George Baker: Classic hero, master horseman and tremendous human being

On February 24 this year I was at Lingfield Park. The Blue Bomber was running for Tim Radford and my old man was baffled as to where we were going with the horse. He always ran well but never won – over hurdles, on the Flat – but on any type of going he always showed ability. He just never won.

“Just tell George that I don’t know what to do with the bugger. He can go forward and he’ll know when they come down the hill what he’s doing. At least I’ll get a bit of feedback.”

That was George Baker the jockey. George could always tell you something.