A light has gone out at Yeomanstown Stud with the news that Annette O'Callaghan has passed away following an illness. She was 72.Alongside her husband Gay, Annette purchased Yeomanstown Stud in 1981. Top-class graduates of the farm include the great stayer Vinnie Roe as well as dual Nunthorpe heroine Mecca's Angel. No horse flew the flag for the O'Callaghan family quite like Dark Angel who, having been bred on the farm, returned home to Yeomanstown upon the completion of his racing career to become a champion stallion. However, Annette's greatest legacy, according to close family friend and Manister House Stud boss Luke Barry, will be her four sons – David and Robert, who are the driving forces behind Yeomanstown, as well as Guy, who operates under Grangemore Stud and Peter, the owner of Woods Edge Farm in Kentucky. “We all appreciate the success of Yeomastown and the empire that Gay and Annette have built from the bottom up, but for me, her real legacy will be her four boys,” Barry said on Wednesday morning. “I am lucky enough to have known Annette for most of my life because I went to school in Kildare and spent a lot of time in Yeomanstown when I was younger. There are a lot of amazing things you can say about Annette and Gay but, irrespective of the success they have enjoyed, her real legacy will be her family. They are a very unique group – they are very close, extremely hard-working, you'd want to be drawn beside them at dinner and if your daughter was marrying one of them, you'd be thrilled. That's her real legacy – those four boys are a credit to Gay and Annette. She was their rock.”O'Callaghan was on the board of the Irish EBF and as well as being a successful racehorse breeder and owner, with her horses carrying familiar light blue and navy silks, she was hugely passionate about sport horses and was involved in pony club right up to 5-star eventing and everything in between. Gay and Annette O'Callagahn | TattersallsShe was also a significant event horse owner and is understood to have derived a huge amount of joy last weekend when her horse, Calmaro, posted a clear round at the challenging cross-country course at Burghley Horse Trials under experienced international rider Joseph Murphy. Another of O'Callaghan's horses, Electric Cruise, competed at the London Olympics in 2012 for Murphy. Riding for the disabled was another area that she was massively supportive of “We are all devastated at the untimely passing of our dear colleague Annette,” Irish EBF manager Nessa Joyce said. “Annette was passionate and dedicated to her role as Governor on the Irish EBF board for the last ten years. She represented her family's stud farm Yeomanstown Stud with pride and integrity while championing the Irish EBF at all times. Annette's good humour, energy and insight will be sadly missed by us all in the boardroom, at the sales and at the races. Our deepest condolences to Gay, Peter, David, Guy, Robert, her extended family, and her many friends from everyone on the Irish EBF board.”The post “She Was Their Rock” – Death Of Yeomanstown Stud’s Annette O’Callaghan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.