At the age of 36, Michael Byrne, a former jockey who had a profound influence on the racing communities in Wales and Ireland, passed away.
Byrne's most well-known achievement was riding for Vale of Glamorgan trainer Tim Vaughan during a successful spell in Britain, Vaughan called Byrne's death "tragic".
After beginning his career in Ireland's point-to-point circuit, he moved to trainer Peter Bowen and then to Vaughan to ride for Richard Johnson as a backup. He gained 96 victories and finished second in the 2013–14 conditional jockeys' championship behind Gavin Sheehan.
"He was a lovely kid from a lovely family and there's no other word to describe it than tragic," said Vaughan. "Michael worked for me for a good number of years and had nearly 600 rides and 61 winners for me. He was someone who had so much natural ability and a flair for life.
He came to me after a few years with Peter and he took off. I put him up and thought he was a very talented lad. It's hit everyone in Welsh racing hard. He was very well liked and I truly feel sorry for his poor family."
Aintree provided some of Byrne's most memorable moments when he rode Big Time Billy to victory in a Listed mares' bumper in April 2010 and, four years later, when he rode Golan Way, a first-time faller at Foinavon in the race won by Pineau De Re, in the Grand National.
In March 2014, he and Carole's Destrier won the Silver Plate at Kempton. Towards the end of the Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up's career, he rode Take The Stand on a regular basis.
Citing financial difficulties, Byrne ended his riding career in Britain in 2016 and went back to Tipperary to work as a prep horse for breeze-up sales for his father Michael Sr., a former jockey turned trainer.
As a member of a family deeply involved in Irish racing, he was most recently training point-to-pointers at the renowned Suirview Stables academy for his uncle Pat Doyle.
Doyle said: "Michael was very successful as a jockey and was a brilliant horseman and it's very, very sad. He was a great guy who was involved in horses and into his football. He had three brothers and two sisters and all the family are very close. He was a wonderful young man with a wonderful family around him and he'll be very sadly missed."