Steve Smith-Eccles Week in Racing... Champion hurdle winning jockey and renowned tipster.

By Steve Smith-Eccles

There really is no place I can start with the exception of Cheltenham and the bullet proof, bomb proof, unbreakable, iron man known to the racing world as A P McCoy, Champion jockey and an unbelievable athlete. On Thursday he came a cropper in a nasty incident that saw him kicked after a fall from Jered which also saw him get a nasty kick from at least two horses. Now us mere mortals would have taken the day off but not AP, he gets up and rides an unbelievable race to win the Ryanair Chase on Albertas Run for trainer

The bullet proof, bomb proof, unbreakable iron man A P McCoy

Jonjo O’Neill and as an ex jockey who has broken more bones than records, my admiration goes out to the greatest jockey I have ever seen.

As for the horses, BIG BUCKS stole the show and stopped the regular flow of champagne the bookmakers have been drinking each evening after the defeat of the other so called good things in Dunguib (Tuesday) and Master Minded (Wednesday). The Paul Nicholls trained seven year old is already the highest rated hurdler in training and although unlikely to be put up for this comfortable if unspectacular win, proved his mettle here and is clearly a class act who can come back next year and repeat the feat.

Sad news I have to impart is that Sacred Kingdom, the number one sprinter in Hong Kong and in many peoples eyes the World, is fighting for his life after suffering a bad case of colic just before boarding a plane for Japan. He has been operated on and we can only keep our fingers crossed for a full recovery, but whether he will ever be fit enough to race again has to be an open question at this stage, but we can but hope.

Finally (well, before this week’s tips) those of you who like a horse to follow for the flat season could do a lot worse than the John Gosden trained RASHEED, an unraced colt showing plenty of potential on the Newmarket gallops and who will certainly win a race, though how good he actually is, only time will tell.

This weeks tips:

Cheltenham Friday:

13:30 Cheltenham

I rode two winners of this race for trainer Nicky Henderson and with another couple of victories since it is crystal clear he knows what is needed to win the Triumph Hurdle! SOLDATINO has only had the one run for Nicky since coming over from his native France when he ran in the Adonis Hurdle to record a pretty easy seven length victory, beating a decent field in the process. He looks sure to improve for that experience as that was his first race for eight weeks or so and at the price he must have every chance.

Pick: 1pt Win SOLDATINO at sp

14:40 Cheltenham

Unbeaten in all his hurdle races to date and with rock solid form to boot, he will appreciate this decent good ground and gets this trip well as witnessed by a course and distance victory back in December. I particularly like the fact that trainer Tom George has given him plenty of time to freshen up between his last race and this and he comes here with every chance of sending favourite backers home happy.

Pick: 2pts Win TELL MASSINI at sp

Lingfield Saturday:

15:35 Lingfield

The first and perhaps last big race of the all weather season in this Country sees Henry Cecil send this stubborn six year old back to Lingfield, the scene of his most recent two triumphs over course and distance. He clearly likes it here and gets on very well with jockey Tom Queally though do expect some heart stopping moments as he seems sure to be delivered to get his head up on the line!

Pick: 3pts Win TRANQUIL TIGER 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.