When you think of great jump jockeys, this generation will no doubt cite the phenomenon that is AP McCoy.

Yet there is one man who set the standards by which the rest of us only hoped to follow.

Fred Winter set a benchmark of excellence by which all subsequent riders have been measured. He also became a truly great trainer.

I only rode for Fred a couple of times, sadly never riding a winner for him, and fell off his Hazy Sunset at Aintree the day before the 1986 Grand National.

He was a big influence on my career and certainly on John Francome’s, Peter Scudamore’s and Richard Pitman’s to name but a few.

It is very hard to compare generations, but as a jockey Fred was phenomenal, his exploits had the ability to inspire others.

In his career in the saddle, from 1946-64, he was champion jockey four times and won all the big races, including Grand Nationals on Sundew and Kilmore, Cheltenham Gold Cups on Saffron Tartan and Mandarin, Champion Hurdles on Clair Soliel, Fare Time and Eborneezer and King George VI Chases on Halloween and Saffron Tartan.

On his retirement in 1964, he had won more races than any other jockey over jumps in Britain (923).

He was much more than a great jockey though. He set the highest standards of integrity, and his natural modesty and kindness remained with him all his life.

Richard Pitman, a member of the BBC TV racing team, joined Fred as a stable lad in 1964.

“Fred was a great man, and whatever he did he would have been successful at it,” said Richard.

“In 1973 I was beaten a short head on Pendil and I have a photograph on the wall of Fred walking in with one arm round me and the other on the horse.

“A year later we won the Champion Hurdle on Lanzarote, and there’s an almost identical picture of Fred with his arm round me and the other on the horse. He was the same in victory and defeat.

“When he took me on, he said ‘you’ll never make a champion jockey, but horses jump for you and you’re honest, and those are the two things that I require’.

“For him to watch me get beaten in races that he would have won, must have been very difficult for him.

“When he started training, we lived in tiny towing caravans. We had six horses and that quickly became 26 in a couple of months. He was soon inundated with horses and any other trainer would have built more stables. Not Fred. He built a hostel, instead.

“Fred was a terribly fair man and led by example all the time. As a jockey he was pure strength. He never had to raise his voice. He only had to look at you. His eyes were steel.”

Winter trained champions the calibre of Bula, Pendil, Midnight Court and Crisp, and won eight titles, including five in a row between 1971 and 1975.

Pitman added: “When Red Rum beat me on Crisp in the 1973 Grand National, we never discussed the race for weeks afterwards, despite driving to the races together almost every day.

“We had a lot of losers after that, and one day, on the way to Plumpton, he woke up and said: ‘You know when we lost that race, don’t you?’

“I replied, ‘Yes’.

“So he turned to me and said: ‘Then there’s no point discussing it’.

“It was great to have worked for your hero because we normally admire people from afar.”

Fred died aged 77 in 2004, having been in wheelchair for 16 years after suffering a stroke.

I feel truly privileged to have known this wonderful man, who is survived by his lovely family, wife Diana and three daughters, Joanna and Denise, who are twins, and Philippa.