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

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Well there is only one place to be this weekend as the flat racing season gets in to top gear with the first two classics of the season from Newmarket on the Rowley Mile. For those new to the racing game, out of all the races at all the meetings around the Country each year only FIVE races are labeled as Classics, the 1000 Guineas, the 2000 Guineas, The Derby, The Oaks, and the St Leger. The first two of those are run this weekend and set the scene for the rest of the season, but what can we expect and why?
 
Saturday is day one of the two-day meeting (with a classic apiece), and the 2000 Guineas is the obvious highlight for colts and fillies (though the fillies rarely bother), and raced over a straight mile. Nineteen three year old colts are declared at the time of writing which means this is anything but an easy race to assess, but at level weights as per all classics, the best horse really should win granted the obligatory luck in running. This years “trials” at Newmarket and Newbury failed to shed much light on things which is why last year’s top two year old in ST NICHOLAS ABBEY is a red hot 2.5 favourite without stepping foot on the track this season. His form as a juvenile is exemplary and he has already been labeled as the next big thing but there is no evidence that he has trained on form two to three which is the big question, though who can beat him is a moot point? Elusive Pimpernel certainly put up the best performance this year when running away with the Craven Stakes but he did take a while to get going that day and could find the winner has flown if he repeats the performance on the big day and boring as it makes me, I think I will stick with the jolly this time around.

Before then we have the Jockey Club Stakes at 14:25 where the Mark Johnston trained, JUKEBOX JURY looks the one to beat. He did not really run to form when last seen in the Sheema Classic in Dubai but may have found the ground too fast for him and is entitled to improve for his first run in five months and is reported to be working with a lot more enthusiasm in recent weeks.  At 16:50 I will be backing WIGMORE HALL who was so impressive at Newmarket when last seen but in a five horse race I am a little worried he may pull too hard for his head if there is no early pace so will be reducing my bet size accordingly.
 
On Sunday it’s the fillies turn in the 1000 Guineas, same trip, same track but only girls allowed.  This renewal looks very competitive and could well come down to the weather over the next few days and its effect on the going. Being sensible I will go for two horses in this race and leave it until I see the going to decide which one to back. If it stays on the fast side, then I like the look of Mick Channon’s MUSIC SHOW who positively bounced off the ground to win the Nell Gwynn here over a furlong less and is sure to improve for her first run for six months. That form could be good enough though if there is some rain and the going is good then I will switch my allegiance to SETA from the Luca Cumani yard.  She has been putting in some spectacular work with older horses here on the Newmarket gallops but it is an open secret she likes to get her toe in to be seen at her very best. Jockey Kieren Fallon has let it be known he is worried there may not be enough juice in the ground but there is rain forecast so you never know your luck!
 
Steve’s bets this weekend:
 
1pt Win JUKEBOX JURY 14:25 Newmarket Saturday at SP

2pts Win ST NICHOLAS ABBEY 15:05 Newmarket Saturday at SP

0.5 pt each way 1/5 1,2,3 MUSIC SHOW 15:20 Newmarket Sunday at SP

0.5 pt each way 1/5 1,2,3 SETA 15:20 Newmarket Sunday 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.