Tributes paid to 'class act' Peter Beaumont, the farmer with an eye for a horse

Peter Beaumont has been hailed as "a star man" by the jockey who shared his biggest triumph.

Mark Dwyer, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Jodami for him in 1993, paid tribute to the North Yorkshire trainer's eye for a horse.

Beaumont, who died on Monday at the age of 85, was renowned for the way he could spot a potentially top-class chaser in an unraced youngster and Dwyer said: "He was originally a farmer, a stockman, and invariably if you're a good stockman you can pick a horse.

"He was a class act at it and his record speaks for itself. From the point-to-point days to J-J-Henry and moving on to Jodami he proved it through and through.

"Credit to Peter because Jodami was quite a difficult horse to get fit, a big, gross, old-fashioned type of horse, and he had the key to him, he produced him right on the big days."

The modest and respected man who masterfully guided Jodami to Gold Cup glory

Dwyer, who retired from the saddle in 1997, also won three Irish Gold Cups on Jodami and has fond memories of riding for the trainer.

"You couldn't have wished for a better man to ride for in all respects," he said. "He was a gentleman inside and outside of racing. He was a star man.

"He was very balanced, there were no ups and no downs, but I'm sure inwardly there was a little bit more going on than there was outwardly!"

Brendan Powell also paid tribute to Beaumont, having first ridden for the trainer when winning the Greenalls Grand National Trial at Haydock on Young Kenny in 1999.

"Luckily he managed to win, he kept me on and he won the Midlands National and the Scottish National," he recalled. "I still think he would have gone close in the National the next year if he hadn't fallen.

Brendan Powell won the Scottish Grand National on Young Kenny in 1999Credit: Alec Russell

"When I went up to the north I used to stay with Peter and his wife and he was like a father figure to me. When I was packing up riding he was the first person I rang to tell.

"He was a great trainer of a National Hunt horse. They were always nice, big types, they were always schooled well and fit. I loved riding out there – he did everything the old fashioned way."

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