Steve Smith-Eccles Week in Racing....

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Its been an interesting week meeting some interesting characters, some who remembered me from what they called the good old days (what, riding horses over jumps in the peeing rain in the middle of nowhere?), and others who wondered who I was (I call them the ignorant majority).

On Wednesday my good mate and racing journalist Sean Trivass (aka “Sir Ivor”) drove down to deepest darkest Somerset to visit Paul Nicholls (along with a hundred or so other journalists), and interesting as it was, what a rag bag collection of people assembled at 10.30am at the local pub.  Some were the great and the good (in their eyes), Racing UK, At The Races, Reuters, The Independent, and so on, but the percentage who were from other sports on a bit of a jolly astounded me to be brutally honest. In the presence of Gold Cup and Champion Chase winners one pair spent the

Cheltenham bound Kieren Fallon

entire time talking about CRICKET for goodness sake, while others were clearly from football, Rugby, and everything BUT horse racing – work that one out if you can because it makes no sense to me?  

Meanwhile, as the rain pours down pretty much nationwide, trainers are running out of opportunities to get one last pre Cheltenham prep run in to their charges and I am particularly worried about my old boss Nicky Henderson who is desperate to get one more run in to Punjabi before he even attempts to defend his Champion Hurdle crown.  In defense of his trainer, he has made it quite clear that he is considered a stuffy sort who needs races to get him to peak fitness but abandonment after abandonment have left connections tearing their hair out and if Kempton are called off Saturday (and Sandown fell to water logging this afternoon and they are not exactly light years apart), then I really think the clock has run out and he will be forced to go to Prestbury Park without a run, which is anything but ideal I assure you.

Other amusing (and I think good) news this week is that ex flat Champion Kieren Fallon will be riding in the bumper at Cheltenham on board the Noel Glynn trained Old McDonald, and I do like it when anything that happens to bring National Hunt and Flat racing closer together.  Too many folk like one code or the other, whereas I have always loved both which may well have something to do with riding over jumps and living in Newmarket, and Kieren is guaranteed to add to the press coverage but a) his mount isn’t good enough to win then race and b) good as he is will his jockey have then same sort of strength as the much heavier winter jockeys in a driving finish?

Moving on to my bets for the weekend. Firstly, the Racing Post Chase at Kempton due off at 15:05. My personal selection would be NACARAT who ran a blinder when fourth in the King George despite setting off too fast in front.  He won this race last year and is a gen pound better horse right handed and after plenty of time to recover from that race and has every chance here for trainer Tom George. 

At 14:00 Alan King is hopeful of another victory for SALDEN LICHT, a useful performer on the flat in France and the winner of two hurdle races from two since changing codes. After winning a Newbury maiden he followed up under a penalty at Plumpton and connections are confident he will collect his hat trick on his way to Cheltenham.

Finally, MILLE CHIEF should double up for Alan King in the 15:40 on his way to the Triumph Hurdle and should win easily. He is well regarded and in great form at home and defeat is not considered an option while long term he is thought of as about the best prospect over hurdles the yard have had for some time.


Bets Summary:

2 pts Win NACARAT 15:05 Kempton Saturday

1 pt Win SALDEN LICHT 14:00 Kempton Saturday

4pts Win MILLE CHIEF 15:40 Kempton 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.