LEYBURN-BASED jockey Joe Fanning reached a milestone in his wonderful career when riding his 2,000th success on Fireglow at Newmarket last Saturday.

It was fitting that the popular Irishman brought up this landmark win on a horse trained by his long-time supporter Mark Johnston, and afterwards the trainer was on hand, saying: "Joe is one of the unsung heroes of the weighing room. He came to us not long out of his apprenticeship and I dare say he would have had more winners if he got more outside rides."

Before heading off to Wolverhampton, Fanning said: "I'm absolutely delighted to reach 2,000 and it is nice to do it on one of Mark's; she won nicely and hopefully there will be more to come from her."

The jockey wasted little time getting to 2,001 as he travelled to Redcar's final meeting of the season on Tuesday and teamed up with Alan Swinbank to take the seven-furlong handicap on Lavetta.

After dismounting, Fanning said: "It's nice to ride a winner for Alan as he's been good to me over the years. He gave me plenty of confidence beforehand and, being well-bred, she looks the type he will do well with next year."

News broke recently that accomplished dual-purpose trainer George Moore and his wife Carol are preparing to retire after nearly five decades in the sport.

The Middleham trainer, who I was lucky enough to work for and ride about 40 of his 900 winners, said: "The hard part was telling some of the owners who've been with me since I started training in 1984, but you have to bite the bullet one day and I'm 63 and we decided now was the time."

His biggest wins as a trainer include landing the Northumberland Plate twice with Highflying in 1993 and Toldo in 2006, the 1990 Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot with Regal Reform, and a Lanzarote Hurdle with Fredcoteri.

Reflecting on his success, Moore added: We've been very lucky. We've had some great owners and years ago we had some very good horses. Hopefully, we will end with some more winners before the end of January."

More than 900 winners tells you plenty about his training ability, and having only two head lads (Graham Ewart and Tim Hogg) in well over 40 years tells you more about George and Carol as people.

Tomorrow will see the November Handicap take centre stage at Doncaster and trainer Joesph Tuite has booked George Baker to ride the Ebor winner Litigant after Oisin Murphy was claimed by Qatar Racing for ante-post favourite Argus.

Tuite is delighted to have Baker on board, with the jockey having ridden Litigant earlier in the horse's career, including when successful in the All-Weather Marathon Championships at Lingfield in April 2014.

In all, Baker steered Litigant to three victories and one second place in four races when the ex-French gelding was with Seamus Durack.

Murphy has been in the plate for Litigant's two starts since joining Tuite and had the best possible start when winning the Betfred Ebor at York in August, when the seven-year-old gelding returned after a 16-month absence.

After being a late withdrawal from the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp because the ground was too quick, Litigant had no luck in the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot last month.

"We've got a jockey change. Oisin has to ride for his retainer, the Qatar people, so George Baker is back on him. He knows him well. George is more than happy to go there," said the Lambourn trainer.

"The ground won't bother me, so we'll see. The track will suit him as well."