was Eddie’s Gold Cup was the Hilly Way Chase in Mallow, a race we sponsored for over 10 years. To go to Mallow and win the Hilly Way Chase was like the Gold Cup to Eddie. We sponsored it a year when Beef Or Salmon went and won it and I remember that day, it was magic to be able to have a horse that could win it.
“Eddie would have gone to Mallow all his life so whether it was a Flat meeting or a normal National Hunt meeting, he just went, he loved going racing. And it wasn’t about having a bet, it was just about going out there and meeting people. Eddie always used to say that racing people were like GAA people. In the summer time they go to GAA matches and when the GAA winds up in the middle of October, you’d see the same people at National Hunt meetings until the end of April. He felt it was like a circuit, that’s what he loved about it.”
While there will be considerable sadness about the passing of Eddie O’Connell in the racing world, his loss will also be keenly felt in the local GAA community.
Paying tribute to his long-time friend, Sarsfields chairman Tadhg Murphy said: “He’s been an amazing contributor to Sarfields hurling club, we’ve one of the longest running sponsorships in the country, one that has been in existence since 1989. He has been hugely supportive to us in every aspect. We couldn’t quantify what he’s done for the club to be honest about it.
"The great thing about Eddie was that it was never about what he would get out of it, he had a great sense of community pride.”
