EVEN in his eighties, Willie Robinson is as great a character as one could ever meet; he has an extremely dry sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye. His name will forever be linked to the great steeplechaser Mill House, whom he rode so stylishly and quietly in the 1960s for those epic duels with the mighty Arkle.

Willie Robinson was born in 1934, and his father trained a small string of racehorses at Phoepotstown, near Kilcock in Co Meath. “There was a lovely grass field and an uphill gallop. No all-weather surfaces in those days.” The family always farmed, and Willie was brought up in the countryside surrounded by animals. His sister, Mary Rose, was also an accomplished rider and later married the fine horseman Seamus Hayes.

Willie and Mary Rose used to build a course of fences around the farm each year and created “our own Grand National”. They had two exceptionally good ponies: ‘the Fat Thing’, who was three-parts thoroughbred, and the Black Pony, who was part-Welsh and very solid. Willie particularly enjoyed hunting with the North Kildare Harriers – “we always got a good hunt”. The children would ride many miles to the meets and stay out with the hounds all day before hacking home in the dark. If the ponies lost sight of one another they would neigh continuously, so everyone knew the whereabouts of the child riders. Their mounts were inseparable.

Willie never attended the Pony Club, because his father disapproved of the instructors. He never had lessons, and did not wear a riding hat at home – crash helmets were still to be invented. In races, the riders wore cork helmets that looked more like half-boiled eggs and were easily dislodged if a horse fell.

During his years as an amateur, Willie rode in several point-to-points and won five, but “I didn’t look for point-to-point rides as I knew most of the horses were badly schooled or not schooled at all, and if I rode them I’d be certain to end up on a stretcher.”

In one year, in the early 1950s, his father trained the two best bumper horses in Ireland and Willie rode them both. He also won races over the banks at Fairyhouse and Punchestown, which demonstrated his superb balance in the saddle and ability to sit in the right place on a horse – not too far forward and not too far back.

In 1956, at the age of 22, Willie Robinson became a professional jockey. There were no apprenticeships in the 1950s, and to obtain a licence all that happened was that a jockey’s name was approved by two Turf Club officials. Willie was proposed by Lord Fingall and George Malcolmson. To begin with, he continued to ride for his father – and was second in both the English and Irish Derbys on Paddy’s Point.

Before moving to England to ride for Fulke Walwyn in the late 1950s, Willie was retained at first by Major John Corbett in the north and then by Dan Moore. The former was from all accounts a “very good-looking man” whom Willie reckoned “broke more than a few hearts when he announced he was getting married”. He trained close to the beach at Tyrella, and made his training a lot of fun. Willie would drive up there and cross the border in his old Morris Minor. He was “often lucky to make it” up the steep hills.

Yet, his luck in Northern Ireland was good, and in 1962 he won the Ulster Harp National on the Peter Cazalet-trained Laffy, who was owned by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Laffy appeared to finish second to Connkehely, but that horses, who was running in a bitless bridle – a hackamore – swerved to miss out a fence and was subsequently disqualified.

Willie learned plenty about racing from Dan Moore, a legendary trainer in Ireland who was responsible for L’Escargot winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1970 and 1971 as well as the Aintree Grand National in 1975. Willie also rode out for Phonsie O’Brien, Vincent’s brother, and Charlie Rogers. He had winners for both.

This stylish rider then moved to Lambourn.

“On arriving in England I wanted to find a police station to register my car and hand over some documents, so I asked for the guard’s barracks, which is what police stations were called in Ireland. The lady I asked looked extremely surprised and said, ‘there are no army barracks here. Lambourn is not a training area for soldiers.’ I think she thought I was half mad.”

Willie was retained by Fulke Walwyn as stable jockey for nine years and his days yielded many wins. It was a great partnership. He was the only jockey to win the Hennessy Gold Cup three times, riding Mandarin, Mill House and Man Of The West, and, besides winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup on ‘the Big Horse’ Mill House in 1963, he also won the Champion Hurdle an Anzio in 1962 and on Kirriemuir in 1965. He partnered Team Spirit to victory in the Grand National in 1964.

That horse was the perfect model of a racehorse – barely 15.2hh and by Vulgan. Big horses are not necessarily the best types for Aintree: the stallion Battleship, trained by Reg Hobbs, was 15.1hh and he carried the 6ft 2in amateur Bruce Hobbs to victory in 1938. Tiger Roll, who won with Davy Russell in 2018 and 2019, is 15.3hh.

Big, long-striding horses often find it more difficult to shorten up and take that extra stride in front of a fence; shorter-striding, compact individuals are often more cat-like. Neither Red Rum nor Gay Trip were big horses, and they too won Grand Nationals.

Despite the many times Pat Taaffe beat Willie in the Arkle/Mill House days, they were the greatest of friends and lived close to each other in Ireland. They opposed each other in a number of epic races, but, when beaten by him, Willie never felt bitterness towards his rival jockey. They rode two outstanding horses, and the public took both to their hearts.

Willie Robinson was always a natural in the saddle. Jockeys can improve their style and their balance, but a lot is inherited and Willie sat correctly on a horse from day one and always positioned in the centre of balance. He barely ever moved over an obstacle.

When he stopped riding Willie trained a few horses himself, and King’s Company, ridden by Freddy Head, beat Sparkler and Lester Piggott in the 1971 Irish 2000 Guineas. Throughout his racing career he was backed up by his knowledgeable and supportive wife Susan, an excellent rider herself whose father, Major Cyril Hall, managed the Irish National Stud in the days when the great stallion Tulyar stood there.

Willie Robinson remains unique in his achievements – he won a Grand National and almost won a Derby as well. He had that enviable unflappable magic touch with horses, and seemed to instinctively know how a racehorse should jump and gallop. Horses always went sweetly for Willie, and he was always loved by his public, despite being a tough professional. His eyes light up at the mention of Mill House: he “was the easiest horse I ever had to ride”, he says, “except that he was quite strong”.

This chapter is taken from Henrietta Knight’s latest book, Starting From Scratch – Inspired to be a jump jockey, priced at £20. It can be purchased at www.racingpost.com/shop The book charts the lives of more than 80 jump jockeys, past and present.