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The Nag That won a Punchestown Gold Cup


George Tyson, whose name still adorns the front of the Stags Head was a wealthy businessman in Dublin and married well, exchanging vows with Esther Mooney, the daughter of James and Maria Mooney, the Mooney family being well established as public house owners across the city at the time. Even after his purchase of the Stags Head,on Grafton Street, George Tyson traded in fine clothes and was especially known for his ties and cravats. He was the 'Royal' tailor to the Royal representative in Ireland, the Lord Lieutenant. Tyson needed transport for his new pub on Dame Court. Most publicans of the day used a horse and dray to both collect and deliver beer and supplies. The horse would travel empty down to Guinness's St. James Gate Brewery but with a couple of full casks of porter on board, the trip back up the hill into the centre of the city was an arduous one. 



Around the corner from his Grafton Street shop was Neary's public house which was opened in 1887 and which stills graces the city today. As a horse owner and hunter, he liked the look of Tom Neary’s horse who had been sired by two good racehorses Sweet Barry and Warspite. The Neary’s had tried to race it but the results were poor to say the least. Eventually after opening the Stags Head in 1895 Tyson purchased the horse and cart from the Neary family after annoying Tom Neary about the purchase price of the horse up to the point when he sold him the horse just to stop the nagging. The horse reportedly moved 23 cwt of Guinness from point to point. As a keen horseman Tyson spotted the qualities in the horse that he believed could be harnessed to better effect than carrying his goods from the Stags Head to Dublin Castle or Trinity College. Tyson believed in the horse’s future despite a ‘much disfigured off foreleg’, that there was a spark in the horse, and he sent it to be trained with some of the other horses he had stabled in Kildare. Initially used by Tyson for hunting with hounds, Save Conveyance as the horse was named was tested at point to point meetings by Jack Scally the ‘well known gentleman jockey’ and he quickly proved himself to be a terrific jumper. Tyson then stabled him at John Balfe’s horse training establishment in Cabra near Thurles where he was schooled in National Hunt racing.


On Wednesday April 22nd 1903 in front of thousands of spectators including the Lord Lieutenant William Ward, the 2nd Earl of Dudley and his wife, Tyson’s Save Conveyance lined up in a thirteen-horse field for the National Hunt Cup at a packed Punchestown racecourse on the outskirts of Naas. Sent off as the 6-4 favourite, the Cup was deemed by the newspapers as the race of the day and at the end of ‘an event laden race’ of four and a quarter miles Save Conveyance ridden ‘expertly’ by the respected amateur jockey Mr. Henry Pearse, a member of the well-known whiskey distilling family at the time, beat 10-1 Hands Off into second at a distance of four lengths having pulled away when they crossed ‘the wall’ and Turcoman into third. In finishing first past the post Tyson’s Save Conveyance won a gold cup valued at hundred gold sovereigns for the owner. The National Hunt Cup later to become known as the Gold Cup and is still raced at Punchestown. Tyson sold his star horse the following year for £150 or the equivalent to €25,000 in today’s money.


George's younger brother by ten years, Robert, married Edith Hannah Brindley who was the daughter of Thomas Brindley. Brindley who ran the Baldoyle racecourse was appointed to the prestigious position of 'Keeper of the Match Book' in 1891. The 'Keeper' kept all the horse registration records and he later became Registrar of the National Hunt Committee. George and Brindley would regularly travel across the Irish Sea to the Grand National Meeting at Aintree. When Save Conveyance won the National Hunt Cup, the cup had Brindley's name on it. Later the cup would come into the possession of Brindley's nephew and George's son, George Gordon Michael Tyson. When the young George decided on a new life in South Africa he took the prized trophy with him on board the ship 'Ulysses' which was quite apt as the book of that name by James Joyce had featured the area around the Stags Head and Dame Court. Thomas Brindley died in 1911


Tyson continued his association with horse racing in Ireland by providing the hospitality facilities at the racecourses around Dublin including Fairyhouse and Leopardstown.    

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