The Steve Smith-Eccles Column
By Steve Smith-Eccles

Well I am back in one piece if a bit sore after a lively weekend in the Czech Republic and as always in the wonderful world of horse racing we have an exciting weekend in front of us.

It was touch and go whether I got back in one piece and my charity race I warned you about last week turned out to be six furlong sprint! Now we were told the horses would be randomly drawn to give everyone an equal chance in this Czech versus the Rest charity contest but I arrived in the weighing room to see the local jocks already wearing their silks so our random draw simply never transpired. Smelling something fishy I was given a tag telling me I was riding number five so I dashed out to the pre parade ring to have a look. Hairier than a German girls armpit, he looked as if he had only just been broken (if at all), and all of a sudden I felt I would be safer back at Aintree over fences than here on the flat riding this beast.  The saddle looked like it last saw action in the Charge Of The Light Brigade but luckily I had brought my own, otherwise no way was I even getting on the bloody thing!  When I tried to get on he shied away which was a bit of a concern, and when I patted it on the neck he started shaking (and so did I). As I lowered the irons a notch each time he did something worrying I ended up riding longer that John Wayne as all I thought of was survival. Green as grass at the start I was worried about my chances but luckily the starter let us go first time even though poor Chris Maude was still having his girth checked in a race resembling Carry On Racing, the film they never made! Unsurprisingly the race had been set up for local hero Josef Vanah who shot out in front as planned and never saw another horse to win by ten lengths to the delight of the Czech crowd, while I jumped off in mid division and finished in one piece with Chris Maude behind me, so at least I didn’t finish last lol!

Moving on to the weekend and we have the big Newmarket Festival and Saturday sees two Group Ones, three Group Twos and a Group Three for the highest quality racing anywhere in this Country all season.

It seems sensible to start my selections with the big race itself, the Group One Champion Stakes over a mile and a quarter and due off at 15:00.  Irish Derby winner Fame And Glory is the 2.5 favourite despite blotting his copybook last time out when well beaten in the Arc De Triomphe though he did pull hard and didn’t get the rub of the green in the closing stages. He does set the standard at this shorter trip and with guaranteed pace on he is the one they all have to beat but at the price is he any value? Personally, I will side with 7.0 shot MAWATHEEQ who is lightly raced this season with just the three starts, winning the last two after returning from a lengthy break. And he will be fresh as paint and comes here with every chance. His victory in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot last month shows he is on an upward curve and although he will need to improve again he can do so with any luck and take this prestigious contest.

Before the big race we have the little matter of the Dewhurst Stakes, a high ranking race over seven furlongs for two year olds. Irish trainer Jim Bolger has won the race for the last three years and has high hopes of making it four with 2.75 jolly Chabal but I am willing to take him on with each way alternative SILVER GRECIAN. Trained here in Newmarket by Jimmy Ryan he won his first three races before finishing a gallant third last time out in the Champagne Stakes giving weight away all round and not getting the best of runs and at 8.0 he is a value alternative.

For my last bet we turn our attentions on the Cesarewitch over two miles and two furlongs at 15:40, the second leg of the Autumn double. SWINGKEEL look excellent each way value at 13.0 as I write and is an ultra consistent sort who has been in the first four in all of his last eight races including six this season, with two victories at Kempton and York. A progressive four year old stayer trained by John Dunlop he was unsuited by the slow pace last time out when a close third to Electrolyser in a two mile Listed event at Ascot. With an almost guaranteed early gallop here and a two pound advantage he should have no problems reversing the form with that rival and represents excellent each way value at the price.

Steve’s Bets Summary:

MAWATHEEQ 1 point win at sp 15:00 Newmarket Saturday
SILVER GRECIAN 1 point each way at sp 14:25 Newmarket Saturday
SWINGKEEL 1 point each way at sp 15:40 Newmarket Saturday

About Steve....

