John Gubbins

[2] John Gubbins was privately educated; he inherited the Knockany property from his brother Stamer, and purchased the estate of Bruree, County Limerick.

He hunted the Limerick country with both stag and fox hounds, and was an angler, until forced to stop by the operations of the Land League in 1882.

The latter government also bought Ard Patrick for £21,000 a day or two before he won the Eclipse Stakes of £10,000 in 1903, when he defeated Sceptre and Rock Sand after an exceptionally exciting contest.

In 1905, however, his health having apparently improved, he sent some yearlings to Cranborne, Dorset, to be trained by Sir Charles Nugent, but before these horses could run he died at Bruree on 20 March 1906.

His biographer in Dictionary of National Biography (1912) wrote: "A warm-hearted, genial personality, he was a kind and indulgent landlord and employer, and a sportsman of the best type.