Wyer, Lorcan

Not that his body would have taken much more punishment. 

Lorcan had been plagued with injuries, a particularly bad one occurring in the winter of 1996. Falling from Thornton Gate at Liverpool, his face was then stepped on by a following horse. Both cheek bones and both eye-sockets were severely damaged - he also fractured his pelvis and broke his collarbone. He was rushed to nearby Walton Hospital.

There the surgeons cut him open from ear to ear across the top of his head, pulled the skin back down and basically rebuilt his face.

Tim Easterby, paying tribute to his departing jockey said: 'He's been an absolutely wonderful stable jockey and has been 100% reliable. He has had more than his fair share of injuries but must have a great constitution as he always bounced back.

Born on November 14, 1964, his love of race riding began as a child in Dublin when a local trainer, Frank Oakes, asked if he could use the few redundant stables at the back of the house in which Lorcan lived.

The son of a furniture manufacturer, Lorcan was soon riding out for Mr Oakes before school and at the weekends.

Indeed, the first ride the would-be jockey ever had in public was on the beach at Laytown riding one of his horses.

Lorcan's first winner had been Champion Prince at Navan in July 1984.

The pair won a further three races in succession bring Lorcan to the attention of other trainers.

It was a further two years before he took his first ride in England, at Chepstow in March, 1986, when, on Canute Express, he won the Racing Posr Hurdle. Four days later he rode Omerta to an easy win in the National Hunt Chase. Both horses were trained by Homer Scott and both races had been televised. It was a good introduction to English racing for Lorcan.

He bettered it with a televised double on Grand National day. First he won on Jobroke in an amateur's hurdle and followed it up with another win on Canute Express.

Now the British trainers were beginning to take more note of the young Irishman: when a call came from Tim & Peter Easterby asking him to join them, he couldn't get to their stables quick enough.

Lorcan's most memorable ride - Barton apart - came at Aintree in the 1999 Grand National. After Mark Bradburne had broken a collarbone in the Foxhunters' two days earlier, Lorcan was asked to replace him on Blue Charm.

The horse was a stone out of the handicap and, watching it parade in the paddock before the race, Lorcan became somewhat anxious.

Blue Charm was getting seriously wound up,necessitating two people to lead him up.

Lorcan recalls that his eyes were popping out of his head and that he was awash with sweat.

In the event, Blue Charm staggered everyone by running the race of its life, finishing second behind Bobbyjo, giving Lorcan 'the biggest kick of my life' as he later described it.

Sadly, Blue Charm died that very summer while out at grass.

Lorcan's last winner came at Sedgefield riding Edmo Heights fot Tim Easterby.

Once retired, Lorcan worked for a while for The Racing Channel, but when a vacancy came up for a racing official with the Irish Turf Club, Lorcan seized it with both hands.