MICK CHANNON 

Courtesy Sportsignings.com

As kids, we all grow up with our sporting heroes. I was mad on soccer as a young boy, although something seemed to change in the sport by the start of the 1980s - the influx of too much money, maybe - and I slowly drifted away from it. But for well over a decade, like so many lads of my generation, I was football crazy. As such, a lot of my sporting heroes were footballers in my younger days, including a big chap called Mick Channon. What's this got to do with Turf, Dirt & Thoroughbreds, I hear you say? Well, it just so happens that Mick turned his hand to horse racing after his football career...

Born in November 1948, Mick made no less than 46 appearances for England, scoring 21 goals, and he was always making the headlines in club soccer, most memorably with Southampton as I remember. As soon as his career as a footballer came to an end, he became an Assistant Trainer, and quickly secured his licence as a fully-fledged trainer, saddling his first runners in 1989.

Courtesy West Ilsley Stables

Starting small, he soon built up an impressive stable, and bought the historically significant West Ilsley Stables in 1999. Since then, Mick has consistently produced a string of top flat runners, such as Queen's Logic, Zafeen, Nahoodh, Music Show and Youmzain. He now trains over 100 two-year olds each year, and manages to clock up a similar number of wins in each season. 

Mick has gone from being a hero on the football field to an amiable hero in the 'Sport of Kings'. There's a campaign going to have him Knighted - right now, it's hard to think of anyone more deserving of the honour.