ON the afternoon of Wednesday June 3rd 1981, I was a 14-year-old in at school, but had brought along a pocket radio and an earpiece to allow me to surreptitiously tune in to Shergar’s Derby. The winning jockey Walter Swinburn was still two months short of his 20th birthday and, for the next two decades, he would deliver at the highest level. He was part of a the golden age of flat racing and bloodstock sales, which influenced many of my generation to make it our careers. One of his less heralded significant achievements was to ride the first of Aidan O’Brien’s 250 plus Group 1 winners, Desert King in the 1996 National Stakes.

This has claimed so many people whose talents have enriched my life among countless others, from John Thomas McNamara to Leonard Cohen and I am deeply saddened that Walter has added to their number.