Oscar Fitzgerald is just 17, but with a Grand National-winning father, three international victories and a month’s training with Pippa Funnell already under his belt, he looks to have all the advantages necessary to head full steam into a career in eventing.

“I’m very lucky with the team of owners I have at my age – they have been extremely kind and hopefully I can do them justice on their horses,” says the Lambourn-based rider.

Oscar is the son of former National Hunt jockey Mick Fitzgerald, who won the Gold Cup and Grand National, but he never considered following his father into racing.

“That route was never really an opportunity for me because I’m quite tall – I love racing, but I knew I was too big,” says Oscar, who instead picked up his mother Chloe’s sport of eventing. “I did Pony Club and drifted towards eventing as I liked going cross-country and that sort of thing.”

Oscar is based in the yard at his parents’ house, having left school in the summer of 2024 after his GCSEs.

“It was an easy decision for me personally,” he says. “I really want to have a crack at eventing. I was very lucky this winter to work at Pippa Funnell’s for a month and that was really inspiring, to see that step up and understand how a professional yard works. It was a great experience.

“I’m very lucky that I’ve got a nice little set-up here – 12 stables, a school, land – and I’ve got a good little team of horses.”

Asked his highlight of 2024, Oscar said the junior CCI2*-S at Cornbury, a class he won on Super Cillious, finished sixth in on RL Rolls Royce and jumped clear across country in on his third ride, Grand Cru E.

Super Cillious is a 15-year-old bred by Sarah Bullen and was a championship ride for Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon, including at the Tokyo Olympics, before Oscar took over the ride in April of 2024. His owners Lucy Allison, Deborah Bevan, Juliet Donald and Vittoria approached him and asked if he wanted the ride.

“I went down there to have a sit on him and loved riding him,” says Oscar. “I was so very lucky with Vittoria, she was extraordinarily helpful. I have had a chance to ride a couple of horses who’ve been a bit more experienced and it’s interesting as they go a certain way, so I had to take on Vittoria’s style of riding, which I picked up quite quickly with her help, although it’s very different to mine, and so I was able to get cracking with him quite quickly. It’s a great opportunity to ride a horse like that and experience the feeling when looking for horses in the future.”

The pair also won the Ballindenisk CCI2*-L a couple of weeks after Cornbury to round off Super Cillious’s season.

The teenager also has the ride on Our Old Fella, the popular grey ex-racehorse who was previously competed by Piggy March. He has been with Oscar for nearly two years and was 11th in the young rider CCI3*-S at Cornbury.

“He’s a very cool little horse and was super at Cornbury,” says Oscar. “When he comes back into jumping work he’s quite the character, he squeals and bucks and has a great time.”

In 2025, Oscar Fitzgerald will aim Super Cillious and RL Rolls Royce, who will be eight years old, for junior trials, with European Championship selection his major aim. He also has some promising younger horses who will head for young horse classes.

“Our Old Fella will aim for the ex-racehorse class at Cornbury – I think that’s a great initiative to look forward to for our racehorses and it has partly come from Jayne McGivern, who owns ‘Polo’,” he says of a new contest which reflects the passion for ex-racehorses shared by Jayne and Cornbury president David Howden. It carries a £45,000 first prize.

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Grand National hero Rough Quest — whose 1996 victory was described by his jockey Mick Fitzgerald as ‘better than sex’ — has died at the grand age of 30.

The gelding provided owner Andrew Wates, trainer Terry Casey and Mick with one of their most memorable days in racing and was the longest living Grand National-winning horse.

However, he recently developed an infection, which he was struggling to overcome, and the decision was made to put him to sleep on Wednesday (19 October).

The son of Crash Course was retired from the track aged 12 before enjoying a few years on the hunting field, but was described by his owner as “rather a handful and very strong”.

He returned to Andrew’s home in Dorking, Surrey, three years later where he would remain in happy retirement for the next 15 years.

“He really was part of the family and will be very much missed — I would visit him at least two or three times a week. I had owned him for 26 years and for most of that time he remained in the same yard at Henfold House Stables,” said Andrew.

“He was a very tough individual and was extremely well looked after by David Arbuthnot [who trains from Henfold] in his retirement.”

Andrew found Rough Quest as a ‘keen’ four-year-old in Ireland through trainer Arthur Moore.

“He’s was a fantastic mover and a really lovely horse — a bit backward but a big, strong horse.”

He won over the infamous Aintree fences aged 10, having been second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and won the Racing Post Chase on the lead-up to the big race.

“Mick Fitzgerald gave him a beautiful ride in the National that year. You never wanted to hit the front too soon with Rough Quest because he would idle,” added Andrew.

