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Bernard Dillon.
WHILE local sports junkies have been getting their fix by gorging on past events on YouTube, sports channels and social media over the past few months, here’s something that might have eluded them in their research.
A reader got in touch to tell us that around this time 110 years ago, a Tralee man rode the winner of the Epsom Derby and became famous around the world for his association with a renowned music hall star.
Bernard Dillon was born in Caherina in the Strand Road area on the 7th September 7, 1887 to Patrick and Margaret Dillon.
He was reared in Caherina before the construction of the cottages (1915), in a rural setting on the outskirts of Tralee town. His father Patsy Dillon was a horse trainer and in the course of his work, trained his sons Joe and Bernard to become excellent jockeys.
In early 1901, at the age of fourteen, Bernard followed his brother Joe to England to the Druids Lodge stable of Jack Fallon and honed his trade as a jockey, going on to win many top class races between 1902 and 1909.
The pinnacle of his career though, was on the first Wednesday of June 1910 (110 years ago this week) when in front of a reported crowd of 250,000 people, the 23 year old Dillon rode Lemberg to win the Epsom Derby by a neck in a new record Derby time.
Fame and fortune and all that goes with it helped to bring his sporting career to a premature end. Soon after his famous win he was introduced to Marie Lloyd, who was a world famous Singer/Performer and they had a romantic relationship which led to a marriage which was frequently violent, with Dillon abusing Ms Lloyd. They later separated.
Theirs is a story which has been recorded and documented many times over the years. Recently this year in The Irish Times Dillon and his wife were described as ‘The Posh & Becks of Edwardian Britain’ where the worlds of sport and showbiz collided.
In the 1960’s in a London stage play Barbara Windsor played the part of Marie Lloyd and one of the Bee Gees (Gibb brothers) played the part of Bernard Dillon.
The BBC in 2007 produced a drama “Miss Marie Lloyd – Queen of the music Hall” and the part of Dillon was played by Tom Payne of ‘The Walking Dead’ fame.
Bernard Dillon finished up penniless, working as a night porter in Trafalgar, London. Having lived a tumultuous life which had all the highs and lows imaginable he died in London in May 1941 many miles from Caherina, the place of his youth.
