'If Dickie has a bad word to say about you there's something wrong with you'

I met Dickie when he rode as an amateur in my first year in England, back in 1994 - he was a great lad from the start and never changed one bit. We were serious rivals and we sat next to each other for most of our careers but we never, ever had a cross word. I genuinely don't remember either of us being annoyed or having a bad thing to say to the other, not even remotely.

It was that kind of respectful relationship between two competitive individuals and there's no doubt that he made me better because he kept me at it all through my career. No disrespect to the other lads but in terms of wanting to be champion jockey, he made me work harder every day of the week, and I think in any walk of life you need someone to challenge you to make you better.

We probably had a similar mindset. He's very hard, mentally and physically, a real tough lad but really genuine and really decent. He wanted to beat you and was the hardest man to try to beat but he was always fair. I've ridden with loads of lads who'd try to be clever, try to be smart, stick you up against the rail, whatever it may have been, but Dickie would never do that. He'd want to beat you but he'd always play by the rules.