THREE time National Hunt champion jockey Bob Davies, who rode Lucius to victory in the 1978 Grand National, recently returned to Taunton Racecourse for the first time in 30 years.

Davies, who rode 912 winners during a long career in the saddle is now the secretary at Ludlow Racecourse, which like Taunton is owned independently.

Davies said: “I have come here and I am enjoying a great day out as well as catching up with Bob Young who is the chief executive at Taunton.

“The independent courses are the grass roots of racing really and without us the big meetings wouldn’t survive either.”

Davies has a long association with the ‘Sport of Kings’, stretching back well over half a century.

He said: “I have been involved with racing for a long while – I started point-to-pointing when I was at school and ever since then I have been part of it in one form or another.”

Davies is no stranger to Taunton.

He added: “I rode a lot of winners here when I was riding for West country trainers like David Barron, Les Kennard and Billy Williams, especially when I was first starting.

“But this is the first time I have been back here since I stopped riding which is over 30 years ago.

“I think the course is a lot better course now than it was then, when the bends weren’t so good.

“When they built the motorway they used up the soil to improve the bends so now it’s a great deal better.

“The facilities have also changed a lot, and for the better since I was last here, but the difference is that the small courses have done it with their own money.”