Dickinson the genius to quit as a trainer

The 57-year-old three-time champion has been training Flat horses in the US but has decided to concentrate on selling Tapeta, the allweather surface that he developed.

Dickinson and his winners back in his glory years

Dickinson's greatest feat was saddling the first five in the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The achievement of Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House meant that at the age of 33, he entered racing folklore as a training genius.

Such was the pressure that he lost a stone worrying about his runners in the month leading up to the race.

Innovative Dickinson was a perfectionist who dominated the sport in much the same way as his successor Martin Pipe.

Groomed by his parents, Tony and Monica, Dickinson was a champion amateur jump jockey and had a spell as a professional before taking over the licence from his father in 1980.

A pioneer of interval training, his phenomenal success prompted the late Robert Sangster to appoint him as private trainer at his 2,300-acre Manton estate. But, with backward two-year-olds, the dream job turned into a nightmare.

It took him until October 1986, in that first season, to saddle his first winner in a campaign that yielded only four. Inevitably, the pair soon parted company and Dickinson moved across the Atlantic where he trained Da Hoss to win the Breeders' Cup Mile twice.

He said: 'I could never imagine a life without horses and I will still be surrounded by them. But we will probably sell the farm where I trained until recently.

'I will be able to go racing more often and I may even own some horses here in America. I'll be at Wetherby on Boxing Day and at Cheltenham for the Festival.

'Two tracks in the US — Presque Isles Downs and Golden Gates — already have Tapeta. There are a bunch of training tracks and two installations in Britain (both at Newmarket) and two more planned. I have been concerned for some time about the welfare of horses racing on unsuitable surfaces and really want to repay the horse in my own small way.'

The injury rate to horses racing on dirt in the US was highlighted by the sad demise of George Washington at the Breeders' Cup last month.

Tributes were led by fellow recordbreaking champion Martin Pipe, who said: 'He was certainly one of the great trainers. I remember going to Doncaster one day and looking at them all in the paddock. When I saw Michael's horse it looked different class, a different athlete and really fit.

It bolted up and I certainly learned a lot that day.'

Eight-time champion jockey and Racemail columnist Peter Scudamore added: 'I remember riding against his horses. Tactics went out of the window because he was so far ahead of the rest.'