The remarkable story of daredevil Prince Charles's riding career - including a close-up of Derek Thompson's rear end

Had Prince Charles proved a half-hearted kind of rider, the type to quit at the first sign of disappointment, he might well have been recalled in the annals of the turf with one of the most damning epithets known to jockeykind: 'Not quite as good as Derek Thompson'.

Fortunately for the good name of the monarchy, he persisted, and while he never quite found his way into the winner's enclosure during his 15-month career, he won himself plenty of admirers, for his Corinthian spirit as much as for his style and finesse.

He was a raw race rider when he started and not fully polished by the time he retired – quite possibly at the behest of those with an eye on his impending marriage to Lady Diana Spencer – but he had made significant strides and, mercifully, eradicated the possibility that his abiding memory of the sport would be the sight of Tommo's indelicately exposed posterior leading him up the hill at Plumpton.