FeatureRacing Heartlands
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'It's the best training centre in the world but it's quiet these days - you could fire a cannon and you wouldn't hit a horse'
David Jennings visits the headquarters of Irish racing
David JenningsDeputy Ireland editor
The Curragh: the home of Irish racingCredit: Patrick McCann
Given he has sent out winners from the Curragh during seven different decades since his first winner – Zara at Phoenix Park in May 1963 – it is only fair to let 91-year-old Kevin Prendergast open the batting.
"If I lived my life all over again, I would still train horses on the Curragh," says the son of Paddy 'Darkie' Prendergast, the pioneer champion trainer of Britain in 1963, 1964 and 1965 while based in Maddenstown on the Curragh. "I wouldn't change a thing."
The Curragh has changed since the sixties, though.
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Published on inRacing Heartlands
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Copymore inRacing Heartlands
- It was once the headquarters of British racing - why now are horses conspicuously absent and signs of racing barely detectable?
- Racing history everywhere you look and a giant Tesco for John Gosden to get his beer - but really Newmarket is all about the Heath
- A world-famous racing town, an inspiring place to train - but where are all the horses?
- 'He drove them through the middle of Malton on long reins, ten or 12 of them - it didn't go down well with the townsfolk'
- 'Some pubs in Lambourn thought they didn't need the racing trade. Huge error. They will not survive'
more inRacing Heartlands
- It was once the headquarters of British racing - why now are horses conspicuously absent and signs of racing barely detectable?
- Racing history everywhere you look and a giant Tesco for John Gosden to get his beer - but really Newmarket is all about the Heath
- A world-famous racing town, an inspiring place to train - but where are all the horses?
- 'He drove them through the middle of Malton on long reins, ten or 12 of them - it didn't go down well with the townsfolk'
- 'Some pubs in Lambourn thought they didn't need the racing trade. Huge error. They will not survive'