Newmarket racing legend Cliff Lines who worked with wonder horse Shergar receives award for 70 years of service
In Newmarket’s racing community he is already a legend.
On Thursday his fame spread just a bit further, when Cliff Lines, work rider of ill-fated wonder horse Shergar, was honoured with a Lifetime in Racing award.
Receiving the accolade with a smile as wide as the Rowley Mile and wearing the trademark sunglasses that might have just been hiding a tear, Cliff was the toast of the the racecourse with family, friends and racegoers acknowledging his 70 years’ service to the sport he loves.
And the special moment, organised by town-based charity Racing Welfare, was made all the more poignant with the presentation of a highly commended award to the family of popular former head lad Les Simpson, who had been nominated posthumously by his daughter, Kristina Milligan. Les, who died in June, aged 77, had begun his career in racing aged 15 and worked in the industry for 60 years. His family scattered his ashes close to the winning post at the Rowley Mile.
Cliff, now 87, who worked for the legendary trainers Dick Hern, Sir Noel Murless and Sir Michael Stoute, was associated with a clutch of outstanding horses including 1962 St Leger winner Hethersett, after whom his Exning yard is named.
And during his long career in racing he held a jockeys’ licence and had a stint as a trainer before calling it a day following the victory of Catapult at Lingfield in 2019.
But he will be forever remembered as the work rider of Shergar, 10-length winner of the Derby in 1981.
“Shergar was terrific and always was,” said Cliff. “He was a lovely horse to ride and there was no problems. We knew he was a good horse before he ever saw the racetrack.
“He told us early on in his career that he was good. I was on him at 33-1 in the Derby. I was on early on in the spring when he went 10 lengths clear in a gallop with good horses and he never came off the bridle.”
And, such is Cliff’s fame, his biography, Reading Between the Lines, will be published next month.
It has been written by Amanda Tanner, who worked as racing secretary to Sir Michael Stoute for 15 years from 1985 to 2000 which was where she met Cliff.
“Knowing nothing about racing or even how to ride, Cliff started as a 14-year-old apprentice to Noel Murless, and the book details his life, from riding a winner for the Queen, trying to make it as a jockey, through being a work rider and head lad to Michael Stoute, then pre-training, and eventually training himself,” she said. The book is available for pre-order at Amazon or the Racing Post bookshop.