'I go in with a carrot - it's bribery and corruption but makes your life easier'

Mick Channon, one of racing's most colourful characters, announced on Saturday he would retire at the end of the season. Here we look back at some of his best quotes, and life advice, through the years . . .

A Classic is not the be-all and end-all. It wouldn't change my life but it would be nice. The more goals you have, the more chance you have of winning.
Channon’s conservative view in a Racing Post stable tour ahead of the 2012 season. He broke his Classic duck in the Irish 1,000 Guineas with Samitar that season.

They were such fun. We had some great touches. I remember winning two sellers with a filly who before the end of that season had won a Listed race.
Channon speaks of his frustration of the demise of selling races in 2014

People always told me that if I stopped doing this and stopped doing that, I'd live a few more years, but if I'm going to get a few more years of drinking, shagging and all those things, I want it to be when I'm 30, not when I'm 90 and pissing the bed, so I never saw the point.
Some philosophical advice from Channon’s ‘If I Knew Then’ series

Youmzain: super talented but liked a nibbleCredit: Edward Whitaker

He'd nip you and he'd kick you. At first we blamed the sire, then we blamed the dam, but we found that the sire and dam were both absolute sweethearts, so we had to assume it was just him. I always go in with a carrot, otherwise you could spend half an hour trying to catch him. It's bribery and corruption but it makes your life easier.
Channon on his relationship with Youmzain, the best horse he trained

I thought, like everybody does, I'll have half a dozen horses and it'll be a nice life, the horses will win, bring in a few quid, easy, but it doesn't happen like that. The trouble is, once you start, it's like a drug and it takes you that way.
Channon on how he built his stable from six horses to more than 150

I was an apprentice footballer living in digs in a little street in Southampton with four people from Eastleigh railway works, four dockers and three footballers. If you turned your back for a second at dinner they'd nick the roast potatoes off your plate. It was a good place to learn a few lessons in life.
Channon on the early days of his footballing career

We haven't even had any of the main Derby trials yet, let alone the Derby, and here they are with their hands out asking for five grand. They're just taking the piss out of owners.
Channon criticising the early entry €5,000 for the Arc in May 2009, the cost had risen from €1,500 the previous year

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'I've got to move on' – charismatic trainer Mick Channon to call it a day

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