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

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Now if anyone had walked in to a bookmakers (William Hill?) and asked our friend Graham Sharp for odds of any filly winning not one but TWO classics via the Stewards room, I wonder if we could have counted the numbers as it would have to be a real outside option.

Step forward SPECIAL DUTY, the French filly who is a decent horse in her own right, but is now a dual classic winner without passing the line in front on either occasion.   We all know she got the Newmarket 1000 Guineas after the disqualification of Jacqueline Quest, and rightly so as she did lose more ground than she was beaten by thanks to interference, but French rules are different and in all honestly, mystify me sometimes. Last Sunday Liliside was first past the post in the French 1000 Guineas at Longchamp but was demoted for causing interference to Full Steam which in turn caused a domino effect in to Rosanara and Barouda and then just inside the final furlong she squeezed up Lady Of The Desert who had to be dramatically snatched up by Kieren Fallon. None of this even affected Special Duty but under French rules the winner had to be placed behind the horses interfered with, and with Lady Of The Desert fifth, that placed the

Can't "buy" a winner at the moment Saeed bin Suroor

“winner” in to sixth place.  Rules are rules I suppose, but you have to feel sorry for owner Anthony Forde who moves from the jubilation of a classic victory and over £200,000 in prize money to sixth place and absolutely nothing – it really is a tough old game on occasions!

For my second story this week what exactly is going on with Godolphin this season? Now I have no axe to grind of any sort but it does seem a little strange that since the powerful operation added new guy Mahmood Al Zarooni to their training ranks he has outshone Saeed Bin Suroor who is struggling to even buy a winner.  The last fourteen days have seen the stable send out twenty one runners with just the one winner and nine beaten favourites amongst them so he is hardly the punters pal at the moment. In contrast, his fellow handler has had twenty three runners in the same timescale but five winners, only four beaten favourites, and one of those was disqualified! No one knows why, and knowing the yard it will only be a matter of time before they turn thongs around, but I do wonder if there will be any personal rivalry (difficult not to, its human nature),  and how that will affect long term plans and the allocation of horses form one yard to another?

One horse they do have to look forward to judged on his performance at Goodwood on Wednesday is REWILDING who was decent in France when with Andre Fabre last season but looked a three year old with a bright future when reappearing to win with his head in his chest coming clear of a reasonable looking field to earn quotes of 15.0 for the Epsom Derby, and what a fairytale that would be if Mahmood can win the Surrey classic with his first ever runner?

The big racing this weekend starts with the Temple Stakes at Haydock on Saturday, a Group Two five furlong sprint where we currently have a clear favourite in Equiano, unbeaten in two starts so far this season with his last victory seeing him score by a neck at Newmarket last month from old stager BORDERSLESCOTT.  Bearing in mind that was the eight year old’s first run of the season and I can certainly see him reversing those placings, and I find it wonderful to see his ilk still in training as the veterans seem able to keep their speed with age, something that doesn’t happen over longer distances where their form invariably tails off.

At the Curragh on the same day we have the Irish 2000 Guineas when once again Aiden O’Brien goes in mob handed with no less than six of the thirteen declared runners as I write and team tactics look sure to attempt to influence the result. It’s a tough ask for Steinbeck who is assumed to be the stable’s number one, after he only had two runs as a two year old, when winning his maiden at Naas and then finishing fourth in the Dewhurst Stakes. Winning a classic on your first run of the season and from a yard where the horses have invariably improved considerably for the run is a big ask, and I prefer the chances of stable mate FENCING MASTER who ran well for a long way in our Guineas and looked sure to strip a lot fitter for the run. For me, there is a question mark about favourite Canford Cliffs getting the mile in a truly run race, and you can bet your last pound that the O’Brien team tactics will attempt to exploit that possible flaw, while if I was allowed to pick a winner guess who it would be? Xtension represents ex jump jockey Clive Cox and us old warriors have to stick together, and if we look at the Dewhurst form, he ought to finish ahead of Steinbeck once again here. His fourth in the Newmarket Guineas is good form and he must have every chance here, and I will be jumping up and down if he gets near to the front with a furlong to go and praying for a fairtytale ending for one of the nicest and hardest working trainers I know. .

On Sunday the Curragh put on the Irish 1000 Guineas and we have a clear favourite in the Mick Channon trained MUSIC SHOW. A decent two year old who won three of her four races she has obviously wintered well as witnessed by her easy success in the Nell Gwynn Stakes at the Craven meeting (beating Jacquaeline Quest out of sight), but she had no chance whatsoever in our Guineas when drawn on the wrong side of the track after heavy rain made the race a farce. She still came home clear of those drawn high and could even be considered an unlucky loser such was the bias and I rather hope she gains revenge here. Best of the Irish could yet be Lolly For Dolly who is trained by another old jumping buddy of mine in Tommy Stack. She was supplemented for this race (which would have cost a penny or two) after winning her only starts to date, both as a three year old, and as a progressive Group Three winner she deserves to take her chance though my only concern would be the likely quick ground which will be a new experience for her though on breeding there is every chance she will handle it.

Summary of Steve’s Bets this week:

2pts Win BORDERLESCOTT 15:00 Haydock Saturday at SP

1pt Win FENCING MASTER 15:45 The Curragh Saturday at SP

2pts Win MUSIC SHOW 16:15 The Curragh 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.