The Steve Smith-Eccles Column

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Well that was the week that was as they used to say, and not a great deal happening to talk about to be honest with all-weather the one and only focus of attention with turf racing sadly absent as the snow continues to fall. Much as I applaud the likes of Lingfield, Wolverhampton, Southwell, and Kempton for keeping racing of some kind on the go so we can at least have a bet if we want to,  It has not exactly been high quality and trying to read anything in to any of the results is beyond me as most of the races are too low quality to bother with for the long term.

One interesting story this week was that permit holder Philip Sharp has lost one of his horses. Ten year old gelding Zimbabwe has been missing for a week (someone might have noticed?), and the situation arose as the freezing conditions on the trainer’s gallops, forcing him to transport his horses down to the local beach to exercise where Zimbabwe duly unshipped his rider and galloped off to Camber Sands, which is a military firing range where several unexploded bombs sit on this 22 square mile site. The MOD originally refused the trainer and his staff entry to search for him (health and safety anyone?), but that did not stop then entering the site illegally to search for the horse all be it without success (which didn’t go down well). In the end they negotiated a three hour access window but the search was to no avail so if you live in the area and hear a loud explosion watch out for flying horse, though why they don’t use a helicopter to search for the horse is beyond me. 

Looking elsewhere for our jollies, and while we sit here shivering plenty of flat jockeys are out in the warm in Dubai ahead of this evenings meeting from Jebel Ali.  I am not daft enough to make any selections (sorry), but some races are pre-emptive strikes ahead of the grand opening of the new track at Meydan which is officially two weeks away with their massive prize

Calling it a day Pat Haslam

money, and should be seen as little more than pipe openers. Costing an estimated $1.25 billion (no, that is not a typing error), the replacement for Nad Al Sheba has a grandstand five furlongs long and covers an area of 76 million square feet (which is beyond my comprehension), while as you would expect, luxury and opulence is the name of the game. You can arrive by car like the rest of us, or by the purpose built canal (like Royalty), but after the old course became frankly too crowded on World Cup night, the new track will hopefully usher in a new era for the World’s richest race.

Nearer to home the big news (?) is that trainer Pat Haslam has decided to call it a day and will hand over to son Ben later in February. No doubt he will remain a familiar face at the races but ill health has finally taken its toll and hopefully less pressure will ensure a long and healthy retirement.  It will be a difficult path for the 25 year old to follow with the rather obvious comparisons between father and son making it difficult to make his own mark as witnessed recently by the likes of Nick Gifford (Josh’s son), and of course Simon Callaghan (son of Neville) who has since left Newmarket to start a new life in Santa Anita where he only has twelve horses at present. However, young Donald McCain is outshining old Ginger numerically if nothing else and is a shoe in to reach the top of the jump racing ranks so it can be done, and I can but wish young Ben all the very best. 

With Kempton looking odds on to race tomorrow we have two selections for you, both trained by my old boss Nicky Henderson. Starting with the feature Lanzarote Hurdle at 2.45, it may be a competitive handicap over two miles five furlongs but with the team in cracking form before the freeze they should continue that run with TASHEBA here. Trained here in Newmarket on the flat by Peter Chapple-Hyam, he won plenty of races over trips up to a mile and seven furlongs, and last year he won hurdle races at Ascot and Cheltenham over two miles.  His latest start saw him win at Sandown in testing conditions beating William Hogarth a head I a two mile listed handicap suggesting he will relish this step up in trip as stamina is definitely his forte.

Earlier in the day it may be worth following MAD MAX who makes his eagerly awaited chasing debut . He is a massive horse who looks a chaser through and through but still won four out of his five races over hurdles (his only defeat was in the Ballymore novice at Cheltenham) and as he is reported to have schooled well over the larger obstacles and may even be worth a little ante pot bet for the Arkle before he runs.

Steve’s Weekend Selections:

1pt Win TASHEBA 14:45 Kempton at SP

3pts Win MAD MAX 12:55 Kempton 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.