16 Patrick Thomas Hyland was born at Port Fairy and went on to become one of the South-West’s greatest sporting exports. Pat disliked school and Sister Anastasia suggested to his father that if he could get his son a job he should leave school. Frank Hyland got Pat a job at the Port Fairy Post Office, at the age of 13. A chance encounter fired Pat’s imagination and spawned a dream he fully realised. One day, while delivering soft drink to his parent’s café in Port Fairy, star apprentice Geoff Lane’s uncle said to Pat that he was so small he should become a jockey. Pat was inspired to join Jim Moloney’s stables in Warrnambool. Shortly after this Moloney told Hyland that he was moving to Melbourne. Desperate to be a jockey, Pat was off to the big smoke too. Hyland and Moloney formed one of the most successful partnerships in Australian racing history, underpinned by a deep and abiding friendship. Pat rode the first of his more than 2,300 winners on Jeratha, which Moloney trained, in a Maiden Plate at Ballarat in February 1958 at the age of 16. Their last major win came in the 1985 Centenary Goodwood Handicap with Mighty Avenger, after Hyland returned from serious injury to take the mount. The zenith of their association came with the numerous wins of the champion sprinter Vain. Hyland had his first ride at Warrnambool in the 1958 Wangoom Handicap, finishing second on the Moloney trained Firth. The first of Hyland’s many winning rides at (1941-2026) PAT HYLAND
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