Spencer a great straight man

JAMIE SPENCER was forced to sit out last year’s Royal Ascot with a broken hip and he’ll be glad to get back to the meeting he adores above all others.

No jockey rides the straight track better than him and, truth be told, very few ever have. Commit too early on this terrain and it’s curtains; hence Spencer waits, waits and waits some more.

That predilection for patience naturally attracts the vultures when the inevitable happens now and again, but I’ve long admired his unwavering self-belief to do what he sees fit amid the criticism hurled his way when things do go pear-shaped.

Spencer is no ordinary jockey and has a record at Ascot that stands up to the closest scrutiny. You try to win four Sandringhams!