Every sport has its flawed geniuses but when jump racing draws up its list, Graham Bradley usually sits at the top of the pile.
Brad has been through the wars in his brilliant, but equally controversial, career as a jockey.
Iconic Gold Cup winner, Champion Hurdle winner, and exactly 40 years ago this Easter Monday, an Irish Grand National winner on his very first ride on these shores.
Bradley is considered one of the the most gifted jump jockeys of all-time, he had style and panache in the saddle, but also courted trouble and was infamously warned off for five years for passing inside information on to a notorious drug dealer.
But sadly now, the 64-year-old Yorkshireman is currently fighting the biggest battle of his life after a devastating dementia diagnosis. It's news that will come as a huge shock to followers of jump racing who remember him in his prime.
Three years ago, having not long moved to France with his family for a fresh start in 2020, Bradley was diagnosed with semantic dementia – a rare brain disease that causes loss of language and ability to understand words.
The memory is fading rapidly too and Bradley needs constant care. Luckily for him, his wife Amanda is by his side and she has given a devastating insight into Bradley’s condition.
“He is sadly deteriorating rapidly and I’m watching my husband disappear before my very eyes which is heartbreaking,” said Amanda, who has just started bringing him to a local daycare facility.
“It’s bad. We went to the neurologist at the beginning of August last year, as we had been every six months, and he said there's no point in booking another appointment as he'll be in a home. It really shook me as I just thought it's like a long goodbye.
"Moving to France in 2020 was the best thing we’ve ever done, this is our sanctuary and it’s very calming for him, but we were told from the start that Graham’s dementia would progress and it has.
“He gets very frustrated. He can’t remember people’s names and it gets him very down and depressed and there’s many times he says ‘I don’t want to be here’, which is heartbreaking to hear. He knows he’s very, very ill.
“A lot has changed since but he’s still here. His filter has gone – which means he can be inappropriate at times – but he’s on medication to keep him calm and all we can do is keep him happy as far as we can.
“We came out here to have a lovely life. You don’t expect this at 64,” added Amanda.
40 years ago at Fairyhouse, Bradley and trainer David Murray Smith arrived in Ireland for the first time with Rhyme 'n' Reason and defeated the President HIllary owned Seskin Bridge to become the first British-trained runner to win the Irish Grand National since 1928.
Rhyme 'n' Reason famously went on to win at Aintree in 1988 and the Fairyhouse win began a long association with these shores with Bradley riding dozens of winners in Ireland for trainers like Aidan O’Brien, Michael Hourigan and Pat Flynn, for whom he partnered French Ballerina to win the 1998 Sun Alliance Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Bradley’s name was also etched in racing history when he rode Bregawn to win the 1983 Gold Cup at Cheltenham, the first of the famous five of Michael Dickinson-trained horses to fill the first five places in one of racing’s greatest ever feats.
But after retirement in 1999, he was warned off for eight years (reduced to five on appeal) after admitting selling inside information to Irish-born drugs baron Brian Wright, who was handed a 30 year jail sentence in 2007 but has since been released.
His autobiography published in 2000, and titled ‘The Wayward Lad’ after the talented chaser of the 1980s he regularly partnered, detailed his colourful life and is still considered one of the best and most honest racing books ever written. But it also landed him in trouble.
Bradley was in his prime at a time in the 80s and 90s when the health and safety requirements in racing weren’t as stringent as now and wife Amanda has been told that the toll of several falls over the years has been a “contributing factor” to his condition - which was first diagnosed three years ago.
“I would hear him talking about horses on the phone and even I knew it wasn’t sounding right - even though I’m not a horsey person at all. He was getting jumbled up.
“We went to the doctor here and she immediately sent him for an MRI and when the results came back the neurologist rang from the hospital and wanted him in for three or four days for tests. Within a few months we had a diagnosis and it was semantic dementia. They said it’s a rapidly progressive dementia.
“I asked what was it caused by his falls, but they weren’t really grasping what Graham did. I brought his book in and showed them pictures of him curled up on the ground after a fall and said ‘that’s what we mean when we said he was a jockey’.
“The neurologist said ‘oh my God’ as they thought it was just flat racing. When he looked at the scans he could point out the trauma from his falls and highlight them and he said ‘yes, the falls have been a contributing factor.’ Not the main reason but they’re definitely a contributing factor. It’s just been downhill since.”
“Nobody is willing to accept the blame in our sport which you can totally understand.
“It was a different time. The helmets weren’t up to scratch like they are now. He used to always say he was a ‘good faller’ in that he knew how to fall and that’s why he never really had too many injuries.”
After hearing neurologist's diagnosis in August, Amanda arranged a ‘Memory Road Trip’ for her husband last November with the Injured Jockeys’ Fund support and they stayed at racing heartlands like Lambourn and Newmarket to meet old pals and former colleagues and returned to his home town in Wetherby.
"The memories came back a little. He recognised a few places, he remembered his school and the graveyard to see his mum and dad. I just wanted him to visit everybody, all of his friends, to see everybody and jog his memory.
"It did really help. He tells stories about riding as part of his script sort of thing but then if you try and ask him anything about it he won't remember anything. He just knows that he rode for Michael DIckinson."
Last month he also attended the Cheltenham Festival “for the last time” and posed for several photographs with the likes of Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci.
“I’d never have forgiven myself if I hadn’t taken him to Cheltenham for the last time,” says Amanda.
“He’s obsessed with Willie. He can still remember his name. When you have dementia you can turn into a five-year-old and he was just so excited to see him. Willie was fantastic, most people do know (his condition) and so they were all absolutely brilliant with him.
“I wasn’t going to take him after we’d done the eight week memory trip thing because I was just shattered and it took too much out of him. When we got back I said ‘see how he is in six weeks’ because I don’t want to regret anything with the neurologist having said in six months time he’ll be in a home.
Bradley rode trainer Paul Nicholls’ first winner, and infamously won the Champion Hurdle on Collier Bay in 1996 after losing the ride on odds on favourite Alderbrook due to sleeping it out for an important work session having been at a party the night before.
It was a moment that summed up his career. Colourful and never far from trouble but Bradley was a brilliant rider.
Amdana was keen for his story to reach an Irish audience as she recalls how much Bradley loved riding here and how he still has pictures on his phone of that 1985 Fairyhouse win.
"He loved riding in Ireland. He's an honorary Irishman really.
“I’ve had a wonderful life with this man. We know what’s coming but I want everyone to know his story because this is something that affects so many people in different ways,” she added.
Spare a thought for Brad on Monday at Fairyhouse. 40 years ago he was the hero of the hour.
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
