I’ve had only about 4000 rides in my whole life and the likes of Maguire Dunwoody and McCoy would

“I’ve had only about 4,000 rides in my whole life and the likes of Maguire, Dunwoody and McCoy would have that in four seasons,” he said. “I’m quite selective in what I ride so there are not that many miles on the clock [and this one hasn't stopped].”Michael Dickinson always told me not to ride a lot of bad horses or it would totally knacker my confidence. Going round for pounds 80 on a 66-1 shot that’s got no chance and might bury you is a waste of time. It spoils your confidence, spoils your technique and might even spoil you. When people I don’t know ring up and ask me to ride something in a novice chase for the first time I think it’s a bit of a liberty.”Graham Bradley has lost his racing liberty several times since he rode his first winner in 1980.

In fact, when he guides Collier Bay to post on Tuesday it will be hard to evaluate which side of the partnership has more form. Bradley first felt a ruler across his knuckles in 1982, when he was suspended for having a bet. Since then he has been punished for non-trying, riding a finish a circuit too early and being caught napping (not for the last time) and beaten on the run-in. He knows he has been silly, but there are explanations for many of his misdemeanours and it is easy to accept the belief that the jockey is the victim of unwarranted official attention.It seems that a singed parchment poster bearing Bradley’s features is nailed to the wall of all racing’s sheriffs. If he parked on a double yellow line a team from the Jockey Club’s disciplinary committee would probably come spilling out of a surveillance van. It may well be that he has to jump into a canyon to get this posse off his back. “It’s been annoying and disappointing throughout my career and something I’ve had to cope with,” he said.

“The whole thing is a pain in the arse.”There have been the ups and downs, but you’ve got to be very tough in this world and thick-skinned because lots of things go right but 10 times as many things go wrong. During the bad times, all I could do was keep trying, keep riding out and keep believing in myself until I had clawed my way back up. Confidence in my own ability and the love of what I do has kept me going.”The racing cognoscenti have understood Graham Bradley’s capacities ever since Gold Cup day in 1983, when, as a 22-year-old, he led home Michael Dickinson’s cavalry on Bregawn. The celebrations that night were conducted among a media scrum in the Flying Pizza in Leeds, but there was a limitation on the carafes of Lambrusco. “I was still a stable lad doing my three at the time and the last thing that Mrs Dickinson [the trainer's mother] said to me as we left at about midnight was don’t be late for work,” Bradley remembers.