Born on November 18, 1950, Steve Brookshaw came from a great racing dynasty: his father had won the Foxhunters' at Liverpool and his elder brother, Peter Jnr. had trained Fealty to win the 1984 Sun Alliance Hurdle at Cheltenham. Tim Brookshaw, Steve's uncle, had been champion jockey in the 1958-59 season and, in the same year, had finished second on the mighty Wyndburgh in the National (this, despite riding with a broken stirrup).
Steve watched the race over and over on video, and resolved to become a jockey. Aged 14, he began riding in point-to-points before going on to become a leading amateur rider.
Millionaire Stan Clarke was a friend of the family and it was on his wife's good hunter Mount Argus that Steve won 23 races.
Shortly after, Stan Clarke persuaded Steve to set up as a trainer under permit; over the next eight years Steve won 43 races for him and, in 1988, took out a full trainer's licence. He sent out horses from his stable in Uffington, near Shrewsbury.
He achieved easily his biggest success when sending out Stan Clarke's Lord Gyllene to win the 1997 Grand National.
