Hales and Maguire are bigger losses to jump racing than jump racing is to them

If you asked me to name five of the most gifted horse people I’ve been lucky enough to work with, I’d struggle to leave out any of Timmy Murphy, Adrian Maguire or Eddie Hales.

Each possesses something indecipherable that the rest of us mere mortals could only ever aspire to match, and it was a privilege to be closely acquainted with them in my formative years in England. I was in awe of each man, but what they have cannot be taught or learned. Pity!

Murphy and Maguire were exquisite riders and Hales saw things no one else did, or at least long before anyone else did. He mightn’t have been as recognisable, but he was of a similarly unique ilk.