Steve Boggett, a well-known racereader and reporter, who spent 17 years with Raceform and 12 with the Sporting Life, has recently returned to his roots by filling the role as yardman to trainer Peter Beaumont.

From spending much of his life on the road, going from one racemeeting to another, Boggett is in his element with his new job, which is virtually on the doorstep of his Skewsby home in Ryedale.

"Peter's place is only a mile away, and it's more or less what I did, part-time for him, for ten winters during my time with Raceform. There was nothing like the amount of racing then that there is now - no all-weather stuff, for a start - so I used to keep busy by helping Peter, though that was also when he only had a few hunters and point-to-pointers," says Boggett.

"I'm loving every minute of it," he says. "It's great to be back among the horses and there's a great bunch of lads and lasses.

"I tend to spend my mornings helping out around the yard, bedding-up, watering-up, moving straw and haylage, and harrowing the all-weather. And then, in the afternoons, I help Stuart, Peter's son, around the yard and the farm. The job is a lot more mechanical now, than it was years ago. It's marvellous."

Since the closure of the Sporting Life, some five years ago, Boggett had worked full-time in the warehouse and as a delivery driver for a wholesale pet food supplier near Easingwold, and had coupled that as a freelance racereader for the Racing Post.

The Beaumont link, however, has caused him to take stock and, having swopped one firm for another, he has also finally given up his racecourse commitments.

He said: "Peter mentioned the job to me during the summer, and when I told my wife Judy, her first reaction was, 'Oh, that's great,' followed by, 'What is a yardman?'. Now she knows."

Boggett, who has two grandsons, will not be lost completely to the racecourse. "I have just received a retirement press badge, which is very nice, so I shall make a reappearance one of these days," he explained. "But," he added, with a smile, "I shall be going racing strictly for pleasure."

Updated: 11:10 Wednesday, January 07, 2004