Tom Scudamore: 'I'll miss everything - but other than getting in a time machine I can't do anything about it'
The top jockey reflects on his shock retirement with Lewis Porteous
It is less than a week since he shocked the racing world by announcing his immediate retirement from the saddle but Tom Scudamore appears to have slipped into 'normal' life all too easily.
The former jockey is one of the crowd in the Cribbs Causeway shopping complex near Bristol, and doesn't exactly look as if he's missing the Wednesday afternoon action from Ludlow as he sips a glass of white wine and tucks into roast chicken alongside wife Sara and toddler daughter Ava at Cafe Rouge.
Just six days earlier the thought of a spot of shopping and lunch with the family would have been an alien concept. Instead, the day had begun much like any other Thursday over the last 25 years, with a three-hour drive from his home near Taunton in Somerset to ride at Leicester.
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
Published on 25 February 2023inThe Big Read
Last updated 18:00, 25 February 2023
- Richard Hannon: 'When you're dead and buried the only things you're remembered by are your Classic winners'
- 'I'd try to join in with the kids playing football and the pain would shoot up my leg - it wasn't a good place to be'
- 'For the first few months after Betsy was diagnosed I'd drive to work and cry on my own in the car every single day'
- Dan Skelton: 'I'm exhausted because I can't turn my brain off - if I stopped winning it would be mental torture'
- Fixing the Cheltenham Festival - but is minor surgery or a major overhaul required?
- Richard Hannon: 'When you're dead and buried the only things you're remembered by are your Classic winners'
- 'I'd try to join in with the kids playing football and the pain would shoot up my leg - it wasn't a good place to be'
- 'For the first few months after Betsy was diagnosed I'd drive to work and cry on my own in the car every single day'
- Dan Skelton: 'I'm exhausted because I can't turn my brain off - if I stopped winning it would be mental torture'
- Fixing the Cheltenham Festival - but is minor surgery or a major overhaul required?