Memorial service for Simon Tindall

A memorial service for point-to-point owner and breeder Simon Tindall takes place in south London tomorrow (Tuesday, May 26).

Tindall (pictured above), who at one time kept a string of pointers in the south-east region, died in March at the age of 88. One of his best horses, Sheriff’s Friend, won 18 point-to-points plus the 2003 running of Stratford’s champion novices’ hunters’ chase for the John Corbet Cup. Then an eight-year-old he was ridden by Chris Gordon, now an established trainer based in Hampshire, and trained by his wife Jenny. In racing circles Tindall was best known for breeding dual Cheltenham Festival winner Simonsig and Royal Ascot scorer Gale Force Ten.

When the Gordons left the south-east to establish their training operation Tindall asked Nick Pearce to take on his yard. Pearce, now an assistant to champion trainer Dan Skelton, said: “Simon was a gentleman and it was very kind of him to give me a job doing his horses when I was very young. It was a great opportunity given that I was only 23.

“We had a lot of young horses there and up to 20 pointers – he absolutely loved point-to-pointing. Among the mares we had at that time were Dusty Too who bred Simonsig and he later acquired a good mare called Ronaldsay who was trained by Richard Hannon and subsequently bred Gale Force Ten.”

Nick Pearce: “Simon was a gentleman. He absolutely loved point-to-pointing”

Tindall sold Gale Force Ten for £280,000, a Doncaster record for a yearling at that time, although he went to finish second in Royal Ascot’s Norfolk Stakes for two-year-olds before winning the following year’s Jersey Stakes from Aidan O’Brien’s stable. Simonsig was sold to Ronnie Bartlett, sent into training with Nicky Henderson and won what is now called the Turner’s Novices’ Hurdle and the following year’s Arkle Chase.

Pearce said: “He lived for running horses in the south-east and topped it up with horses, and he helped Godstone [point-to-point course] when it was going through some tough times. He was very good to the sport, but there were other good yards there at the time. The Grissells had a lot of horses, David and Stewart Robinson always had nice horses, Jeffrey Peate trained plenty of winners and Mike Roberts trained Bitofamixup to win Stratford’s Horse & Hound Cup [ridden by Jenny Gordon the day after her husband had won the novices’ equivalent on Sherrif’s Friend].

“Simonsig didn’t run in a point-to-point, but I’ve had a lot of stick over the years because I managed to get him beaten in a schooling race at Penshurst. Then I took him to Kingston Blount to ride him in a maiden, but when we arrived I just felt the ground was a bit quick for a young horse and took him home. When he came in from grass the following autumn his work was so good and we agreed to send him to Ireland to Ian Ferguson’s yard. Ian had a lot of Simon’s young horses and trained Simonsig to win two points and a bumper before he joined Nicky Henderson.

“He became a star, but if he had won his point-to-point in Britain he would have stayed here and become an open point-to-point horse, which is crazy when you think about, but that was Simon all over.

Pearce said Tindall was so “much fun to ride for” while bloodstock agent Anthony Stroud, now a leading buyer of racehorses for organisations such as Godolphin, has an anecdote that typifies Tindall’s outlook on life. He said: “Simon wanted a hurdler [at a sale] and after he and I had bought the horse he said to me that we’d better go and buy a chaser. I thought he meant he wanted another horse and was about to set about it, but he only meant a drink! We shared a few and missed our flight back.”

Pearce added: “I rode a lot of winners for Simon. I took on Sheriff’s Friend towards the end of his career and probably the best horse I rode for Simon was Letterman, who I won half a dozen races on and who was full-brother to Grand National winner Ballabriggs. I say I ‘won’ races on him, in fact I ‘steered’ him – he was that good.”

Tindall was a driving force behind publisher Haymarket, with whom he was associated for more than 50 years, rising to the position of managing director. During his time at Haymarket, which published the likes of What Car? and Campaign, Tindall, a passionate racing fan, launched the Racing and Breeding Update magazine and later purchased Pacemaker magazine.

He was passionate about cricket – he had a box at Lord’s – and Fulham football club, and he was a committed supporter of the Injured Jockeys’ Fund.

The memorial service for Tindall, husband of Caroline, father of Jane, Mark and Lulu and a grandfather, will be held at St Mary’s Church, Barnes, SW13 at 12.30pm.