Much-missed Maureen Mullins one of long line of notable women who left indelible mark on Irish racing life

For her family, the death of Maureen Mullins, after a long and richly fulfilling life, marks the end of an era. For the wider Irish racing community, it evokes memories of a group of women who contributed incalculably and unobtrusively to the sport in the two decades or so after the end of World War II.

They were wives of leading trainers of that period, although one should be clear that these women, who possessed many distinctive and individual qualities, were no mere adjuncts to the men they married.

In an era when women were generally consigned to a subordinate role in Irish racing, they left a notable mark, not entirely unsung but perhaps insufficiently appreciated outside the immediate household environment.