1997 National hero Dobbin to retire next week

Published on Friday 4 April 2008 22:57

NICKY Richards and Len Lungo led the tributes to Tony Dobbin after the 35-year-old Ulsterman – who won the Grand National aboard Lord Gyllene in 1997 – announced his impending retirement from the saddle. Dobbin will officially hang up his whip after riding at Carlisle next Thursday.

His win aboard Lord Gyllene in the Grand National was especially notable as the race was run on a Monday following a bomb scare on the Saturday. As well as winning Aintree's four-and-a-half-miler 11 years ago, the jockey has also been associated with star horses like One Man and Monet's Garden.

The latter is trained by Richards, for whom Dobbin has ridden since 1998, following the death of Nicky's father Gordon. "He's been a fantastic jockey for father and myself. He told me he's been in this country 19 years and he's had 14 of them at Greystoke," Richards said. "When my father passed away Tony stuck with me very loyally. He could have moved off to bigger and better things."

Richards, described Dobbin as a master of his craft. "He had a lot going for him. He was a fantastic tactician," added the trainer. "He's had a fantastic career, won the National and has also ridden over 1,000 winners."

Dobbin, the seventh most successful jump jockey of all time, also teamed up well with Lungo. "He was good on good horses, but on those that were a bit lazy or dodgy he was able to make up their minds and make them go and do it – a bit like Tony McCoy," said Lungo.

"In my view he was the best jockey in the north for a long number of years and one of the top three in the country.

"There are lots of good memories of big winners we had, but I'll never forget Freetown winning the Pertemps Hurdle at Cheltenham. That was just a few days after one of Tony's brothers was killed and we couldn't really speak about it. We had some great times and I wish him the very best."

Upon retirement, Dobbin will assist partner Rose Davidson with the training at a purpose-built yard which is likely to be up and running next year.

Explaining his decision to retire, Dobbin said: "I'm 36 next month and it seems the right time to do it. I'm going to sign off at Carlisle on Thursday. It's been my home from home for the best part of 20 years so I'd like to finish there.

"My girlfriend Rose is going into training next year and I'm going to be assistant to her. I'm going to work for Kevin Ryan in the summer and go to Jonjo O'Neill's for more experience to see the training side of things.

"It's back to basics now. It's one thing getting off a horse, it's different when you have to care for them."