Trainer Ed Dunlop has paid tribute to Bruce Raymond following his death at the age of 82.
The former Group 1-winning rider and more recently racing manager to several high-profile owners including Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum, Rabbah Bloodstock and Jaber Abdullah, died of cancer on Sunday.
Raymond was champion apprentice jockey in 1962 and went on to record half a dozen victories at the highest level, ending his career in the saddle at the age of 51 and widely considered one of the best jockeys to have ridden in Britain without winning a domestic Classic.
"One of my legends, really," Dunlop said on the Nick Lucky Daily Podcast.
"Obviously, he rode for my father, and then when I got the job to be Maktoum's trainer, he was involved and he rode, and then he became assistant racing manager with Joe Mercer and they very much worked as a team, and he was just a huge support to me in many, many ways.
"He was always a very good judge on the gallops. He was always very good. Obviously, when he became a manager, he was very good at liaising with all the Arab clients we had. And just being a good friend and supporter, we went racing together a lot. We did so many things together. I think I'll never forget how good he was with other jockeys.
"I remember Frankie (Dettori) talking about him and of the way he looked, the way he went to the races. Always incredibly smartly turned out and on point at all times, he was respected by everyone.
"I never forget, he was always at the sales, standing by the chute with his catalogue, writing in the numbers of what horses had been bought for whoever, and all of us trainers going, 'is that for me and that for me, or not for me?'
"He was very good at sort of avoiding the question, he said, 'oh, I'll come back to you but I'll put in a word for you'. So he was good like that to so many trainers, and I think supportive of all those Maktoum trainers that he helped look after.
“But I suppose most of all, just somebody who was Newmarket, someone who it sort of seems inconceivable won't be around anymore. Much loved, and as I've said before, much respected, just a really good man, never had a bad word with him.
"He loved racing. He loved everything to do with horses. His darling wife, Jenny, we obviously feel for most at the moment, who was a great support to him and they were a great team. We were lucky enough to go on many holidays in the Maktoum days to Dubai and with Joe and Anne Mercer. And he was just really fun to be about and just very helpful to me, almost a father figure in many ways, but I will miss him greatly."
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