Smith Eccles, Steve

This set in motion a train of thought and he told his father, who liked to have a bet each Saturday, that he wanted to be a jockey.

This had come virtually from out of the blue, but Steve's parents (Stanley and Joan) made no effort to discourage him; quite the reverse - his father wrote off to three different trainers and one - Tom Jones - wrote back offering Steve a month's trial.

On July 21, 1970, dressed in a brand new pinstripe suit and carrying a battered old suitcase, Steve was driven to Newmarket by his father and his Uncle Ian.

On a salary of less than a pound a week, he was put to work almost immediately, sweeping the yard and feeding the pigs. Some four months were to pass before Steve began riding work on a serious basis.

However, it wasn't until he was aged 18 that he rode in public for the first time. On board Fine Leg at Yarmouth, he beat just two home.

Steve received invaluable help from the then stable jockey, David Mould. Steve found him to be a kind and patient individual who took time to explain things to the fledgling jockey.

Steve needed all of Mould's advice when, on his debut at Huntingdon, he rode Turalini,  a hairy, unimpressive horse standing no bigger than a Shetland pony.

Turalini clambered over the first hurdle, twisting in mid-air. Steve was all but thrown off, but a helping hand from a fellow jockey reached out and shoved Steve back in the saddle: eventually horse and jockey got round in one piece to finish sixth.

Thirteen days later, Steve had his second ride: a Welsh farmer booked him to ride an unpromising seven year old, Moss Flower. The race, run at Cheltenham the day before the Mackeson Gold Cup, was televised. As the tapes rose, Moss Flower ran away with Steve. From the stands it looked like he was trying to make all the running. At least Steve got his first mention on television.

He had four more rides that season: two on a horse called Bilbo and another two on a staying hurdler named Cannelino. The latter gave Steve his first ever fall when slipping up at Towcester.

Steve's first season score: six rides - no winners.

The young Steve was very much his own man: with no agent (like every other newcomer to the sport), he'd fill his jean pockets with coins before phoning obscure trainers, seeking mounts. His standard, rehearsed speech prised the occasional mount

His first winner came on his second ride of the new season (1974-75). Ballysilly, trained by his boss, Tom Jones,  was sent off 5-1 second favourite for a novice hurdle at Market Rasen (29 November, 1974). Steve won by four lengths, beating Colin Tinkler on the odds-on favourite.

That second season, Steve had 38 mounts, of which 3 had won.

When David Mould left the yard, it fell to Ian Watkinson to ride the stable's best horse, Tingle Creek. One day in October,1977, Ian was claimed by Peter Bailey to ride for him at Worcester. This left the way clear for Steve to partner the great horse at Sandown; the combination duly won, and when Steve topped that up with a win on Swift Shadow later in the afternoon, he felt for the first time that he had arrived as a jockey. And so it proved - he rode 51 winners that season and found himself in the top ten of the final jockeys' table.

Decent horses and good quality races began to come his way: he rode John Francome's first ever winner as a trainer - That's Your Lot who stormed home by 6 lengths at 25/1 in a valuable hurdle race televised at Sandown: Sweet Joe, who, in March 1978, was Steve's first ever Cheltenham winner(Sun Alliance) and, much later, the incomparable See You Then, winner of three Champion Hurdles. Sweet Joe was injured in the early part of the following season and never ran again.

On 4th November, 1978, at Sandown, Steve partnered Tingle Creek on its final racecourse appearance. The 7-2 second favourite, the 12-year-old, full of running, fairly pinged the last, leaving the others in its wake. Wining by five lengths and breaking his own two-mile track record, it was a fitting finale to a brilliant career.

Nick Henderson, then in his late twenties, had been Fred Winter's assistant for three years when deciding to take out a trainer's licence in 1978-79. The son of a merchant banker, Nick engaged Bob Davies to be his stable jockey, but it was informally agreed that Steve would ride Zongalero (which he'd ridden regularly up to that point) when available.

Zongalero was entered in the 1979 Grand National. A week before the race, Steve took a ride at Devon. His mount came down at the last hurdle, breaking Steve's neck. His season was over. Under Bob Davies, Zongalero finished a gallant second to Rubstic.

Steve rode Zongalero in the following year's National, pulling up at the 20th.

By the 1980-81 season, Steve was riding regularly for Nick Henderson, who had still to hit his stride as a top trainer. His dreams, and those of Steve, were then put on hold when a virus ripped rampantly through many Lambourn stables, Nick's included. The chain-smoking trainer, a born worrier, endured a season to forget: so shot to pieces were his nerves that, in the parade ring at Cheltenham before See You Then's second Champion Hurdle, his hands were shaking so much that he was unable to lift a cigarette to his mouth. Steve made a joke about it which did not go down well.

In fact, relations had grown increasingly strained between the two. Steve still lived at Newmarket and Nick required him to school his horses some three or four times a week at Lambourn which, on midwinter mornings at dawn, Steve found impossible. Things came to a head one morning when, having argued about the way a horse should be taught, Steve took a swing at the irate trainer.

When Henderson's door slammed shut, that of Alan Jarvis's opened. Based on his experiences at Lambourn, Steve was not seeking another retainer: an annual £10,000 offer from Jarvis quickly changed his mind. Jarvis had his own custom-built yard at King's Ride at Royston, some twenty-five minutes from Newmarket. What could go wrong?

Plenty, as it turned out.

Jarvis's horses were less than moderate; Steve struggled to get them to win. Jarvis blamed him; Steve retaliated pointing out that he couldn't go without the horses. There was no dramatic falling out. Steve just stopped turning up for work; Jarvis stopped phoning him.

Steve was happy to leave with £5,000, half his contract.

Steve won eight times at the Cheltenham Festival. Around this time, Captain Tim Forster’s stable jockey, Graham Thorner, retired, and Steve came in for quite a few rides for the stable. He also rode for David Nicholson and ex-jockey Jeff King.

When John Francome suddenly retired at Cheltenham following a fall from The Reject on 12 March, 1985, Nick Henderson confirmed that Steve would be taking over on See You Then in the Champion Hurdle.

Browne’s Gazette, the odds-on favourite, was virtually left at the start and Steve was able to steer the 16-1 shot to a comfortable seven-length victory.

At the Festival the following year, Steve unexpectedly took the Supreme Novices’ Hudler on Nicky’s 40-1 outsider River Ceeiriog. Both rider and trainer were stunned by its success.

Then came a repeat of 1985, with Steve and See You Then winning the Champion Hurdle, again by seven lengths.

The hat-trick was completed in 1987, but See You Then had missed a lot of work and was far from fully fit. The American raider Flatterer challenged up the hill, and Steve, for the first time, had to ask his horse to dig deep. Flat out, See You Then won by a length.

After a 21-year career in the saddle during which he partnered 876 winners, Steve retired in 1994.

Steve won eight times at the Cheltenham Festival.