Christopher Spence: pivotal figure who transformed administration of racing

Christopher Spence, former senior steward of the Jockey Club and owner-breeder of Ascot Gold Cup winner Celeric, has died at the age of 84.

No-one has been closer to the most substantial changes in British racing administration over the last 30 years. A merchant banker in the City, he was a racing grandee whose other winners included Frontier Goddess in the Yorkshire Oaks.

Spence owned only a few mares at his home, Chieveley Manor near Newbury, but hit the jackpot when Celeric triumphed in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 1997.

Christopher Spence, Jockey Club senior steward and leading owner, dies aged 84

That quirky homebred tended to idle in front, so Pat Eddery delayed his challenge until well inside the final furlong and beat the previous year's winner Classic Cliche by three-quarters of a length. The also-rans included Double Trigger, Moonax and the favourite Persian Punch.

Celeric was trained by Spence's brother-in-law David Morley, who died seven months later. The gelding was then transferred to John Dunlop.

During his seven seasons racing Celeric also won the Lonsdale Stakes (now Cup) twice and the Jockey Club Cup, Yorkshire Cup, Sagaro Stakes and Northumberland Plate. He once beat Istabraq into second place in a York handicap.

Celeric wins the 1997 Gold Cup at Ascot under Pat Eddery from the previous year's winner Classic ClicheCredit: Smith Phil

An affable, patrician figure, Christopher John Spence was born at Clifton, near Bristol, on June 4, 1937, the younger son of Ian Spence, a soldier, stockbroker and Master of Foxhounds. After public school and National Service, he became a member of the Stock Exchange and then a merchant banker.

His financial and organisational skills were utilised by the Jockey Club, to which he was elected in 1986, and in 1993 he was among the founding directors of the British Horseracing Board – the body that, under the guidance of senior steward Lord Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire), took over British racing’s governance in one of the most significant milestones in the sport's history.

He was the inaugural chairman of the BHB's finance committee, effectively acting as racing's chancellor of the exchequer for a year.

Spence served as senior steward of the Jockey Club from 1998 to 2003 when that job was still among the most important in racing. In his last year in office the decision was made to delegate the Jockey Club's regulatory responsibilities to the Horseracing Regulatory Authority, which was eventually subsumed in the British Horseracing Authority.

In loosing the Jockey Club from its regulatory role, Spence began the process of establishing it as a commercial operator that was completed by his successor Julian Richmond-Watson.

He was the chairman of Racecourse Holdings Trust (now Jockey Club Racecourses) from 1995 to 1998, and chairman of Newbury racecourse from 2010 to 2015, in which capacity he greeted the Queen on her visits there.

He was also chairman of the National Stud from 2008, when it was taken over by the Jockey Club from the Levy Board, to 2011. During that time the stud was turned from a loss-making exercise to a profitable one by pursuing a programme of self-sufficiency.

A hard-working pillar of the establishment, he held many other official positions over the years both within and outside the sport, including racecourse director at Epsom and high sheriff of Berkshire.

Peter Walwyn: trained Christopher Spence's Yorkshire Oaks winner Frontier GoddessCredit: Edward Whitaker

The first good horse to carry his emerald green and black colours was Frontier Goddess, whom he bought as a yearling. Trained by Peter Walwyn, she was second in the Oaks in 1969, beaten three-quarters of a length by Sleeping Partner, and won the Yorkshire Oaks with Sleeping Partner third.

Spence sold Frontier Goddess to Nelson Bunker Hunt as a broodmare but, when establishing his 40-acre Chieveley Manor Stud a decade later, acquired a filly from the same family, Hot Spice, who proved an inspired buy.

He gave her offspring botanical names including Sesame, a mare who won two Group races in 1989 and 1990, the St Simon and Blandford Stakes. Sesame's half-brother should have been called Celeriac but his name was mistakenly registered as Celeric.

His son from his second marriage, to Susan Morley, is racing PR consultant Johnno Spence.