Charlie Mann leads tributes following death of steward and owner Charles Nugent at 61

Racing in the north-west of England is in mourning following the death of long-serving steward and owner Charles Nugent at the age of 61.

His son, jump jockey Hugh Nugent, gave up his ride at Huntingdon on Sunday to be with the family in Cheshire.

Nugent, an author and art expert, was a steward for two decades. His friend Caroline Wilson said: "He was brought up in racing in his family and was in it from day one. He and I owned lots of horses together and he was fantastic fun. 

"The best was probably Rudolf Rassendyll and we bought Saroque for Hugh to ride and that worked as he won at Wincanton.

"He was very laid back as a steward but you shouldn't be fooled as you couldn't take advantage of him." 

Former trainer Charlie Mann, godfather to Nugent's daughter, said: "I'd known him for 44 years, ever since I was in Lambourn. I knew him when he was at Oxford and he was a super fellow.

"He was a very ordinary point-to-point jockey but he had the most brilliant mind I've ever known in anyone. He could tell you about anything. 

"He owned the very first horse I ran as a trainer, Laburnum, who won his first race at Bangor in 1993 with Richard Dunwoody on board. He also owned a share in Its A Snip, who won the Pardubicka."

Nugent's father David was a trainer and Mann said: "If it wasn't for the Nugents, there wouldn't be a racing village in Lambourn because his grandfather started the whole thing, and his mother sold the gallops to the Jockey Club."

Nugent had been ill for a while but Mann said: "He wanted to have been to every racecourse and his last one was Fakenham. He came here last Tuesday and we went the next day.

"They called it off after one race but he got there. He left here on Thursday and died on Saturday – I think he literally hung on until he did his last course."