Gordon W. Richards

His middle initial, W., was allegedly inserted in his name by an official at Salisbury Racecourse at the start of his career to differentiate him from the champion flat jockey Sir Gordon Richards.

In 1964 he took out a licence to train, initially at Beadnell, Northumberland before moving to Greystoke Castle stables near Penrith in Cumbria in 1968.

But owner Pat Muldoon transferred the animal to the Great Habton yard of Peter Easterby, where he won two Chester Cups and an Ebor Handicap, as well as the 1980 and 1981 runnings of the Champion Hurdle .

He had been beaten narrowly in the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in the Spring of that year, after dueling from a long way out with the eventual winner, Bobsline.

He died from cancer, aged 68, in Carlisle, Cumbria and was succeeded as trainer at Greystoke by his son, Nicky Richards.