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Family Notes of John Kelly Hillview Chadville Cappawhite Co. Tippeerary kellyjj@eircom.net Grandson to the winner John Kelly of 1911.
IRISH DERBY 1911
For the first time in the fifty odd years of its existence the Irish Derby was borne off by a Tipperary team, with their fairytale 'ugly duckling' Shanballymore. Although twice a winner from four starts as a two year old from John Dwyer's country stable in Commons, near Cashel, Shanballymore was given little chance against the sleek Curragh contenders, not to mention 'Atty' Persse's challenger from England. After all, hadn't local bookmaker Bryan O'Donnell offered farmer John Kelly from Cappawhite 100 tol against his homebred yearling winning the Irish Derby? Well O'Donnell might have too, for Shanballymore's immediate ancestry was less than prepossessing... His sire, Popoff, had been given away as a yearling, having a dropped hip. Passed on to a short sighted farmer for £.25, Popoff was subsequently raffled for 6d tickets, played for in a card game as a 30/- stake and exchanged for a barrel of porter! Calyce, the dam, was an ugly and useless mare bred by Richard Bull and purchased by John Kelly for £,6. Still and all, Kelly had taken the odds, which may have accounted for his relatively skinny SP on Derby Day. Cheered home by half the population of Tipperary the 'hardy, humble bred' carried John Doyle to a second successive Irish Derby with the likes of 'Boss' Croker's Clonbern, winner of the Phoenix Park '1500' and a half brother to both Orby and Rhodora, toiling in his wake.
Source :
Winner All right
100 years of Irish Racing & Breeding by Guy St. John Williams Daletta Press Kildare 1999
Chadville a full brother to Shanballymore was 4th in the 1913 Irish Derby also owned by John Kelly.
Note
In 1911 Shanballymore ridden by John Doyle and trained by John Dwyer, won two of the top twenty races in Ireland that year. The Irish Derby was the third most valuable race that year and was worth £783. The distance was 1½ miles for 3 year olds.
In July he won “His Majesty’s Plate” worth £311 and at a distance of 2 miles.
Source: The Sweeney Guide to the Irish Turf 1501-2001 by Tony & Annie Sweeney Dublin 2002
(Note: John Kelly of Chadville House, Cappawhite was the head of his family of Kellys in Alleen Donohill. Co. Tipperary and had four brothers Dan, Con, Denis and Dr. Tom . Denis who was killed off a horse. At the time of winning the Irish Derby in 1911, John as head of the family had over four hundred acres (1.6 km²) of land. In the racing world at that time when land lords still exist and land was measured in thousands of acres – he was a small farmer but in Irish terms, a substantial or strong farmer.)
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