Taaffe at the top

AS A JOCKEY, the late Pat Taaffe is rightly regarded as one of the all-time greats in National Hunt racing on the basis of his own record in the sport.

When you add in the fact that he was the man who piloted the legendary Arkle to his greatest successes, then his place in the sport's Hall of Fame is guaranteed.

However, for the offspring of such a sporting great to make their mark in the same sphere is no easy ride and that is something Tom Taaffe has had to live with throughout a career as a jockey. The constant comparisons with your dad in such circumstances can become tiresome and unwanted, but even now with his own riding career well behind him, it is not something Taaffe junior shies away from. Rather, he still revels in the memories his father left behind and even though he is now at the point of becoming one of this country's pre-eminent trainers, Taaffe is an articulate and interested party in the current debate about the merits of steeplechasing's current eminence grise, Best Mate, and the comparisons which are inevitably made with 'Himself' as Arkle was fondly accepted by the Irish racing public.