I was born and bred in a mining village in Derbyshire and prior to coming into racing the only thing I had ever sat on was a donkey on Skegness beach and the odd pit pony. My Dad used to watch racing on a regular basis and I would say to him that I was going to be a jockey when I grew up.

I was small as a child and I was influenced in the respect that you either went down the pit after school or you got out of the village so I looked for other directions to go in - racing was one of them.

Coming to the end of my schooling, father wrote off to three trainers - Frenchie Nicholson, Arthur Stephenson and Harry Thompson Jones in Newmarket. The latter was predominately a jumps trainer in those days but did have some Flat horses and he took me on a month's trial. I went down there on July 28 1970 and within weeks I was riding gallops and took to it like a duck to water. You started off by cleaning head collars and mucking out and then you were given your own horse to look after and then you moved on to two.

After three months I was riding work on a regular basis. Greville Starkey was his first jockey in those days and Lester Piggott used to come down on occasion as well so there were a lot of good riders around to learn from.
I have always been a great believer in jockeys being born with the ability to ride and it can be brought out so from an early stage Tom Jones must have seen that in. I was always going to be too heavy for the Flat so I started to do some schooling with Stan Mellor and also took to that quickly - within three and a half years I had my first ride in public over jumps.

After about four years I was riding regularly for the stable and then in five and a half years I took over as first jockey. At that time Tingle Creek was around, although he was getting towards the end of his career. The first time I rode him he won what is now the Tingle Creek Chase, it was the Sandown Pattern Chase back then, and won the race three times in all. The last time, when it was his retirement race, he actually broke his own track record. This was the horse that put Smith Eccles on the map.

My first Cheltenham Festival winner was in 1978 on a horse called Sweet Joe, who won the Sun Alliance. Zongelero was with Tom Jones as a four-year-old but he was sent down to Nicky Henderson with the proviso that I would ride him - that got my foot in the door with Nicky. Zongelero was one of the greatest bridesmaids in the game - I finished second on him in the Mackeson, the Massey Ferguson and the Hennessy.

I rode triple Champion Hurdler See You Then for Nicky in the mid-1980s also and it is phenomenal how it worked out with him. In the first one he was due to run in, John Francome was due to ride him but was badly shaken after a fall in the Arkle, the race prior to the Champion Hurdle. So within 10 minutes of the race, I picked up the ride and the rest is history.

I rode in a great time for National Hunt jockeys. Francome was probably the best but I also rode against Jonjo O'Neill, Ron Barry and later the likes of Peter Scudamore and Richard Dunwoody - some of the best there have ever been.

Tingle Creek probably provided me with my best memories. I was young and brave at the time and that style of riding really suited the horse - all he needed was to be pointed in the right direction. He either met a fence long or even longer - he would never get in close and fiddle. He never fell and I can't even remember him ever making a mistake.

In England I rode 868 winners and around the rest of the world another 30 or 40. My best season numerically was 68 and that actually put me second in the championship to John Francome. We did not have as many rides as there are these days so the numbers are bound to be smaller and there was not as much racing and more importantly there were no agents - you just rode for the stable you were attached to basically.

Since retiring from the saddle I have kept myself nice and busy at home in Newmarket riding work and schooling the young jumpers over hurdles and fences, while I take a lot of pleasure from helping out the next generation of stars in my position with the BHA helping the Conditional jockeys in the Hands and Heels series. Despite an army of unscrupulous tipsters with false names hiding behind PO Boxes you all know who I am (or the youngsters can look me up on Google) – a successful jockey who is lucky enough to offer the best of both worlds – all my contacts in the National Hunt world built up over too many years to mention with most of the very top names in the business, plus being based at the headquarters of flat racing here in Newmarket, and privy to all the latest gallop reports and stable gossip, which I use very effectively to help us all make our hobby pay rich dividends.

So, why not join me now at the reduced price, and help me to write the next chapter of a life spent in the sport we all love...

Steve Smith-Eccles runs the "The Eck " Horse Racing information service.