'I'm happy with this season but we've had too many seconds'

What is your earliest racing memory?
My father was head lad for David Nicholson right through the 1980s, so I can remember going to Cheltenham and other local tracks with a good friend Belinda, who's now married to Martin Keighley. We used to go as kids, get in free to Stratford, Worcester and all those sorts of places.

What's the best bet you've ever had?
I'm not a big bettor but when I was at Martin Pipe's I looked after a horse called Fragrant Dawn, who we got from David Elsworth and was not far off top class over two miles. Martin ran him in what was then the Tripleprint [in 1993] over 2m5f and everybody thought he wouldn't get that trip in a bus. Declan Murphy rode him and I remember having a few quid on him. It wouldn't have been much, £20 each-way or something like that, but he was a pretty big price [14-1].

If you could play any other sport professionally, which would it be and why?
Probably golf. I haven't played a lot this year but I do like my golf and it looks a good lifestyle.