Dan Breslin

Dan Breslin

Article by Alan Trout

Daniel Breslin, popularly known as Dan, rode three winners under National Hunt rules in the late 1950s. 

Having begun his career in his native Ireland, his first victory on British soil came at Wye on March 4, 1957 aboard the six-year-old Haystacks Three in the Kensington Chase. In a close finish, Dan got his mount home by a head from Galleano, ridden by Rene Emery, with former champion jockey Tim Molony a length further away in third. Dan kept the ride for the mare’s next outing, when she fell at Fontwell Park. 

Two and a half years elapsed before he won another race, the drought being ended by a five-length success on the Ken Bailey-trained Bridgewell in the Broadstairs Chase at Folkestone on September 8, 1959. The runner-up, Tarky Town, was disqualified when his rider, Gene Kelly, failed to draw the correct weight when weighing in. 

Bridgewell was defying a 10lb penalty for winning at Buckfastleigh 10 days earlier when ridden by John Dowling, who was back in the saddle when the horse completed a treble at Wye in October. 

Dan had one more win when Monrose, also trained by Ken Bailey, took the Beacon Novices’ Chase at Plumpton on November 16, 1959. Monrose was completing a hat-trick but ran only once more, when, with Dan up, he finished fourth in a novice chase at Sandown Park.

Although he held a licence until the 1961/62 season, Dan Breslin had no more winners. He rode for the last time when finishing seventh of nine on Charlotte’s Sandal in the Brampton Hurdle at Huntingdon on Easter Monday, April 23, 1962.