Steve Smith-Eccles Week in Racing....

By Steve Smith-Eccles

It wasn't very long ago I wrote about a certain well know jumps jockey returning after a ban for failing a breath test and lo and behold, this time it's the turn of the flat racing fraternity with DANE O’NEILL the latest to be suspended. His reading was on the low side hence he only received a ten day ban, though the trouble is the racing press seems to be thriving on scandal like the red tops and fail to mention just how low the limits actually are, way lower that drink driving for example. The problem

The latest jockey to fall foul of the breath test Dane O'Neill

is not that jockeys are alcoholics (far from it), but that they are human beings at the end of the day and are entitled to a social life outside of their job, something perhaps the rest of us take for granted, the ability to pop out for a pint after a day at the office?

In other news, those of us fed up with the recent cold snap can start to look forward to the spring and flat racing on the turf again after 97 entries were unveiled for the first big handicap of the new season, the Lincoln to be raced over a mile at Doncaster on March 27. Betting ante post suggests William Haggas has the most likely winner in the shape of Penitent, an ultra consistent four year old, but taking the 11.0 at this stage is sheer lunacy, and I wonder if the bookmakers concerned are after some kind of comedy award because that is the best joke so far In 2010 on the racing front? 

Moving on to the weekend and Newbury seems to be the card to concentrate our attention on for Saturday. The first race, a novice chase over three miles, could well see former top class hurdler DIAMOND HARRY continue his education which started with a win at Haydock last month over two and a half miles, and he should be even better stepping up to this three mile trip today. What would make this really interesting would be if Long Run switches here from Warwick which would make it a race to relish and a serious RSA trial for the Cheltenham Festival.

The Aon Chase at 14:30 sees A P McCoy partner DENMAN for the first time, a “getting to know you” process ahead of the Gold Cup. He hasn’t run since winning the Hennessy here in November, but is reported to be fit and well and this should be a stroll in the park before the March shoot out with stable mate Kauto Star.

The 15:05 is the Totesport Trophy, an ultra competitive handicap hurdle, and the big betting race of the day. Trainer Gary Moore has won the last two runnings of this race and his HARRY TRICKER looks to be the one to me. He was a useful middle distance horse on the flat for Amanda Perrett and although he has taken his time to get the hang of the winter game, he has really got his act together since being fitted with cheek pieces which have seen him win at Sandown in November, beating subsequent winner Zabeel Palace and then splitting Khyber Kim and Medermit in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham, and both have gone on to win Grade Two races since, so the form is really solid. If the forecast good to soft ground is correct come the day, then that would be ideal, and he has been kept fresh for this target for some time, the 7.0 or so is a decent looking price.

At 15:40 we have the Game Spirit Steeplechase which sees the reappearance of MASTERMINDED, who has not run since November when he was surprisingly turned over by Well Chief. Reported to be suffering a rib injury that day by trainer Paul Nicholls, he is now said to be back on song and an easy victory in the Grade Two contest should see him go to Cheltenham with every chance of making it three Queen Mother Champion Chases in a row and the crown of undisputed two mile king.
 
Steve’s Bets summary:

3pts Win DIAMOND HARRY 13:30 Newbury at SP

1pt each way HARRY TRICKER 15:05 Newbury at SP.

3pts Win MASTERMINDED 15:40 Newbury 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.