“Following the race there was an enquiry and I think I was too busy with emotion that it was almost a relief when the winner was announced — it really was the best day.”

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One highlight of the cold winter months for any National Hunt fan is spending Saturday afternoon on the sofa watching Channel 4 Racing. But what does it take to produce live action from the races every weekend, H&H were fortunate enough to go behind the scenes at Ascot to find out...

Preparing to go live on air

All the filming takes place in the studio truck, which has a pop-out side to allow for extra space. Final preparations for The Morning Line going on air at 8am are underway. Each presenter is given an earpiece — through which the director Denise Large and producer Sophie Veats can prompt while the show is live. Rishi Persad is hosting the show and sits alongside Mick Fitzgerald and studio guests trainer Dan Skelton and jockey Tom Scudamore.

The nucleus of Channel 4 Racing

Just a few cables here — all of the technical goings-on happen in the scanner, a separate truck located the otherside of the racecourse from the studio truck.

21 different screens

Both Denise and Sophie, along with the gallery PA, Lynne, are also sat in the scanner truck — in front of an astounding 21 screens. Throughout the show Denise will prompt the team with which camera shots need to be used.

Breakfast time

Once The Morning Line has gone off air, it is time for some re-fuelling and courtesy of Ascot racecourse, a full English breakfast is on the menu.

The production meeting

The afternoon’s producer, Jim Ramsey, arrives along with Rishi’s co-host Gina Harding for the production meeting at 10am. Amid plenty of laughter and joking around, the team work their way through the afternoon show’s script, making sure everyone is — literally — on the same page.

Video making

All morning the creative team, also located in the scanner truck, work on the video montages, which often open the afternoon show. Footage is collected from around the course all morning, including the trainers, jockeys and racegoers arriving. The team sift through the footage and decide what they want to use in the final video.

Preparations for going on air again

The team are back on the sofa by 1.30pm for the countdown to the afternoon’s action. Their make-up is touched up by make-up artist Charlotte. The presenters have a final look through the script, while Rishi also writes his opening scripts — the presenters never use autocue on the show.

The tracker vehicle

Biff and Nick are in charge of the black Land Rover, which travels at 40mph around the inside of the track filming the runners in action. It is driven skillfully by Nick — who also engineered the design of the specially-adapted car. Attached to the top of the car is an imprssive globe-shaped camera which cost £250,000…

...While in the back

Biff takes control of the camera in the back of the car while Nick drives at speed — he makes sure the relevant runners are always in the correct shot.

Interviewing outside with Gina

While Rishi and Mick are presenting from the studio, Gina has the more hectic job of being out-and-about interviewing jockeys and the horses’ connections…

…and talking to the winner

During the race Gina watches each horse to see how they are running and writes notes down — she will also come up with a number of questions to ask the victorious jockey.

Don’t miss the full feature about how Channel 4 Racing works in this week’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine (12 November 2015)

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Cheltenham Gold Cup winner See More Business died peacefully at home in Somerset yesterday (Thursday, 24 July). He was 24.

The Paul Nicholls-trained chaser played a pivotal role in the career of the champion trainer, who described him as a “horse of a lifetime”.

As well as his Gold Cup success, See More Business emphatically won the 1999 King George VI Chase at Kempton by 17 lengths, with his other success in the same race on Boxing Day in 1997.

He was ridden to victory in both the Gold Cup and the King George by Mick Fitzgerald (pictured above) who rode him in 11 of his 18 victories — out of a total of 36 career starts — with earnings of £701,722.

His 1997 King George success was with Andrew Thornton, when the pair came home ahead of AP McCoy and the Martin Pipe-trained Challenger Du Luc.

The gelding by Seymour Hicks enjoyed a glorious start to his career, winning his first start over hurdles under champion jockey AP McCoy at Chepstow in November 1995.

The combination went on to success on the next three occasions with a first win over chase fences coming in November 1996, again at Chepstow.

Owned for the majority of his career by Paul Barber and John Keighley, the popular chaser retired in 2003.

He has been looked after since by Emma Barber, Paul’s daughter-in-law, spending this summer turned out with 2012 Champion Hurdle winner Rock On Ruby.

It was reported that Emma found him in the field and that there are plans to bury him on top of Ditcheat Hill so that he looks over the gallops.

Appropriately he also ran his last race at Chepstow before retirement in December 2003, when finishing fourth to Sir Rembrandt in the John Hughes Rehearsal Chase.

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A new coaching and mentoring programme to improve horsemanship among young jockeys has been launched by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

Former top jockeys Mick Fitzgerald and Kevin Darley are among eight new “jockey coaches” to recently receive a top-level qualification, enabling them to coach on the new scheme.

