After five years without him, we're missing John McCririck now more than ever

Sometimes five minutes with John McCririck could feel like a very long time, particularly when you were on a TV panel with him and he didn't quite see eye to eye with you. There was never anything personal about it, and the end of the show was the end of the argument, but until then it was 'gloves off' and you'd better have done your homework, because he always had.

Friday marks the fifth anniversary of his death, though, and five years seems like an eternity to have been without the great man.

I think it's fair to say that racing – and racing TV – misses him more now than ever; punters, too, because Big Mac, more than any before or since, was the punter's best friend, never slow out of the blocks when a bookmaker needed hunting down and savaging, or when he thought those in the dusty corridors of power were failing in their duty to protect those he insisted funded the industry with their betting.