Sir Gordon Richards was the most successful jockey - flat or jumps - there's ever been: champion jockey for 26 years. He set a record of 269 winners in the season 55 years before I broke it. That was my greatest achievement.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My first winner was on Legal Steps, in Ireland, at Thurles, in March 1992. I rode for Jim Bolger, and his stable jockey was Christy Roche.
I hope to be remembered as a very good jockey.
I was the kid who never won the races. I never jumped the highest. I wasn't on the list of the high-achieving.
A good jockey has to be physically well balanced. They have to possess a strong upper body and a strong lower body. You've gotta have quick reflexes, and you've got to be incredibly coordinated. But it's you're instincts that have to be perfect. You can't be an exceptional rider without instincts.
As a young boy I won a few dollars in 1972 when Riva Ridge won the Kentucky Derby. I had overheard someone say he was going to win, and I guess that made an impression on me.
As far as I'm concerned, Parnelli Jones was the greatest driver of his era. He had aggressiveness and also a finesse that no one else possessed. And he won with everything he put his hands on, including off-road.
I bought a racehorse, Tropical Saint, that belonged to the Queen Mother. I used to go down to Banbury and watch him train, but during a televised race, his jockey pulled up and said there was something wrong. They put him in the grass to try and settle him but found him dead in the field.
One of my major competitors was Harold Smith. Smith beat me in 1977. I was loafing during that competition.
The most satisfying accomplishment for me was winning the British Open in 1996. But the most rewarding times were the times on the mini tours.
Jack Nicklaus is the greatest winner I've ever seen.