The Steve Smith-Eccles Column

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Well I don't like the phrase one law for the rich and another for the poor but that's the way it seems to have panned out for suspended jockey Darren Williams who has abandoned his appeal against the refusal of the BHA to grant him a license as he claims it would cost him £8000 for a barrister to represent him. Now I am not taking sides on whether he should or should not be given his license back as that is a separate issue but I do think that how much money you do or don’t have in the bank should be an irrelevance when your livelihood is at stake and

Back in action Kauto Star

surely the powers that be at the top of the racing tree could find a way that doesn’t bankrupt those trying to make their living from the sport?

Moving along to the horses themselves and we have some decent jump racing again this weekend from both Haydock and Ascot with most eyes on the northern track where dual Gold Cup winner Kauto Star embarks on the trial back to Cheltenham with the valuable Betfair Chase first on this season’s agenda. He invariably runs well fresh and is frankly over a stone better than anything in opposition and although he must be more difficult to get fit as he gets old (aren’t we all?), and further rain will hardly help, he oozes class and it will be a major shock to me and most professionals if he gets turned over granted a clear round.

Finally, do keep an eye on the Nicky Henderson pair of Binocular and Punjabi who look like targeting the WBX million pound bonus and are off to Newcastle for the Fighting Fifth hurdle followed by the Christmas hurdle at Kempton and then Champion hurdle at Cheltenham. Narrowly beaten by stable mate Punjabi last year BINOCULAR has improved and matured over the summer and could well be the force to reckon with this season and could be a worthy champion.

Tips for the weekend.

Despite the conditions being in his favour and the fact that he unseated in this race last year through no fault of his own (pilot error!!), KAUTO STAR has won the Betfair Chase at Haydock twice in 2006 and 2007 and his performance in the 2009 Gold Cup was simply outstanding, and I would not be surprised if he goes through the season unbeaten. Amazingly he is not odds on as there are some fair challengers in Notre Pere and Madison Du Berlais who are sure to make this in to a proper test but anyone who likes backing short priced winners should have a field day here.

The best bet at Huntingdon should be in the 13:05, a novice hurdle where Nicky Henderson sends ZARINSKI. Slightly disappointing on his jumps debut when third at Sandown he basically blew up between the last two but that race will have put him spot on and he arrives here race fit.

Bets Summary:

3 pts Win KAUTO STAR to win 14:55 Haydock Saturday at SP

1 pt ZARINSKI to win 13:05 Huntingdon Saturday at SP

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.