Remembering the Duke.(David Nicholson)(Obituary)

So Anthony Charles Lynton Blair has a tea mug listing the qualities of an Anthony. Warren Christopher, in his days as US secretary of state, had a better one.

'The quality of a diplomat', its slogan declared, 'is to be able to tell someone to go to hell while making them feel they will enjoy the journey'. That was one quality which former trainer David Nicholson, who died last week, never quite acquired.

But there were so many others. Nobody cared so deeply about the standards of their sport as 'the Duke'. Few could give a jockey such a bollocking, but none was as loyal to their man when others sought to criticise him. Few had such commitment to everything they did - 'the Duke', unpaid, put as much into licking the jockeys' cricket team into shape, nets and all, as some highly salaried England managers have put …