THROUGH your racing life you get attached to trainers for different reasons – many of them are simple. The quality of their horses, longevity, enthusiasm for the sport, the entertainment value of their interviews. David Elsworth ticked all the boxes.

As trainer of Desert Orchid, he will always have a special place in our racing history. But Dessie aside, there are a multitude of fantastic memories. Is it a co-incidence that one trainer had so many horses that so many people remember with affection?

And guess what – lots of them never won at the Cheltenham Festival. Even Desert Orchid nearly didn’t, it took a long time until he sealed his immortality with that tenacious Gold Cup slog.

The first horse to be recalled did win there – Heighlin – the 1980 Triumph when Starfen fell and Batista stopped. He was of a generation that we see less of now – a high-class dual-purpose horse, from Cheltenham to Royal Ascot to Goodwood.

Floyd from the front was something to cherish. The mare Lesley Ann went toe to toe with Night Nurse in the finish of the 1982 Mandarin Chase at Newbury, another of the non-Cheltenham races that stands out in the memory.

What strikes most about Elsworth’s outstanding achievements is the variety. Horses of all shapes and sizes and disciplines – two Queen Mary winners in Princess Athena and Dead Certain sit alongside classic winners, a Champion Chase, Gold Cup and Grand Nationals, English and Irish. There is little to compare in the modern era, unless your name is O’Brien.

Combs Ditch didn’t look like your typical three-mile chaser. He acquired his following for valiant defeats rather than any big wins. Cavvies Clown too fought above his natural weight.

And they represented a day when those horses who were not the best but always there were appreciated and not slagged off on social media. It could be a raggle taggle bunch but the quality was there to be nurtured as well.

And the more you waited for the tributes this week, the more names came forth that you had forgotten about. How could you forget Oh So Risky’s colours, I’d forgotten Indian Ridge’s legacy. Norse Dancer had a following. I had once harboured thoughts that the big white face of Seattle Rhyme might be a Derby winner. Persian Punch lost more races than he won but his ‘go down fighting’ attitude characterised his career.

David Elsworth stopped training jumpers when the fear of their injury and death was too much. This quote, one of many to remember, kind of summed him up. “The thing with me is that I’ve always trained from the heart and not by the chequebook.”