Racing: Mick Fitzgerald will head up a new racing club after announcing plans to retire from the saddle at the end of the season.
One of the elite band to win both the Grand National (on Rough Quest in 1996) and the Cheltenham Gold Cup (on See More Business in 1999) - Fitzgerald, 36, has decided to bring the curtain down on a glittering career at the top that spans almost 20 years.
Fitzgerald has won most of the major prizes in National Hunt racing, including the 1999 King George VI Chase at Kempton on See More Business. And he has a host of victories to his name at the Cheltenham Festival.
Among those are the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Call Equiname (1999), the Stayers' Hurdle on Bacchanal (2000) and the Arkle Trophy on Tiutchev.
Despite not ever being champion, Fitzgerald is one of the six winning-most jump jockeys of all time with well over 1,000 winners.
Fitzgerald said: "I wanted to go out at the top on my terms and this is probably the best way to do it. I've ridden so many great horses, too many to mention and I really couldn't pin down one to say it was the best. When I was growing up as a kid in Ireland I wouldn't have believed that I could have had the career that I have had.
"I thought that if anybody rode 100 winners they were lucky, let alone 1,000."
He added: "An offer came up to be director of racing for Club ISM and it was too good to turn down. It will be a fairly exclusive and unique operation and I'll be looking after the team of horses and the people inside the club.
"Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff have already signed up. The great thing is ISM (International Sports Management) itself is such a huge operation. They are aiming to provide what will be a fantastic concierge experience. Everything will be catered for and there'll be plenty of days out involved."
Cork-born Fitzgerald left Ireland for England at the age of 18 and had his first winner on Lovers Secret at Ludlow in December, 1988.
One of the most respected jockeys in the weighing room, he has also built up a reputation as an expert television pundit.