For the past year Mick and Kevin along with John Reid, Richard Perham, Michael Tebbutt, Graham Lee, Craig Benton and Jimmy Bleasdale have been training for their UKCC coaching qualification. They have all successfully completed the course, which is a widely regarded qualification used across the board in a majority of sports.

“The coaches have really committed themselves to achieving the UKCC qualification,” said Sam Martin from the BHA. “This coaching initiative is the first step in developing more comprehensive training for jockeys throughout their careers.”

Sixteen newly licensed jockeys — eight conditional jockeys from the Northern Racing College and eight apprentice jockeys from the British Racing School — will pilot the brand new coaching and mentoring programme.

Each young jockey has been allocated one of the coaches. They will provide the jockeys with one-to-one coaching focusing on riding technique, motivation, fitness and communication skills.

The jockeys will receive coaching until they have “ridden out their claim” (a weight allowance for less experienced jockeys, which is reduced the more winners they ride).

“This been needed for some time and is a great step in the right direction” said Mick Fitzgerald. “I only wish it had been available when I was riding. I’m really looking forward to coaching and giving something back to the industry.”

In the new year 16 more jockeys will be included in the programme. And a second intake of eight new jockey coaches — including Jimmy McCarthy, Warren Marston and Christian Williams — will start their UKCC qualification in September.

And the scheme has the approval of Yogi Breisner, coach assessor and British eventing team chef d’equipe, who said it will “benefit racing as a whole”.

For more information visit: www.britishhorseracing.com

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National hunt jockey Mick Fitzgerald has announced he will be hanging up his boots.

The charismatic jockey is retiring from race-riding after sustaining neck and knee damage during a fall from L’Ami in the 2008 Grand National in April.

He subsequently underwent surgery to realign 3 vertebrae and 2 discs as well as extensive surgery on a damaged knee ligament.

The 38-year-old broke his neck in a fall in 2005 and returned to racing.

But after his latest injuries he has been advised to step down from the saddle.

Mick told H&H: “It is on the advice of my surgeons — the amount of metal and fused bone in my neck means it’s not as flexible as it used to be.

“If I had a bad fall the results could be catastrophic. I had no choice.

“I’m a little bit gutted that it wasn’t on my terms but it’s the only decision. After I was lying on my back behind the fence at Aintree and I couldn’t feel my body I’m happy not to have to be in that position again.”

In a glittering national hunt career Mick has a host of top races under his belt — including the 1999 Cheltenham Gold Cup on See More Business and the 1996 Grand National on Rough Quest.

And in 2003 he became only the 9th jump jockey to ride over 1,000 winners.

Following the decision Mick has confirmed to H&H that he is looking into an alternative career in racing broadcasting.

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Jockey Mick Fitzgerald has successfully come through a further operation following his fall in the Grand National from L’Ami on Saturday 5 April.

Mick underwent a five-hour operation on his neck on Monday night and it is now supported by a fixed brace.

During the same surgery he had an operation to repair severe ligament damage on his knee, which also went well.

Surgeon Jeremy Fairbanks will be assessing Mick’s progress and it is hoped that he will be able to return home in the near future.

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Mick Fitzgerald has been transferred to a hospital closer to his Oxfordshire home following his fall from L’Ami in the Grand National last Saturday (5 April).

On Sunday Mick underwent an eight-hour operation to re-align three vertebrae and two discs in his neck.

Since being arriving at the Nuffied Hospital Mick has received visits from former weighing room colleagues John Francome and Carl Llewellyn and is reported to be in good spirits.

Yesterday Jeremy Fairbanks, the orthopedic surgeon who performed surgery on Mick when he broke his neck in 2005, assessed his injury.

Dr Fairbanks will be performing a second operation on Mick this Monday — which is estimated to take four to five hours to complete.

Mick will also undergo surgery on his knee to repair severe ligament damage, which he also sustained in the fall last Saturday.

Anybody wishing to send a message to Mick can email info@thepja.co.uk. Messages will be posted on the PJA features page of thepja.co.uk

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Mick Fitzgerald is reported to be in a “comfortable condition” following his fall during the Grand National at Aintree on Saturday (5 April).

The jockey underwent an eight-hour operation on Sunday to re-align three vertebrae and two discs in his neck.

Mick, who won the Grand National in 1996 on Rough Quest, was riding the Francois Doumen-trained L’Ami in this year’s race when he fell at the second fence.

At 37 years old Mick was the oldest rider the 2008 Grand National. He was taken off the course on a stretcher and transferred to hospital to undergo MRI scans. He is now being closely monitored by the medical team at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

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