In the parade ring just after Sire De Grugy had won this year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase, I found myself among a group of jockeys who had run out of the weighing room jostling and joshing like a bunch of schoolkids. They had, though, a serious purpose: they had emerged to pay tribute to one of their own, the winning rider Jamie Moore. Daryl Jacob, Aidan Coleman, ‘Choc’ Thornton and half a dozen others climbed on each other’s shoulders to cheer him in. I asked Daryl, why such a rare public honour? ‘It’s just that Jamie’s such a great guy from such a great family,’ he replied. Said Choc, ‘He’s ridden here 70 times without a winner and this is special. He’s a top guy.’ (Such a modest one, too, that Jamie firstly took a seat in the audience, not on the platform for the post-race press conference.)
The chief organiser of the paddock tribute, appropriately, was the hottest talent among today’s up-and-coming riders, trainer’s son Sam Twiston-Davies.
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