Jamie Spencer first came into the public eye with the exemplary ride he gave Tommy Stack's difficult filly Tarascon to land the Airlie Coolmore Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh on Sunday, May 24 1998.
That afternoon, 17 year old Jamie - having ridden just his 37th winner - returned to the winner's enclosure in tears. Though not the youngest jockey to win a classic - that was James Parsons aged 16 aboard Epsom Derby winner Caractacus - it was still an incredible achievement.
The following season, Jamie became Irish champion apprentice.
The son of George Spencer, who trained Winning Fair to win the 1963 Champion Hurdle, Jamie was born on Sunday, June 8, 1980 in Co Tipperary, Ireland. His godfather was John Magnier, owner of the Coolmore Stud.
Given such a background, it was only natural for Jamie to be drawn to racing; he became apprenticed to Liam Browne and rode his first winner on May 11, 1996, at Downpatrick.
In 2000, he moved to England, taking his first ride on Temeside Tina for trainer David Evans in Division Two of the Happy New Year Maiden Stakes at Lingfield on January 5. He finished fourth of nine runners behind the Neil Callan-ridden favourite, Buggy Ride.
His first English winner came less than two weeks later at Southwell, when, from a difficult draw, partnering Noufari to a one and a half length victory in the Daisy Claiming Stakes for Reg Hollingshead.
His next eight rides produced four winners, and he was on his way.
Jamie formed a partnership with Luca Cumani, for whom he won the Fillies Mile and the Irish 1,000 Guineas aboard Gossamer.
Moving back to Ireland in 2004, he became stable jockey to Aidan O'Brian's yard at Ballydoyle. Surprisingly, Jamie met with just modest success in his time there; he won the Middle Park for the stable on Ad Valorem, but it was the races he didn't win which provoked greatest reaction. Jamie came in for heavy criticism after being disqualified for his carelessness on Powerscourt having been first past the post in the Arlington Million.
Replacing the accomplished Mick Kinane was never going to be easy, especially with an unusually modest crop of three-year-olds at Ballydoyle, but - with a series of uncharacteristic misjudgments and misdemeanours which fully tested O'Brien's loyalty - Jamie fast became his own worst enemy.
After Powerscourt's disqualification, Jamie said: 'Sometimes you make mistakes through trying too hard and I know I'm guilty of that. You want to win for everyone and a certain amount of excitement takes over. I know I need to be tighter in a finish. I never thought my job was at risk. Aidan said to me afterwards that the people most affected by it were me and him. I'm my own biggest critic and get very disappointed. I shut up shop for a while and I'm not the easiest to live with.'
Six weeks before the start of the 2005 season, Jamie shocked the racing world and gave his employers an unwelcome surprise by walking away from Ballydoyle to resume his riding career in England.
Having spent his stag night (Saturday, February 5) in Birmingham in the company of several jockey friends, he flew back to Dublin the next day where he informed waiting journalists that his solicitors had told him that he must not make any comment. Late that Sunday evening, Richard Henry, the Coolmore spokesman confirmed Spencer's decision and said: 'Jamie is a young jockey (24) with a lot of talent and a long career ahead of him. All the team at Ballydoyle wish him the very best.'
Three weeks later he married Emma Ramsden, the television presenter and daughter of Jack & Lynda Ramsden, the Yorkshire based owners and trainers. Emma gave Jamie three children, Charlie, Chloe & Ella. Sadly, due to a liaison, the couple split up at the beginning of 2011. Later, Emma refused to interview Haley Turner, citing her as the woman who wrecked her marriage to Jamie. Jamie candidly acknowledged that he had made an almighty mistake.
The move back to England proved an outstanding success: riding 180 winners, he became the British Champion Jockey of 2005.
In January, 2010, he began riding for Mrs Fitri Hay whose principal trainer was Paul Cole; her other trainers were Stan Moore and ex jump jockey Tom Tate.
