Lewis, Geoff

When, on entering the Waldorf Hotel, Tom Molony, then champion jumps jockey of Great Britain, said 'You're the right shape to make a jockey', the small, stocky figure to whom the remark was addressed, took notice.Geoff Lewis hated his job as a page boy there anyway, and Molony's observation struck a cord. It meant a lot to Geoff who promptly handed in his notice and uniform and made his way to the Epsom stables of Ron Smyth, the NH champion jockey of 1942 (albeit with only 12 winners) who was then making a success of turning out both Flat horses and jumpers.

It wasn't until 1953 that he rode his first winner, Eastern Imp at Epsom's Spring Meeting.

Lester Piggott had ridden well over 200 while Joe Mercer, though still an apprentice, had won that year's Oaks on Ambiguity.

Geoff, on the other hand, had already, at 17, experienced the downside of racing when on a supposed certainty. He had been told that under no circumstances was he to strike the front before the final furlong.

The field had crawled along for the first four furlongs and Geoff was yanking the teeth of his mount to stay behind.

Suddenly the field took off, leaving Geoff some 50 yards in its wake. Well and truly beaten, he was hauled before the stewards to explain. Worse - he was offered hardly any more rides that season. However, he'd ridden 15, not too bad a first season total. The next season he rode 37, finishing 20th in the list of winning riders.

Looking back, years later, he said, 'The best Guv'nors are the ones who give the fewest orders.'

He rated Hastings-Bass the best, saying, 'He'd tell me to give the horse a chance, come the shortest way, and, if you get shut in, well, never mind – there's always another day.'

Such instructions gave the young Geoff the confidence to sit and wait.

'In this business,' he said, 'confidence is more than half the battle.'

Geoff was born in Talgarth, Breconshire, on 21 December 1935. He was one of thirteen children. He suffered dreadfully from stammering as a child, mostly overcoming it over the years.

By 1958, he was becoming established and was retained by the Kingsclere trainer Capt Peter Hastings-Bass. Geoff scored a notable victory for the stable when winning the Coronation Stakes on St Lucia at Royal Ascot that year: two years later, he won the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood on Kipling. Then he took the Royal Hunt Cup on King's Troop.

Unexpectedly and young, Hastings-Bass died, and his role was taken over by Ian Balding who kept Geoff on as stable jockey.

For Balding, Geoff won the 1964 Coventry Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes on the irascible Silly Season which Geoff found to be the most difficult of rides. As a four year old, Silly Season became a jockey's nightmare, refusing to do more than he wanted despite the jockey's efforts. Geoff admitted that at the time he just didn't have the confidence to handle such a horse then.

In the second half of 1969, Geoff suffered another loss of confidence when nothing went right for him on the horses that really mattered.

He was beaten in the Eclipse on the red hot-hot favourite, Park Top.

Under orders not to hit the front too soon, he waited a moment too long: Piggott took instant advantage and beat him on Wolver Hollow.

'If there had been a hole in the ground I'd have gone down it' Geoff said after the race.

To rub salt in the wounds, Piggott then rode Park Top in the King George and produced one of his greatest ever riding performances to win.

Geoff then had a nightmare ride on Prince Regent in the Arc de Triomphe and another on the unmanoeuvrable Gyr. As a result, Etienne Pollet, their trainer, jocked him off future rides for the stable.

At the end of 1970, Geoff became first jockey for the Noel Murless stable. He accepted this position on the strict understanding that he would still be free to to ride Mill Reef in all his races.

Geoff was still followed by bad luck: he chose to ride Magic Flute over Altesse Royale in the 1,000 Guineas. Altesse Royale won, Magic Flute came fourth. Then Mill Reef was beaten by Brigadier Gerard in the 2,000 Guineas.

Then he fell from Sequence and was out for several weeks.

His luck dramatically changed when he returned to the track: he won the Derby on Mill Reef, the Coronation Cup on Lupe and the Oaks on Altesse Royale.

In the last season that he trained, 1976, Murless retained no stable jockey so Geoff moved on to become stable jockey to Bruce Hobbs. He gained his first important success for the stable on Tachypous in the Middle Park Stakes. He followed up the next season on Brightly (Cheshire Oaks), Royal Harmony (July Stakes), Grey Baron (Goodwood Cup) and Tumbledownwind (Gimcrack).

His best season, numerically, was in 1969, when he rode 146 winners: he also finished runner-up to Lester Piggott in the jockeys' championship. He rode a total of 1,800 winners in Britain.

Geoff turned to training on quitting the saddle, and sent out his first runner, Welsh Jester, in the Rank Challenge Handicap Hurdle at Fontwell Park on Wednesday, December 5, 1979.

Starting at 11-1, Welsh Jester pulled up.