A GLENGORMLEY woman who became the first female jockey to win the Irish Grand National has passed away.
Ann Ferris passed away peacefully last Wednesday (June 22) at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.
Ferris (nee Rooney) was All Ireland Champion point-to-point rider in 1976, with 23 winners in an era when fixtures took place across a single spring season.
She created history by winning the Irish National in 1984 on Bentom Boy, trained by her father and legendary rider Willie Rooney.
On a great day for the Rooney family, Ann’s sister — the late Rosemary Rooney — finished third on Dawson Prince.
Ann also won the Irish Sweeps Hurdle, then the biggest hurdling prize in the Irish racing calendar, for trainer Arthur Moore on Irian five years earlier in 1979.
Ann was married to the late Harry Ferris, a leading figure in farming in the Newry area, and had two children, Gaye and Billy.
A death notice stated that the house and funeral are strictly private with family flowers only, while donations in lieu can be made to the Motor Neurone Disease c/o John Murdoch Funeral Directors, 125 Armagh Road, Newry.