Having bought shares in multiple Group One winners Fame & Glory and Cape Blanco, both of whom continued to be trained by Aidan O'Brien, Jamie found himself once again associated with the stable. Jamie made no mistake this time when partnering Fame & Glory to a brilliant victory in the 2011 Ascot Gold Cup.
Looking back at his younger days Jamie recalled:
'My father died when I was 12. I left home when I was 14 and had to man-up fast. I got on with my own life and never let anybody into it. I was always very cautious of people. I don't know why but I kept most people at arm's length, females too, so I never had relationships. You can't help who you are. You're made within a mould. I can give the perception that everything is grand, but inside I can be like an anti-Christ.
'Emma was the first person I felt I could trust. And because I grew up without my father I always wanted to have children while I was young. I wanted to grow up with them rather than have them growing up while I was too old. So when Emma and I got married and had children I felt like I'd ticked all the boxes.'
Speaking of his indiscretion Jamie said "I made a monumental error of judgement and now have to live with it. What I did is hard to explain. There's not a day goes by that I don't think of the catastrophic consequences of my stupidity. It's hard, day in, day out. People say time's a great healer but I can't aspire to that view at the moment. It's still very open, very raw.
'I'm a person who didn't let anyone into my life until I was 22. I found the one person, but overnight it was all gone. Until that happens you can't magnify enough what it's like. Some evenings I think hard about it and can never find the reason why it happened.
'I don't speak about my personal circumstances to anyone. I literally never do. Even my best friends and mother will tell you the same. The reason I've never spoken about it is because it's still raw and I want that rawness to be private to me. I'm only saying something now because people get perceptions of you. I think a lot of people think I didn't give a fiddler's and that's the view that annoys me most. Not many people know me. It's not a case of I don't give a damn or that I'm not remorseful but I don't want to be portrayed as a goody-two-shoes who just made a mistake, either.
'A huge error of judgement cost me all the things I wanted from a young age. A day doesn't go by without me thinking about it. It's difficult, but I have to move on and get on with my life. I'm sure I will, but it's hard."
Since he separated from Emma, there have been no relationships, an omission he is "not too bothered about". He does not live like a hermit, but still baulks at the impression others have of his perceived lifestyle.
"People think I'm wild and to a certain extent I am. Life's too short to be boring, and I'm not, but there would need to be 14 days in the week for me to do what some people think I'm doing. If Martin Dwyer or someone else from outside Newmarket is around I might go out here, but otherwise I prefer going for supper in one of the surrounding villages. If you're in the racing limelight, Newmarket is probably the worst place in the world."
It is, however, the home town of his children and he stresses repeatedly that five-year-old Charlie, four-year-old Chloe and soon-to-be-three-year-old Ella are his everything.
"They are my life," he says. "When they get to the stage that they understand what happened, I don't want it to be detrimental to my future with them. Everything I do now is not about me, but about them. I'm lucky because I get to see them as much as possible. I worry about them constantly. If one of their ponies swishes its tail near them I want to kill it."
He says he spent two months "in denial" before fronting up to a weighing room that had read of his personal torment. "The other jockeys were very respectful," he says. "I've learned that real friends stay with you. Your fair-weather friends disappear into the shadows.
"Racing was a big help to me and the way I feel now about the sport I would like to ride forever.'
Unquestionably, the immense talent and driving force remain undiminished in this very likable, honest and wiser individual. Some great years still lie ahead.
On the day on which this biography was written, Sunday,16 March 2014, Jamie had ridden in England 11,359 times. From this total had come 1,876 winners, a winning percentage of 17%. Jamie had amassed prize money of £31,368,094.
He has his critics - don't we all. He also has a steely determination to succeed in life. And he will.
On Thursday, August 21, 2014, Jamie shocked the racing world by announcing that he would be retiring from the saddle at the end of the current season.
He said: 'As much as I love race riding, it is not something I want to do for the rest of my life and while I am not necessarily ready to retire now, I feel I am at a stage when I am ready for a change.'
He intends to work in a management capacity for Qatar Racing.
Jamie had a change of heart about retiring and was riding throughout 2015 as well as ever.