Pat Haslam dies following battle with illness

– Group 1-winning trainer Pat Haslam died on Saturday afternoon at the age of 69 following a battle with illness.

Haslam, who trained over 1000 winners and enjoyed success at every track in England, Scotland and Wales during his career, retired from the training ranks in 2010, handing over the reins to his son Ben after 37 years as a licence holder.

Haslam celebrated Group 1 success with Kinnaird, who landed the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp under Kevin Darley in 2005.

He also saddled several other Group-race victories, including a Criterion Stakes win with Pipe Major in 1995 and further highprofile glory in France with Maroussies Wings, who landed the Prix Minerve at Deauville in 2006.

Haslam enjoyed a fine two seasons in the early 1980s with Godstone, ridden by Graham Sexton, successful in the Richmond Stakes in 1983, Mummy's Pleasure winning back-to-back runnings of the Bunbury Cup and Hawkley landing the Royal Hunt Cup under Tyrone Williams in 1984.

Nigel's Lad also proved a stable star for Haslam, winning 23 races in a mixture of Flat, hurdles and chase contests between 1994 and 2002.

Ben Haslam said: “Dad was a great role model to me. He was a proper old-fashioned trainer, he was tough and demanded hard work, which was a side of working for him, but as a father he was very caring and very loving. No one could have asked for a better father.

“People within the industry who knew him over the 40 years he’d been involved in racing would say he was one of the most respected trainers and people in racing.

"He was widely respected by other trainers, jockeys and his staff, who he never made life easy for, but every one of them tell me how much they loved working for him.

“He was a fantastic trainer and training a winner at every track in the country at the time was a testament to how good he was. Amazingly the last track he needed to do it on was Cheltenham and he did it there with a treble.”

Haslam, one of the few trainers to be based in Lambourn, Newmarket and Middleham during his career, bought subsequent Group 1 winner Kinnaird for 7000 guineas at the breeze-up sales at Doncaster and took great pleasure from her high-profile success, but also enjoyed many winners when teaming up with two legendary riders.

Ben Haslam said: “The jockeys and sportsmen he admired the most were AP McCoy and Lester Piggott, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than when they rode him a winner."

Haslam is survived by his wife Anne and son Ben. - Racingpost. com