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

By Steve Smith-Eccles

Despite a sport that always gives me plenty to write about there can only be one subject of choice this week as we look to classics three and four after the 1000 and 2000 Guineas from Newmarket what feels like for ever ago, but was only the beginning of May. As we all know, the French took both the mile classics over the channel to gloat over, but as they have no runners in the next two at least they can’t do it again! Before I give you my ideas of the winners in my tips at the end of the article, a little

Looking for an Oaks/Derby double this weekend Henry Cecil

run through the main contenders could help, though both races look pretty open this year so nothing comes with any kind of guarantee.

Starting on Friday at 16:05, fifteen fillies are due to go to post for this mile and a half contest, with the Henry Cecil trained Aviate the 6.0 favourite, which should give us all a clue as to just how open this race is, on paper at least. She comes here unbeaten after just the three races including a last moment victory at York in the Musidora Stakes when beating Gold Bubbles by a head but she ran on strongly that day despite a troubled run and she certainly deserves to be at the head of the betting. The Irish challenge appears to be headed by Remember When but I doubt she would get a mile and a half in a horse box, while the other Cecil filly Timepiece keeps refusing to transfer her brilliant homework to the track and has been rejected by jockey Tom Queally who would have had the choice between the two.  Rumoush comes here with every chance for trainer Marcus Tregoning and should be far better suited to the step up in trip than the fast run mile in the 1000 Guineas which saw her rushed off her feet though to be fair she was drawn on the wrong side of the course and had no chance on the rain softened surface.

On Saturday the twelve runners in the Derby will thunder round Tattenham Corner to the roar of the massive crowd hopefully bathed in sunshine, but once again it’s a pretty open contest.  Jan Vermeer is a worthy favourite after hacking up in the usually informative Gallinule Stakes on his seasonal return but you have to wonder if he will be fully tuned here as I doubt this was his original target until injury ruled out St Nicholas Abbey? Workforce is an interesting contender from here in Newmarket and is working brilliantly at home in a new Australian noseband and could be anything but is a little short on racecourse experience but did work well round the bend at Lingfield so should at least handle the track. Rewilding is an interesting challenger having moved to Godolphin’s Newmarket yard from Andre Fabre’s French operation and he looked pretty decent when taking the Predominate Stakes at Goodwood (as it used to be known) but will need to improve again to take a hand in the finish while if you are looking for a dark horse, you could do a lot worse than Al Zir who was a very decent juvenile  and if we forgive him his run in the 2000 Guineas (stable out of form and still is), then he would not be without an each way squeak at odds of 26.0 wit the excellent Kieren Fallon in the saddle.

Steve’s tips this week:

2pts Win WORKFORCE to win the 16:00 at Epsom Saturday at SP

6 x 1pt forecasts WORKFORCE, JAN VERMEER, and BULLET TRAIN 16:00 Epsom Saturday

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.