Legendary Irish jockey Pat Smullen has died aged 43 this evening.
The nine-time Irish champion jockey was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March in 2018 and passed away in Dublin's St. Vincent's hospital on Tuesday after a relapse in recent months.
The Offaly native retired from racing in May 2019 a 12-time European classic winner, including winning the Epsom Derby and Irish Derby aboard Harzand in 2016.
Smullen and the horse racing community raised over €2.5m for Cancer Trials Ireland during his battle with the disease.
Last September, The Pat Smullen Champions Race during the Longines Irish Champions Weekend culminated in legendary jumps jockey AP McCoy coming out of retirement to see off Ruby Walsh in the charity race at the Curragh.
Speaking to Off The Ball last year, Smullen said: "I actually never thought I was going to die. I just didn't allow myself, whether that was a foolish thing, I don't know. Of course it is going to happen to us all one day, but right now I am not ready. I never allowed myself to think that.
"On occasion, you get down but it would be for about half an hour or an hour and then I'd give myself a kick up the backside and say 'go on, get on with it'. When you see your kids, and a great wife... it's how I dealt with it anyway, and I think that it stood me in good stead.
"I just didn't allow negativity in. There are some people that are very well-meaning, but I didn't like meeting. They meant good, but their whole demeanour was 'this is terrible'. I actually tried to distance myself from that. I just wanted all positivity around me, and I think that is very important.
"If I had one piece of advice to people, it would be that. There is so much going on day-to-day as regards testing and research, that I kept telling myself that they will come up with something, and that this treatment will work. That was very important to me. That is how I dealt with it."
