Neville Callaghan, Michael Tabor and the one that got away - taking a pile of cash with it

In a song about growing old, US country rocker Howe Gelb sang: "They've been killing off all my heroes since I was 17."

That lyric has seemed apt recently with the recent deaths of Terry Venables, Shane MacGowan, Denny Laine of the Moody Blues (who also co-wrote Paul McCartney and Wings's 1970s hit Mull Of Kintyre) and Hollywood actor Ryan O'Neal.

None of the above was a hero of mine but they were for some, and while trainer Neville Callaghan, who also died recently aged 77, was not the type of character to attract hero worship on a large scale, his exploits with some of his horses are recalled with enormous fondness.