Spencer to ride over hurdles at Lingfield Jamie Spencer teams up with trainer Jim Best for a rare hurdles runner at Lingfield on Tuesday. Spencer, who is due to retire from the saddle at the end of the year, is no stranger to the winter game and even has a Cheltenham Festival winner under his belt. While he jumped no obstacles when he won the 2002 Champion Bumper on Edward O'Grady's Pizarro, Spencer has a strong National Hunt background as his late father George trained the 1963 Champion Hurdle victor Winning Fair. A champion on the Flat in both Ireland and England, he announced his intention to retire in the summer and is set to take up a management role with Qatar Racing in the new year. Overseas assignments are likely to await before he hangs up his saddle for good, but he first faces a completely different proposition from his recent trips to America and Australia, riding the Best-trained Lyssio in the Lingfield Park "Flat Jockeys" Handicap Hurdle. "It's fantastic to have Jamie," said Best. "He has experience of riding over hurdles so it's not as if it's going to be his first time. "He just rang me up and asked for the ride and we're delighted to have him. "Hopefully he'll have a nice spin and and he told me he's looking forward to it."
