Cheltenham to honour Oaksey

Cheltenham is to name the 2013 running of the National Hunt Chase at the Festival in honour of the late John Oaksey, who died at the age of 83 in September.

In a lifetime’s involvement in racing, he was twice champion amateur jump jockey and is the only rider to have won all three races at the Festival exclusively for amateur riders.

He won a total of four races at the big fixture, the 1959 National Hunt Chase on Sabaria, the 1973 Foxhunter Chase on Bullocks Horn and the Kim Muir Handicap Chase twice, on Jimmy Scott in 1966 and Black Baize in 1971.

He was an outstanding journalist, broadcaster for ITV and Channel 4 and founded the Injured Jockeys’ Fund.