Osborne, Jamie

In March, 1987, and then the leading northern amateur, Jamie had his first rides at the Cheltenham Festival when partnering Bally-Go in the Kim Muir on the Tuesday and Tom Bill in the Mildmay Of Flete the following day.

Neither won - in fact, Jamie had to wait until 12 March, 1991, for his first ever Cheltenham winner - Aldino in the Grand Annual Chase.

In April that year, he announced his intention of voluntarily turning professional the next season.

Before doing so, Jamie knew that if he wanted to make it big-time, he would need to be based in the south of England and, on impulse, phoned Nicky Henderson. With 14 winners behind him, he felt he had a chance of being taken on, and he was - but it was on the basis that he was ninth in line for rides as a conditional.

Jamie agreed and, in August, 1987, left Castleford trainer Chris Bell to join Henderson's Lambourn stable. He was replaced at Bell's by Chris Dennis.

Jamie admitted to being the worst stablelad in history. He would take the head lad out for dinner and sweet-talk him  into allowing him to go schooling for other trainers. One day, after discovering mushrooms in the boxes that Jamie was supposed to be mucking out, the head lad gave in and let him start riding out.

Within three months -  on 3 November - he broke his collar-bone in a fall from Crowning Moment at Fontwell Park.

On Monday, April 24, 1989, Jamie announced his intention of leaving Nicky Henderson at the end of the season to replace the retiring Simon

On 6 May, 1989, riding for Sherwood, Jamie won on Ryco. A week later he broke his collar-bone again and didn't ride another winner for nearly five months.

On Thursday, 28 September, on Night Session, he stormed by twenty lengths in the Grunwick Novices' Chase at Taunton.

With his brother Simon getting married the next day, Oliver Sherwood missed the happy comeback.

Jamie's association with the stable proved a happy one. He rode the likes of Large Action, placed in two Champion Hurdles, Hennessy winner Arctic Call and Coulton on which Jamie won five races in one season. Yet his all-time favourite horse was Cruising Altitude (below) which, Jamie said at the time, was 'far and away the best horse I've ridden. He's got several gears.'

Cruising  Altitude clears the last ahead of the ill-fated Floyd in Cheltenham's Bula Hurdle, 1989

In the 1990 Champion Hurdle, Cruising Altitude fell at the second: yet again, Jamie broke a collar-bone.

Bouncing back just five weeks later, Jamie was 'comfortable' in Worcester Royal Infirmary with crushed vertebrae and two fractured ribs following a fall on Five Lamps at Worcester on April 28. He missed the rest of the season.

Oliver Sherwood fulfilled a long-held ambition to train a winner in Ireland when Jamie and Young Pokey won the BMW Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown on St George's Day, 1991.

In February, 1992, Jamie became involved in an undignified brawl with fellow jockey, Billy Morris, who was also a Territorial Army reservist.

After the Radcot Handicap Hurdle at Newbury, Morris butted Jamie in the face, causing him to lose a tooth. Valets stepped in to pull the two men apart.

Morris was found guilty of improper conduct and fined £200.

In an earlier incident, on Scottish Grand National Day, 1990, Jamie received a slap on the face in the weighing room by Jenny Pitman. She was also fined £200.

'I must have the sort of face that people like to hit,' said Jamie as he left the Berkshire course in search of a dentist.

On Tuesday, March 10, 1992, Jamie landed a magnificent treble at the Cheltenham Festival. 

His winners were Flown, Young Pokey & Nomadic Way. He followed this up the next day with a terrific win on Remittance Man in the Queen mother.

He had five winners in all at the meeting, making him the leading jockey.

In 1994, Jamie rode his third Arkle winner in a row when scoring on Nakir. 

At the same day's meeting he had also finished third on Large Action. Having done so he said: 'any winner is better than any third. To be perfectly honest, I would rather win a novice hurdle round Plumpton than be third in the Champion Hurdle.'

Writing in The Times in May, 1994, Jamie looked at the dangers which confront jockeys on a daily basis.

On Monday, October 5, 1998, Jamie was eliminated from police inquiries into a race-fixing and doping investigation. Jamie had ridden Avanti Express at Exeter on March 7, 1997, which afterwards tested positive for the sedative ACP.

During this time, Robert Harrington, a former detective, approached Jamie and tried to convince him that he would be implicated unless he paid a £2,000 bribe. Jamie immediately contacted Scotland Yard and, subsequently, Harrington was given an 18-month jail sentence.

In March, 1999, then aged 31, Jamie announced his retirement from the saddle saying: 'I haven't been enjoying it as much as I used to. There were lots of lows. I kept falling off, banging my head. I've just had enough of it. I've no regrets, but I will not be looking back. I certainly won't miss going to Ludlow on a Thursday.'

Simon Sherwood said at the time: 'Jamie was like another brother to me. He had a talent for communicating with owners and was a great stable jockey. I'm not surprised he is going. He has had a basinful of falls.'

Jamie's best season was 1996-1997, when he finished second in the jockeys' table with 131. His greatest day in the saddle was riding his Cheltenham Festival treble.

It was at this course that he suffered a badly broken wrist in November, 1997: one moment he was enjoying his win on the grey Senor El Betrutti - the next he was thrown to the ground from Space Trucker, smashing his wrist in 16 different places. He was to told in January 1998 that his hand might never recover. 

It was five days after this that Jamie was arrested at 6 a.m. regarding Avanti Express.

During his eleven months away from the saddle, his depression was much worsened when his great friend John Durkan died from leukaemia. Jamie read out a moving address at his funeral.

Then, as his recovery neared its completion, he took a room at Ascot to celebrate his return. Friends, family and supporters turned out.

Another of Jamie's best friends at that time was the artist Rose Nugent. Jamie gave her some tickets for Ascot. Twenty minutes later her horse drawn carriage careered out of control. Rose was crushed as it overturned and she died moments later from her injuries.

Jamie was now at his lowest ebb yet, on his comeback ride, Coombe Hill, he ploughed through the mud to win and burst into tears as he crossed the line.

He did not kid himself: he knew that things would never again be the same.

He began searching for a base from which to train Flat horses. 'This is now what I want to do,' he said at the time. 'I will be buying yearlings in the autumn and looking to have runners about this time next year.'

Jamie's big winners include:

1990:   Arctic Call  (Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup)

1992:   Remittance Man  (Champion Chase), Nomadic Way  (Stayers' Hurdle) and Young Pokey                 (Arkle Chase). 

1993:   Travado  (Arkle Chase)

1994:   Nakir  (Arkle Chase)

1995:   Flashing Steel  (Irish Grand National)

1996:   Collier Bay  (AIG Europe Champion Hurdle) and Coombe Hill  (Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup)

1997:   Karshi  (Bonusprint Stayers' Hurdle) and Shadow Leader  (Citroen Supreme Novices'                        Hurdle)