Steve Smith-Eccles - 'The Eck' puts you straight!

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Another week in the world of racing has simply flown by and with the first Classics sneaking up on us next weekend there is all to play for and potential millions in breeding rights for the lucky winners.  My thoughts on the classics will obviously follow in next week’s issue but before then we have a wonderful card from Sandown with a mixed bag of jumps and flat racing, so plenty for everyone.

Before we work out the bets for the weekend I do like to report when a good old fashioned gamble is pulled off and yesterday (Thursday), Dave Lanigan pulled off a master stroke with Sparkling Smile who was backed from 2.88 in

Pulled off a master stroke with Sparkling Smile Dave Lanigan

the morning down to 1.91 on course before sauntering home by two and three quarter lengths.  His juvenile form was hardly inspiring with form figures of 849 from his three races but he has clearly improved hand over fist during the winter and came here strongly fancied to land a touch. Some decent bets were landed both on and off course as the layers ran for cover and if he reappears as expected under a penalty, expect him to follow up as those in the know play up their earlier winnings!  Anyone who thinks the only “thieves” in the racing game are bookmakers would have been heartened to read about the taxi drivers who made the Grand National meeting a licence to con, but have been caught and will hopefully get their just deserts!  They were allegedly charging (wait for it) between £40 and £60 for a £9.30 cab ride to the city centre, a percentage that makes the over round on the National itself look like chicken feed in comparison!  Some good news though for on course punters with the announcement of a punter friendly “win a car” competition at Newmarket for the Guineas meeting, one on each day. The prizes are apparently brand spanking new “squeeze green” Ford Fiestas, but it’s the format that interests me and should create a bit of excitement (not that the racing won’t be exciting enough). Any and every racegoer can put in their entry via the competition boxes all around the course prior to the fifth race, and then the same number of entries will be drawn out as there are runners in the next race with each “winner” allocated a horse, and of course, the one who has the winner gets the car! All a good laugh, and an added chance for punters to have a good day even if they don’t back a winner?

 Looking forward to some bets for the weekend, and the big race has to be the Sandown Bet365 Mile at 15:40 but we have a small bet before then that could pay dividends.  If PETIT ROBIN is sent to the Listed hurdle race at 13:30 by trainer Nicky Henderson then I think the hint should be taken as the classy chaser could be well in here in transferring those skills to the smaller obstacles.  That is the $64,000 question as the now seven year old was last seen over hurdles when winning at Newbury in December 2007, but class will out and with A P McCoy the likely jockey he must have every chance.

In the big race it seems to all depend on whether or not trainer Richard Hannon allows PACO BOY to take his chance as at his best he ought to be way too good for these rivals. Fast ground would be an issue as he clearly likes to get his toe in a little to be seen at his best but he won this race last year first time put so the omens are good and he certainly comes here with a favourites chance.

Summary of Steve’s Bets:

1pt Win PETIT ROBIN 13:30 Sandown Saturday at SP

2pts Win PACO BOY 15:40 Sandown 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.