Dessie Hughes, a giant of Irish jumps racing both as a jockey and a trainer, has died from cancer at the age of 71.
Hughes rode Monksfield to win the 1979 Champion Hurdle and then sent out Hardy Eustace to claim the 2004 and 2005 editions of the hurdling crown as a trainer.
He is survived by his wife Eileen, son and three-time champion Flat jockey Richard and daughter Sandra.
Hughes’ career got off to a bumpy start when he rode his first winner at Tramore in 1962 only to be disqualified and placed last after a stewards’ inquiry.
He went on to become one of Ireland’s leading riders, claiming the 1977 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Davy Lad.
Two years later he powered Monksfield home in the Champion, the same season he took out a trainer’s licence.
Hughes’s last winner at Cheltenham was Our Connor in last year’s Triumph Hurdle.
At Cheltenham’s meeting on Sunday a tribute was paid to Hughes, followed by a minute’s silence.
Richard Hughes spoke last month about the debt he owed his father.
“From the age of seven he has been tutoring me, advising me and helping me,” Hughes told The Racing Post.
“He was always hard but fair.
“He would drum things into me, things like ‘the last jockey who goes for his whip is the one who wins’ and ‘you win your race at the start not the end’.
“All his advice stood me in good stead. It has been instrumental in me becoming champion jockey. That I have got to the level I’ve reached is down to him and what he taught me.”
