Injury forces Maguire to quit saddle

Maguire, who was a prolific winner in the North and recorded 1,000-plus winners, has not ridden competitively since February 2015 after a fall at Musselburgh which required surgery on slipped discs in his back. He also lost part of his liver in a life-threatening fall at Stratford in March 2014.

Maguire won the 2011 Grand National on Ballabriggs and enjoyed Cheltenham successes on Galileo, Peddlers Cross, Cinders And Ashes and Son Of Flicka.

Those paying tribute to Maguire, now racing manager to leading owners Paul and Clare Rooney, included 20-times champion jockey Sir AP McCoy. He said: “He was an unbelievably tough competitor and, if anything, he was getting better with age.

“I always judged myself by numbers and his numbers were on the up, he was at a point in his life where statistics showed he was getting better. For the last six months he was riding in unbelievable pain, he was having to travel to the races lying down in the back of cars it was hurting so much.”