'It happened by accident' - Brian Harding thrilled at saddling first runner

Former jump jockey Brian Harding might have only got into training by accident, but he admitted to getting "a good kick" out of saddling his first runner on a racecourse.

Harding, who won the Queen Mother Champion Chase on One Man, retired in 2017 after a long and successful career in the saddle and his name was back on a racecard at Musselburgh last Saturday.

Despite ruling out training when announcing his retirement from riding four years ago, the 48-year-old has three point-to-pointers to keep him busy in between his role as a BHA jockey coach and duties at his pre-training yard in Penrith.

Festival-winning Brian Harding to quit saddle on Friday

Senor Lombardy became Harding's landmark first runner when finishing fourth behind winner Salvatore in the Scottish Foxhunter Open Hunters' Chase, having won a point-to-point at Alnwick in December.

"It probably happened by accident as I do plenty of breaking in for owner Richard Gilbert and trainer Keith Dalgleish and they sent Senor Lombardy to us last spring," he said.

"My fiancee Kelly does a lot of work with him and it's different, but we get a good kick out of it. It's grand; my main job is being a jockey coach and it fits in around it.

"He's a gorgeous-looking horse and they thought a lot of him but he'd lost his way, and we had to go down this route after point-to-pointing was stopped. He ran a cracker at Musselburgh as the track wouldn't have suited and he could go to Kelso or Wetherby next."

Brian Harding enjoyed his biggest victory on One Man in the Champion Chase

Harding rode for Nicky Richards, whose late father Gordon trained One Man, on whom he gained the most prestigious of more than 600 career winners in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 1998.

Based a mile away from Richards, Harding uses the gallops at Greystoke for his small team, which also includes the former Fergal O'Brien-trained Lovely Job, and can rely on the trainer for advice.

"My fiancee's daughter Elizabeth Gale, who works for Philip Hobbs, is looking to get an amateur licence and we have Lovely Job for her to ride in point-to-points," Harding said.

"He was a fair horse rated 138 for owners Paul and Clare Rooney, who kindly gave him to us."

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