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

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Wasn't it wonderful to see young David Bass (nicknamed 'Sea Bass' in the yard, much to his annoyance) cementing his relationship with trainer Nicky Henderson with a stylish ride to win the Swinton Hurdle at Haydock last weekend, on board Eradicate to take the first big handicap of the new jumps season. I have worked with some decent seven pound claimers in my other job as jockey coach but he is as good as any and better than most and looks to have a very bright future ahead of him. I know Nicky Henderson thinks a lot of him and although there are a hat full of promising lads associated with the stable young David could yet be the best long term prospect.

You have got to feel sorry for young jockey Laura Probert, the sister of David Probert, who has had just the two rides in public so far, and picked up riding bans on both of them (it’s a tough old game this one)! First up, she rode 4.0 favourite Advertise at Salisbury where she smoothly moved up to join the leader last week but failed to move a muscle and got beaten a nose in to second place. Her answer to the Stewards was that she was “too knackered” but she still picked up a massive 28 ban all the

Stable under a cloud Aiden O'Brien

same as well as the derision of favourite backers all over the Country. I won’t laugh because it is a much tougher game than armchair pundits think but she took her second ride at Lingfield on Saturday when she rode another favourite for Andrew Balding, but this time her steering was amiss and she hampered Ravi River which led to a two day ban for careless riding – not a good week at the office but she is made of sterner stuff and will be back I assure you, though I wont be backing her with your money until her unlucky patch is over!

Moving along to York this week and some quality racing but what on earth is going on with the once all powerful Aiden O’Brien yard?  The envy of just about every other stable in Europe thanks to their impressive array of racing blue bloods they started the season with the latest superstar in their ranks in the shape of St Nicholas Abbey, but it is all going horribly wrong! His lackluster sixth in the 2000 Guineas was put down by many as a result of a bad winter in Ireland (which in all honesty is old fashioned clap trap, they have all weather gallops now so a bit of rain nor snow does little harm), and I wonder (without evidence) if there is anything wrong?  On Wednesday they introduced Ozzie sprinter Starspangledbanner in the Duke of York Stakes where he was backed down to 5.0 joint favourite but only managed to trail in fifth despite reports that he was the fastest thing ever seen at Ballydoyle on the gallops. He may well improve for the run but his placing here was another titbit for us conspiracy theorists and followed on a bitterly disappointing showing from Cabaret in the Musidora Stakes for the same stable. Once again she was sent off favourite, and once again she was out with the washing, this time in second last, beaten six lengths by Aviate and weakening a furlong from home. Her form as a two year old was top class so this run was too bad to be true and although I will undoubtedly miss a few winners, I will not be touching anything from the stable until I see some signs of a return to form, and although as I write he has just won the Dante Stakes with Cape Blanco, one swallow does not make a summer and I was anything but impressed!

As for the racing this weekend, I have a few bets lined up that should hopefully replenish our wallets, rather like last week’s 7.0 winner – get in!   

The big race at Newbury on Saturday is the Group One Lockinge Stakes over a mile at 15:05. PACO BOY looks to be the one to beat with a mile seemingly his best trip, and he looked very good winning at Royal Ascot last year and better than ever on his reappearance when taking the Group Two Sandown Mile, and with these fast underfoot conditions perfect he is certainly the one they all have to beat with late starter Zacinto the main danger. Niggling injuries restricted his runs but he was only beaten a length and a quarter by Rip Van Winkle last year but although in good form race fitness could be the key.

In the 14:30 the one to be on is VERDANT who is lightly race having had two runs at two and he looked very good winning a well contested handicap at Sandown recently with plenty in hand. He has come on bundles for that run and is catching pigeons on the gallops and should take this.

DAJEN is the only one I will be backing at Newmarket in the 14:15, a mile handicap. Dave Simcock’s four year old has been in great form of late, winning two on the all weather and then completing the hat trick on the turf at Yarmouth recently.  Seven pound claimer Laura Pike gets on remarkably with this horse and could easily rack up a four timer here.   

Summary of Steve’s bets:

1pt Win DAJEN 14:15 Newmarket at SP

2pts Win VERDANT 14:30 Newbury at SP

3pts Win PACO BOY 15:05 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.