Horse training has lost three outstanding practitioners with the deaths of Charlie Whittingham, Tim Forster and Paul Kelleway. Nicknamed the "Bald Eagle", 86-year-old Whittingham's racing career spanned 62 years and saw him train in excess of 2,500 winners.

Among his best were Horses Of The Year Ack Ack, Ferdinand and Sunday Silence.

Forster, who was 65, won the Aintree Grand National three times, with Well To Do, Ben Nevis and Last Suspect.

A top jumps jockey as well as a trainer, Paul Kelleway was 58. The highlights of his riding career came with victory in the 1969 Cheltenham Gold Cup on What A Myth and successive Champion Hurdles in 1971 and 1972 aboard the great Bula.

He held a trainer's licence for 20 years until his retirement in 1997.