Trinity’s Horse Racing Society, in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD) Horse Racing Society, will be hosting a Cheltenham Preview Night tomorrow evening at the Horse Show House in Ballsbridge. All of the proceeds from the evening will be donated to Cancer Trials Ireland, an organisation that works to provide access to cancer clinical trials and expand cancer research.
Hannah Smullen, chairperson of TCD Horse Racing, spoke to Trinity News about the evening and its particular personal significance to her.
Smullen’s father is the late jockey Pat Smullen, nine-time Irish flat-racing champion. Pat Smullen passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer in September of 2020. Unsatisfied with the hopelessness of cancer diagnoses, Pat Smullen organised a charity race day in September of 2019 that raised 2.5 million euro for Cancer Trials Ireland.
Smullen said that her father chose the charity for its transparency.
“You can see where all the money’s going, and they have these newsletters, and they show like, these are the trials that are currently happening. These are the trials that are going to happen. And that’s why that was the charity that he chose, because they just like, they’re doing real work,” said Smullen.
Smullen added: “You can see directly the trials that your money’s going on and the people that it’s helping. And dad loved that. And dad really thought that that would give people a lot of hope and a lot of solace and hope. Hope is the main thing. That’s what we’ve been hammering home throughout all of this.”
Smullen’s family has continued to support Cancer Trials Ireland, raising €840,000 by continuing to hold charity race days in Pat Smullen’s honor.
This is the third annual Cheltenham Preview Night hosted by TCD Horse Racing society. In the previous two years, the society has raised over €15,500 for Cancer Trials Ireland.
Smullen highlighted the work of the other members of TCD Horse Racing and commented that “everyone in the society is very supportive, and understands how much it means to me raising money for” the cause.
As for the event itself, Smullen described it as a chance for “previewing all of the races with industry professionals such as trainers and jockeys and other people in the industry… bringing sort of industry knowledge to an event to discuss and give people a bit of insight”.
The event will feature Kevin O’Ryan, a pundit and jockey’s agent, and Rachel Blackmore, a winning jockey and Henry de Bromhead retained rider, among many others.
“It is a really fantastic lineup, and there should be some great information.”
All of the funds from the night will be donated to Cancer Trials Ireland. Smullen said, “every single penny we get goes to Cancer Trials Ireland, even if we have any overheads or anything, we just sort of absorb them ourselves.”
This year’s event will be run in collaboration with the UCD Horse Racing Society. Smullen explained that the societies made the decision to join forces in the hopes that they would bring in a large crowd and benefit Cancer Trials Ireland even further.
