'For him to be shot down in the war and then raise a family and see this, I think he'd be immensely proud'

When a book about the Scudamore family's long involvement in jump racing was being put together a few years ago, one of the possible titles being kicked around was Birch In Their Bones, which was soon dismissed for being somewhat alarming and likely to get mixed up with the Ian Rankins and PD Jameses. But it would at least have conveyed a sense of how much the family and the sport are a part of each other and have been for as long as anyone can remember.

The book was eventually called Three Of A Kind, because it centred on three consecutive generations of high-profile jump jockeys: Michael, Peter and Tom. But there's no need to stop at three when it comes to the Scudamores.

It all began with Michael's father Geoffrey, a farmer who did a bit of training and riding point-to-pointers on the side. He got his son riding in points from the age of 14 and, in 1950, they shared the family's first Cheltenham Festival victory when Sir Charles defied odds of 25-1 in the Gloucestershire Hurdle, now known as the Supreme.