Statue of Troytown should adorn town

Dear sir - I await the unveiling of Colin Grehan's bull sculpture with great interest, to see it in context on the Market Square in Navan. It looks impressive from what I've seen in your photographs. Your columnist, Hilary McGrath, last week examined some suggestions that people have come up with for an appropriate statue for the town. One which has not being mentioned is Troytown, the horse that is commemorated in the annual pre-Christmas chase at Navan Racecourse, and which has such links with the town. In this, the week of the Aintree Grand National, it is fitting to remember the horse that won that event in 1920. The horse was owned by Major Collins-Gerrard, of Wilkinstown, ridden by JR Anthony, and was the first Meath horse to win the Grand National since Harry Dyas' Manifesto in the nineteenth century. According to your own centenary publication, there were many happy people gathered around Navan that Friday who had wagered substantial sums on Troytown, and the winner received a tremendous reception on his return home to Dublin's North Wall. On Major Gerrard's return to Navan, an illuminated address was presented to him at a function in the Show Grounds Pavilion, where Mr James Coldrick, president of the welcoming committee, said that Meath was very proud of the Aintree success. Troytown had experienced another big day in 1919 in Auteuil in France, when he won the Paris Steeplechase, the continent's Grand National. I believe it would be fitting if the famous horse which is remembered in the chase and in a housing estate in the town, was celebrated with a statue in a prominent position such as some of the riverside parks. Or it may be an idea for the planned new Navan town park. Yours, Jim Plunkett, Steeplechase Hill, Ratoath.