'You knew exactly where you stood with him and when he backed you he backed you 100 per cent'

A man whose job is to enforce the rules will never be universally popular, but William Nunneley has been remembered as "very straight" and likened to a "good headmaster" in the wake of his death in April.

Nunneley spent more than 30 years in racing officialdom, many of them working at the highest level of the sport, after starting as a part-time judge in 1980.

He became a stewards’ secretary in 1985 and was appointed senior stipendiary steward in 2002, with his role later expanded so that he became head of stewarding.