Classics each day and not the classics in the accepted sense, had complete educational priority.

When Charlottown won the 1966 Derby it was my most unforgettable raceday. If Scobie Breasley hadn't got him past Pretendre by a heart thumping neck I wouldn't be in the game now. Scobie has a lot to answer for!! Being so poor I have never owned a racehorse but that day it felt as though I did as the result was crucial not only for financial reasons but also career.

The Vodafone Derby is the world's greatest horse race. We gather annually which our predecessors have done for more than 200 years to acclaim a Champion. Epsom Downs, one and a half miles on turf, three year olds only, in early June is a legacy we are obligated to hand down to those as yet unborn. The Derby has a history stretching back almost 100 years more than the talismanic Kentucky 'Durrby.' All other 'Derbies' are charlatan imitations.

The greatest horse I've seen win the Derby for sheer relief was Charlottown; for awe it has to be Sea bird II; for abject misery, Roberto (a catastrophic lose for our bookmaking firm on The Hill); for incredulity, Psidium (66-1); for beauty, from the horse and jockey Royal Palace (George Moore); of justification for a year of belief, Reference Point; in and of admiration professional brilliance it has to be all Lester Piggott's nine winners, a record never to be equalled. The greatest horse of all time though to me was Arkle 'Himself', the outstanding equine athlete ever witnessed on the planet.

Comparing flat and jump racing is invidious in many ways but if you look at The Vodafone Derby and the Martell Grand National they have both for two centuries become beloved British institutions which every year bind the nation together. The name of the Derby winner has the greater resonance.

I have one burning racing ambition and that is for my latest crash diet to work, enabling me to ride next year's Derby winner beating Frankie Dettori by the length of my cigar. Frank is world class and, unlike Sir Gordon Richards, won't have to wait until the twilight of his career to win the Blue Riband of the Turf. He is the pilot I want aboard my horse when I own one running in the Vodafone Derby.